Yintai.com: Users are the core competitiveness

In a broad sense, except for comprehensive e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com, all others can be defined as vertical e-commerce, that is, e-commerce that deepens operations in a certain industry or market segment model. Intime.com, launched in October 2010, is a fashion B2C website invested and controlled by Intime Business Group (formerly Intime Department Store). "Intime.com continues the positioning of Intime boutique department stores, focusing on meeting the needs of high-end women's fashion products aged 25-35. Although the categories we operate include apparel, cosmetics, shoes and bags, etc., in terms of target user groups, Intime Net is a vertical B2C e-commerce," said Lin Chen, who just served as the CEO of Yintai Net.

Interactive topic: Is there a difference between "user driven" and "customer first"?

Since 2011, the "Waterloo" of vertical e-commerce has continued to be staged. The reason is that the categories of various e-commerce platforms are repetitive and lack core competitiveness. In addition, comprehensive platforms with strong funds and traffic advantages have joined the price war, making the The situation of vertical e-commerce is even worse, so in the embarrassing situation of lack of money, lack of people, and lack of traffic, being acquired once became the most ideal choice for vertical e-commerce.

Intime's business philosophy has also changed from traffic-driven to user-driven. Lin Chen believes that "the demographic dividend and price dividend of e-commerce in the first three or four years are huge, but as people's shopping habits change, they can view e-commerce more rationally, and the demand for high-end products that have been diluted in the past will be reduced.

gradually revealed". To this end, the target group of Yintai.com is high-value users, who are the core of Yintai.com's differentiated positioning and the value of its platform. At present, the average unit price of female users of Intime.

is close to 800 yuan, and the average unit price of famous channel has even reached 1,800 yuan.

Differentiated positioning

Different from other pure e-commerce platforms, relying on Intime Business Group, offline Intime department stores and supplier resources have become Intime's innate advantages. "When we do category expansion, we will refer to what brands are in the offline department stores. For example, the well-selling categories in department stores can be moved to the Internet," Lin Chen said. But in fact, the quantity of goods that can be accommodated in online shopping malls is much higher than that in department stores. For example, the famous and luxury goods directly purchased by Yintai.com overseas are not available in offline stores.

Regarding the impact of e-commerce on the department store industry and the issue of online and offline sales of brands, Lin Chen believes that e-commerce will be the norm in many industries in the future, and Intime.com will inevitably undertake more than Intime Department Store. business, including control of the supply chain. "Offline department stores are usually leased, they don't touch the goods, as long as the store is organized to attract investment, the goods are organized by brand owners or agency companies. But as an e-commerce company, it is impossible not to control To this end, since its establishment, Yintai.com's procurement, warehousing, logistics, application chain, and call center are all independent of department stores. Of course, physical department stores are helpful to Intime in the endorsement of supplier trust. For example, in the cosmetics category, Intime is the one that has received the most official authorization from major brands among all e-commerce platforms. online sale.

There are not a few e-commerce platforms focusing on women's consumption needs. There are also comprehensive platforms such as Tmall and Taobao. What are the advantages of Yintai.com? What are the reasons for brand owners to choose Yintai.com? Faced with doubts, Lin Chen said confidently: "The more you cherish your brand image and a brand with a stable price system, the more cautious you will be in the choice of marketing venues." Continuing the positioning of Intime Department Store The Yintai website also "dipped" the brand's light. With the accumulation of many years of cooperation with brand owners and suppliers, the first-line brands choose Yintai.com.

"At the same time, Yintai.com has to clarify its positioning in these brand sales channels." Lin Chen said. Mature and stable brands have their own clear sales channel positioning. For example, each season's new products are first selected in their offline flagship stores, and when the season ends, they will be placed in factory stores or outlets. Make discount sales. This provides a good balance of brand image and inventory turnover. "E-commerce is also a channel for brands. I want to know what position I occupy in its channel." For example, Vipshop is now the first choice for many brands to clear their goods, so Yintai.com should have a What kind of positioning? "Actual sales have proved that the domestic first-line women's clothing brands have a much higher rate of new products on Intime.com than other e-commerce platforms." Lin Chen said that Intime's online card slots have entered the first wave of new product Internet sales.

Deeply cultivating users

The e-commerce positioning that regards users as the embodiment of value is destined for Yintai.com to put the deep-cultivation of users first. For vertical e-commerce, two evaluation indicators are very important: customer unit price and repeat purchase rate. Mining customer needs and improving shopping experience is the only way to cultivate loyal users. In 2013, Yintai.com established a new channel - Gift Shop. It gathers various categories of goods suitable for business or holiday gifts, and users can choose according to their different needs. After selecting the product, a recommended gift box with gifts will appear on the page. As long as you pay 50 yuan, you can put the purchased product into the gift box and send it to the destination together. In this way, the setting of a small gift box easily enhances the user experience compared to gifts wrapped in ordinary express parcels.

Lin Chen said that Yintai.com has been building and upgrading the CRM system to increase the repeat purchase rate by implementing precise marketing to users. Today, the cross-channel trend of consumers' purchase behavior (including purchase decision, implementation of purchase, after-sales decision, etc.) is becoming more and more obvious, "Users may receive our coupons on their mobile phones, then go to a department store to experience them, and take out their mobile phones. Then, he felt very tired and didn't want to take it home, so he sent it home by express. After using it, he felt that the product was good, and he followed the brand through WeChat or Weibo to give feedback on the product. Opinions." Lin Chen described. Under such circumstances, e-commerce companies not only need to understand consumers' online consumption habits and shopping behaviors, but also need to access online and offline data in order to accurately market users.

Intime's IT system builds an interface for interacting with users and cloud data. By matching the user data on the interactive interface with the cloud data, it is possible to know when a user ID "roams" in different interactive interfaces. , his past shopping records and potential needs.

According to Lin Chen, Yintai.com has set up special sections in department stores to facilitate cross-channel shopping for users. Intime Hangzhou West Lake Cultural Plaza store is equipped with WIFI. When a user enters the Intime WIFI system with a smartphone, he or she will know who the user is or his previous transaction records through the matching of cloud data in the background. Time to know the categories he cares about and his favorite brands. After testing, 30% of the in-store users actively open their WIFI to access Intime's system. When the user's mobile phone is connected to the WIFI of the shopping mall, the system will automatically identify it. At this time, Intime can push some promotional activities, special products, or provide information on the categories he likes.

Lin Chen believes that only by studying the needs of target users and meeting their needs can we find a new value proposition for vertical e-commerce. For the needs of users, the first step is to understand his needs, the second step is to meet his needs, and the third step is to induce his new needs. In these three different stages, e-commerce companies need to adjust the work content and direction of IT, marketing, operations, commodities and other departments.