As more and more well-known websites join the ranks of large group buying, the pattern of group buying websites is gradually changing. Please refer to my previous article on Webmaster.com "Analysis of the Current Group Buying Website Situation with the Coming of the Aircraft Carrier Era of Group Buying Websites". Nowadays, more and more people say that group buying websites are facing a reshuffle, and 99% of group buying websites will be eliminated. Is there really no room for small and medium-sized group buying websites to survive? I don’t think so.
The Groupon model of group buying website has a very important feature, that is, one group purchase in one region within a certain period of time. It is this innovative model that attracts users, merchants, investors and many followers. However, this model also has some constraints and drawbacks: First, users have no choice and can only purchase one type of service or product at a time; merchants participating in the event are restricted at the same time; second, geographical restrictions. I think it is these constraints and disadvantages that give small and medium-sized group buying websites opportunities to survive.
First of all, in the era of group buying aircraft carriers, a group buying website that reaches a certain user scale needs a merchant that can handle a large user base. If a group buying website has accumulated a large number of user groups and the number of people participating in group buying in a day can reach 5,000, then it will definitely look for someone who can Merchants that provide 5,000 services or goods, but merchants that can only provide 500 will also need promotion, which is more suitable for small and medium-sized group buying websites to organize.
Secondly, a Groupon model of group buying website requires a strong offline team. A successful group buying website in one city cannot simply be transplanted to another city. Users in each city have their own consumption habits. Since Aimi Tuan started to collect weekly data (see the Group Buying Weekly Category in Personal Space), the number one group buying website in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou has never been the same.
The opportunity is here, so how can small and medium-sized group buying websites seize it? Although I am not a group buying website, but since I started working on the group buying navigation website Aimi Tuan, I have some opinions to share with you, which can be summarized as: "While practicing your internal skills well, We also need to assess the situation.”
"Practice internal strength" includes many aspects, such as company management, team building, etc. There are many secrets from masters and experts in these aspects. As a grassroots person, I don't dare to talk about it, so I will just talk about group buying:
1. It is necessary to have a good reputation and gain the trust of users and merchants. Those deceptive and false behaviors will inevitably be eliminated. This requires a cumulative process.
2. A complete after-sales mechanism to serve the previous point; companies and people may make mistakes, the key is how to deal with them. If a group buying website cooperates with a merchant, and the user makes a group purchase on your website, but the merchant does not deliver the goods in time, the user comes to you to complain. If you simply let the user go to the merchant, what impact will it have on the user?
3. Fully evaluate whether each group purchase order is suitable for your own group purchase website. Looking at some of Meituan’s orders this week, I personally think that the group purchase on the 25th is not suitable for the current scale of Meituan. Taekwondo cannot be learned in a few times, and it is not suitable for people who do not exercise regularly.
4. An assessment system can be implemented for some relevant groups to fully mobilize everyone in the company to implement the above points.
"Assessing the situation" is not opportunism but misplaced competition. Everyone knows the story of Tian Ji's horse racing. When reviewing and categorizing the group buying information collected by "Aimi Tuan" every day, I found that with the increasing number of group buying websites, "group collisions" often occur. For example, today two group buying websites launched Xinglong Kart at the same time. The club’s group purchase, the White River rafting group purchase two days ago, and the four Aikang Guobin physical examination package group purchases at the same time on the eve of Father’s Day. If the group purchase you carefully selected collides with other group purchase websites, both parties will be affected. If the prices are not the same, it will be an even greater blow to the higher party. Personally, I feel that there is no need for everyone to rush to launch group buying at 0:00, especially small and medium-sized group buying sites. Judging from the number of visits to Aimi Tuan, 80% are still during work hours (7:30-18:00), and everyone is doing group buying. It is best to make an alternative plan before launching it. You can check through some group purchase navigation websites to see if there are similar group purchases in terms of theme and price that day; if so, you can make appropriate adjustments. Meituan mentioned above, I think the group buying on the 24th is very similar to the one on Nuomi.com, both of which are Yunnan-related delicacies.
The above are some personal opinions, everyone is welcome to share them.
The personal space of the author Aimi Tuan. This article only represents the author's views and has nothing to do with the position of Webmaster.com.