Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3096: Acquaintance E-commerce

After completing the listing of Alibaba, Boss Ma returned to China.

The momentum was quite big.

It seems to be even more powerful than Zhou Buqi, who has successively operated several listed companies with a market value of hundreds of billions of yuan.

After he returned to China, he called Zhou Buqi again.

It is said that it has been confirmed that after the Double Eleven in November this year, an Internet conference will be held in Wuzhen, not far from him. The specifications are very high. It will be a national global conference and many important figures will attend. Boss Zhou must show up.

With Alibaba's listing, the domestic economic structure has completely changed.

In the past few years, real estate has dominated the market.

This time, the Internet has truly taken over and become the most dazzling industry in the domestic economic structure.

Even after Alibaba went public, the Hurun Rich List came out and re-ranked the country's wealthy people.

Boss Ma made a big jump!

With a net worth of 218 billion US dollars, he ranks second in the country!

The first, of course, is Zhou Buqi, whose unshakable and unattainable wealth has reached a terrifying $1872 billion.

The third one is Mr. Ma from Penguin.

The fourth is Mr. Li from Baidu.

Then it was the turn of Wanda's boss Wang, who was ambitious and determined to develop global industries.

Ziweixing, Alibaba, Penguin and Baidu, known as the "BATE" or "BEAT" big four in China, are working together to create a new era of the Internet.

Zhou Buqi told Boss Ma that he was on the plane returning to China.

Boss Ma was very happy when he heard it, "That's great, now that you're back, let's talk about WeChat business."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "It's just a WeChat business, the sales volume is only a few hundred billion, are you scared like this?"

Boss Ma said calmly: "Why are you so scared? We're just chatting."

"No need to talk anymore." Zhou Buqi gave him a reassurance, "You succeeded."

Boss Ma was slightly startled. "What do you mean I succeeded?"

Zhou Buqi said: "WeChat business will not pose a threat to Taobao, because I do not approve of this project. The first thing I will do when I return to China is to hold a meeting at the company and ban this business."

"Oh..." Boss Ma laughed, "The WeChat business model is not good in the first place. Whether you agree or not, it can never be a competitor to Taobao. I have never been worried about it. I am just giving you a small reminder. Looking at the domestic market, Alibaba really can't find any competitors even with a telescope."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "The company has gone public, what has happened?"

Boss Ma said: "It's just that I have the confidence to tell the truth."

Zhou Buqi was silent for a moment, and replied, "Okay, see you later."

On the plane were several young secretaries, Mai Feixue, Gu Zanli, Zhang Zetian, Zhao Limuge, Yan Qiqi, and the two new beauties, Wang Langli and Huo Hua. No matter where he went, Boss Zhou always brought beauties with him; it had become a habit.

When Zhao Limuge heard that the big boss was going to ban WeChat businesses, he couldn't help but come over and said in surprise: "Boss, are you really going to ban WeChat businesses?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "There is such a plan."

"Why?" Zhao Limuge was puzzled. "Isn't the development of WeChat business going well? This is the most fruitful major project of WeChat this year!"

Zhang Zetian also came over and was very concerned about this topic.

It can be seen that they are both ambitious in their business and are motivated in their careers. The other girls have no interest in these overly complicated things.

Zhou Buqi is also intentionally cultivating Zhang Zetian and Zhao Limuge.

Zhang Zetian said with a bit of confusion: "WeChat business is developing so well. Isn't it said that social advertising has strategic flaws? If WeChat business is developed, then the product structure of WeChat will be complete!"

Zhou Buqi shook his head, "But advertising resources are very limited."

"Circle of friends?"

Zhao Limuge is very smart.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, it is the circle of friends. The circle of friends is very popular now, both at home and abroad. This kind of circle model is a very good tool for socializing with acquaintances. However, there is a disadvantage of socializing with acquaintances, which is that the amount of information is small."

"what?"

Zhao Limuge didn’t quite understand.

Zhang Zetian immediately said, "No matter how many people a person knows, it's actually very limited. A few hundred WeChat friends are the most. How many messages can these hundreds of WeChat friends send out in a day? If you check your friends' updates, you'll finish them in a few seconds."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, that's what I mean. The information content of social networking among acquaintances is much less than that of social networking among strangers. For stranger social networking products like Weibo and Toutiao, you can keep scrolling forever and never run out of information. Because there are too many strangers, there is an explosion of information. But social networking among acquaintances is not the same. The amount of information is limited. If you scroll too much, you will see things you have seen before."

Zhao Limuge nodded repeatedly, "Yes, that's the number of advertisements. The more information there is, the more information flow advertisements can be mixed in with the information. Social networking among strangers involves a huge amount of information, so there are a huge amount of advertisements. Social networking among acquaintances involves less information, so there are also fewer advertisements that can be placed."

Zhou Buqi was very happy and put his arm around her slender waist. "Well, that's a perfect summary!"

Zhang Zetian, who was sitting opposite, naturally refused to admit defeat, so she gave an extended summary, "So, the unit price of advertising in Moments is much higher than that of Weibo. Because Moments is a social network for acquaintances, advertising space is even less and more scarce. On Weibo, there are too many ads. As long as you keep scrolling, you can get as many as you want."

Zhao Limuge then added, "A more fundamental reason is that the trust in social networking among acquaintances is higher, so the conversion rate of ads is higher. Information from strangers is not trustworthy enough, so the conversion rate of ads will naturally be lower. The higher the conversion rate, the higher the advertising price; the lower the conversion rate, the lower the advertising price."

Similar theories, six or seven years ago, could be said to have led the entire Internet product industry.

Zhou Buqi had already publicized it.

It can be said that he led a generation of Internet people.

As time goes by, similar theories are no longer new and have been mentioned over and over again in various Internet product books. They have become common product concepts that are everywhere.

Even the two secretaries spoke very convincingly.

It is even more accurate and insightful than the summary Zhou Buqi made when he first released it six or seven years ago.

However, looking at today's situation, such theories still have extremely important practical value.

Zhou Buqi said seriously: "So, following this line of thought, we have the sudden explosion of WeChat business in a short period of time, which even frightened Boss Ma. This is a product idea that has been passed down from generation to generation." "Huh?"

Zhang Zetian is smarter than Mu Ge. She immediately had a flash of inspiration and seemed to have grasped some new truths.

Zhao Limuge was deep in thought.

Zhou Buqi pointed out: "In China, after Pengyou.com was launched, other SNS websites were finished. Pengyou.com dominated the market for social networking among acquaintances. Until the emergence of Weibo for social networking among strangers, a rivalry was formed. The same is true abroad. After Facebook appeared, all competitors died until Twitter appeared. The reason why they can coexist is because the two products are on two tracks, one for strangers and the other for acquaintances."

"Ah! I see! I figured it out!"

Zhao Limuge screamed.

It was as if she had been molested.

But in fact, her scream was not because the big boss's hand reached into her short sleeves and got into her underwear, but because of the excitement of the collision of ideas. She caught up with the big boss's train of thought!

Zhou Buqi smiled and asked, "What did you figure out?"

Zhao Limuge said: "I understand why Boss Ma is so scared. He even came to you twice for WeChat business. Because WeChat business and Taobao are two different tracks! Boss Ma said that Taobao can't find any competitors even with a telescope. This is not bragging, it is a fact. However, he is talking about stranger e-commerce. WeChat business is acquaintance e-commerce! WeChat business relies on the WeChat platform and does business with acquaintances!"

Zhou Buqi hugged her and kissed her on the cheek several times, praising her: "You are so smart!"

Zhao Limuge said naively: "WeChat business and Taobao are two tracks that can coexist. There is a competitive relationship, but it is a staggered and misaligned competition. Just like Facebook and Twitter are competitors, but not real head-on competition, Facebook will never be able to kill Twitter. Taobao is not afraid of head-on competition, but WeChat business has taken a new model, a misaligned model that can coexist with Taobao."

“Great summary!”

Zhou Buqi was very pleased and felt that he had not raised her in vain. He held her in his lap and cherished her very much.

In business competition, if your competitors are too strong, the only way to survive under the pressure of such competitors is to differentiate yourself.

  Just do it the other way around!

You pay, I'm free; you're free, I pay; you go left, I go right; you focus on beauty, I focus on ugliness; you make men's clothing, I make women's clothing; you choose general, I choose vertical; you become a stranger, I develop an acquaintance network...

Taobao is undoubtedly the largest e-commerce platform in China.

This is a stranger e-commerce.

The buyer and seller do not know each other.

Micro-business is different. It is done among the circle of friends on the WeChat platform. It is e-commerce among acquaintances.

  E-commerce among acquaintances, just like advertising among acquaintances, has a higher level of trust!

Higher conversion rate!

Higher transaction rate!

Why did WeChat business suddenly explode this year and generate sales of more than 500 billion yuan in the first three quarters without any platform intervention or promotion?

Because this is an e-commerce platform for acquaintances!

It’s a more personal, trusting relationship.

WeChat merchants are declining, while Pinduoduo is rising... This is a progressive relationship. The underlying reason behind Pinduoduo's "cutting down" is actually the familiar e-commerce that is different from Taobao. Although the buyers and sellers of Pinduoduo do not know each other, the "cutting down" is introduced by friends, which creates a trust foundation of acquaintances.

Is Pinduoduo very cheap?

Probably cheap.

There is another logic, that is, Pinduoduo can better tap into the trust relationship at the bottom of human nature. Many elderly people who don’t know much about Internet shopping don’t dare to go to Taobao to shop, but choose Pinduoduo instead.

  It’s not because Pinduoduo is really cheap, but because they believe Pinduoduo is cheap!

It is difficult for JD.com to impact Taobao because JD.com is also a stranger e-commerce company, backed by the WeChat circle of acquaintances. JD.com's strategic design and product team have not been able to develop a good operating model for acquaintance e-commerce.

Pinduoduo seized this opportunity and, relying on the strategy of "cheap + acquaintances", it conquered cities and territories one after another and competed with Taobao.

Alibaba invested a huge amount of money, and Boss Ma personally led the team to develop the social product "Laiwang".

After the product failed, Taobao’s path to e-commerce among acquaintances was over.

Zhao Limuge's remarks can be said to have hit Taobao's vital point directly, and he found a way to challenge the e-commerce giant Taobao.

Zhang Zetian was naturally unconvinced and said, "The success of WeChat business is due to the WeChat network of acquaintances, which greatly improves the conversion rate of WeChat business. However, I just thought of one more thing... The reason why WeChat business should be banned is that its existence is a huge damage to the WeChat ecosystem!"

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up, "Tell me about it!"

Zhang Zetian said: "Because Moments is a social network for acquaintances, the amount of information is very small. Therefore, every piece of information in Moments is very valuable. Only when there is enough information can there be more advertisements. WeChat is a free product, and it mainly makes money through advertisements in Moments."

"and then?"

“Real information is valuable information, such as personal updates and sharing posted by WeChat friends, which can attract other people’s attention and curiosity. Only this kind of information can attract users to browse Moments and continuously browse Moments ads, thus bringing revenue to WeChat.”

"Ah."

Zhou Buqi nodded, with admiration in his eyes.

He has seen it.

This girl really understands the dangers of Wechat business.

Zhang Zetian said crisply: "But the information posted by WeChat merchants in Moments is not valuable information. They post product information... To put it bluntly, they post advertisements! The real advertising resources should belong to WeChat and the platform. In order not to destroy the user experience, advertisements should be mixed in with some valuable information and pushed to users. This is the information flow model. However, the existence of WeChat merchants will destroy this environment, causing Moments to be dominated by advertisements."

"well said!"

Zhou Buqi reached out and pinched Zhang Zetian's face.

This is indeed the harm of micro-business.

There are advertisements in Moments, which is currently the main source of income for WeChat.

Normally, advertising should be placed in a restrained manner, and one advertisement should be placed among many valuable information.

If there are too many advertisements, users will be disgusted; if there are too many advertisements, users will be lost.

The product information posted by WeChat business users is actually advertisements. They will appear disguised as valuable information, and then pushed to users together with many platform advertisements... This is the end. When many users open their Moments, they will find that the screen is full of advertisements, and there is no user experience at all.

After a long time, I gave up the circle of friends.

This simply cuts off WeChat’s most important source of revenue.

  The product information of WeChat merchants not only disrupts the normal information arrangement of the circle of friends, but also takes away the advertising resources that originally belonged to the platform. The platform has become a place for them to advertise for free. How can such a good thing be possible?

　The scary thing about acquaintance e-commerce is the exploitation of human nature. For example, you must restrain yourself from watching live broadcasts of goods. If you watch too much, you will become familiar with the anchor and enter the acquaintance mentality. Human nature will force you to place an order, even if you don’t want to buy, you will buy.

　　(End of this chapter)