Internet Entrepreneurship Case: Is the We-Media Dividend Over in the Cross-border E-commerce and Foreign Trade Industry Over?

Recently, I often hear entrepreneurs say, "It's really difficult to start a business now. The main reason is that there are no traffic dividends, and the cost of acquiring customers is getting higher and higher."

In our eyes, flow is a double-edged sword. Water can carry a boat and capsize it.

Next, the case of the bonus period of the takeaway platform shared with us is related to the cross-border experience we have experienced.E-commerce, short video, exactly the same, there are countless bosses who mistakenly believe that they are powerful.

Chicken feathers after the bonus.I hope that you will polish your products and content well, and don't be carried away by this passing experience.

Entrepreneurial Cases Leveraging the Internet Platform in the Bonus Period

Here is a real investment case:

At the beginning of 2016, some netizens voted for a Western-style fast food brand. The products are mainly pizza, steak, salad, etc. The products are similar to Pizza Hut, but the meal delivery speed is faster, and the single store area is smaller. One store is about 50-100 square meters, mainly in the community. In places where office CBDs are concentrated, dine-in is the mainstay, and the unit price per customer is about 50.

At the time of the investment, there were only 5 stores. In less than half a year, there were nearly 20 directly-operated stores. The company’s profitability was quite good, and the scale of directly-operated stores ranked among the top three in Hangzhou.The boss opens new stores when they make money. Almost every single store is profitable. The average return time for a single store is about 1 year.

In July of the same year, the takeaway platform subsidy war began. Meituan, Ele.me, Baidu Takeaway and other platforms all came to him to let his store open a takeaway platform. The subsidy was 7-6 yuan per order, and Baidu Takeaway was the highest. The subsidy given by the platform reaches 10 yuan per order.In those crazy times, suckdrainageThe volume cost is negative.

The traffic of Internet platforms during the bonus period is amazing

For the first time, the boss felt the power of the Internet platform traffic. Every day at noon, the order will be burst. Since the store is really busy during peak hours, he has reduced the product SKU and the product quality has also dropped a lot.

The proportion of takeaways in a single store has increased from the previous 10% to more than 70%, and the speed of opening stores has also accelerated. Since takeaways are the mainstay, the boss’s new store location requirements have also been reduced a lot.

Actually, the manager of Meituan KA was promoted to Shanghai, and he also spent millions to open 3 stores in Shanghai.At this time, he could no longer listen to good friends' persuasion, and put the entire company almost all in takeaway.

Internet platform bonus period ends

In September of the same year, the takeaway subsidy war ended, and the subsidy was also reduced. The subsidy per order dropped from 9 yuan to 6 yuan, 4 yuan to 4 yuan, or even 2.And at this time, a large number of KA (key merchants) brands began to enter the takeaway platform.Internet marketing, delivery costs are rising, and the so-called traffic bonus disappeared at the end of 2016.Everyone later knew that at the beginning of the following year, Baidu Takeout was acquired by Ele.me, and then in 2018, Ele.me was all sold to Alibaba.

After the traffic dividend disappeared, the company and store operations plummeted, and the previously profitable stores suffered large losses. At this time, it was impossible to switch back to the previous dine-in model, because in the perception of consumers, you are a takeaway store.Since they are all directly-operated stores, the losses are increasing every month, and the Shanghai store is even more slag. high.

After the story is told, this case shows how fragile the so-called traffic bonus is. The traffic of the platform is used up and left, and cannot be settled.The most terrible thing is that it will also make the brand side have the illusion that the energy of the platform is their own ability, thus making a fatal mistake.Such an example has also happened to many Tao brands.

On the contrary, now that the traffic bonus is gone, it is not necessarily a bad thing for everyone to slow down. You can slowly polish the product, manage users carefully, do a good job in repurchase, and build a good brand, but it will be more durable.

Foreign trade and e-commerce platform bonus period

Dividend periods vary from industry to industry, with longer or shorter periods.

• Foreign trade should be the longest. It has been more than 40 years since reform and opening up to joining wto.
• The reason for the continuous growth is because of the development of the manufacturing industry, from the simple demographic dividend, to driving the industrial chain, supply chain support, and then to technological upgrading.
• From OEM (pure foundry) to ODB (independent development), and then to OBM (own brand), wave after wave, as long as enterprises can keep up with the industrial upgrading, they can eat several waves.

E-commerce dividends are actually quite long, from grass roots to Taobao brands to industrial belts, and finally to traditional brands, and it has been almost 20 years for capital to enter the market.

After capital enters the market, major categories basically have no chance for grassroots, unless it is small but beautiful and personalized, or categories that big bosses don’t like.

How long is the bonus period of the media?

The bonus period of self-media is much shorter:

• From forums to Weibo and WeChat public accounts, to short videos and live broadcasts, it is now white-hot.
• In the past, during the bonus period of Weibo and WeChat public accounts, many ordinary people became big Vs part-time, but now what is left is the accumulation and accumulation of competition.The dividends of short videos are even more fleeting and change every year.
• The live broadcast is shorter than the short video. It only took a few months from Luo Yonghao to Liu Genghong, and then to the selection of the East. Now it is reported that the selection of the East has been limited, and the future development is unknown.

We believe that Internet entrepreneurship requiresAlways pay attention to the new traffic bonus and new product bonus every year, asE-commerce website platform operation management concept.

• Unless you are a genius, don't realize it in your head, choose a sub-industry, work hard for a few years, and become an expert in this field.
• In addition, it is to find your own shining points, and don't do things you don't like.
• You can't do anything you don't like.