After Miya closed the main site, another mother and baby cross-border e-commerce company closed its business line.

Recently, a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily found that the WeChat mini-program "Gridwushuo" with the layout of the baby grid is no longer available for normal use.

Not only that, BabyGrid also plans to expand offline stores of TCM mothers and babies this year.

Double decline in revenue and net profit combined with weak user growth. Can TCM maternal and child consultation become a growth point for BabyGrid?

Can you find new ways to increase product categories?

How can vertical e-commerce transform to break through the predicament?

　　Exit as expected

　　On September 21, a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily noticed that the baby grid WeChat applet "Grid Wushuo" issued an announcement saying that the platform will be upgraded and revised at 0:00 on July 1.

However, when browsing, the reporter found that not only the page has not changed, but it is no longer possible to click to place an order.

　　It is understood that Grid said that it is a business hatched by Baby Grid in January 2021.

On the homepage, it not only launched a 0.01 yuan new user group activity, but also included 1 yuan to learn a good lesson, time-limited purchase list, new coupons, check-in and cash-out to increase user registration and activity.

　　In fact, shortly after the launch of Gewushuo, it has also been sought after by users for a while.

At that time, the relevant person in charge of BabyGrid once mentioned to reporters that the platform "has been online for 3 days, the number of new users has grown rapidly, and the cumulative sales have doubled."

However, these contents have now stopped updating, and the event promotion has also been suspended on "6.18".

Not only that, but the specific performance of this new business has not appeared in BabyGrid's financial report since it was launched for more than a year.

　　The baby grid main site can still place orders, but it seems quite deserted. It has been 9 months since the last application version update.

"Baby lattice can still be purchased normally, but due to the impact of the epidemic situation in the destination, the time limit cannot be guaranteed." A customer service staff told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily.

　　Using Grid to seek private domain traffic and create a marketing tool for attracting new customers, Baby Grid has obviously hit a wall.

　　A practitioner in the maternal and infant industry told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the market popularity of Gewushuo is not high, and the exit is also expected, "Although the social stickiness of the maternal and infant track is strong, various e-commerce platforms are not well-known in the maternal and infant market. The competition on the track has been going on for many years, and it is relatively late to talk about the layout of the baby grid, and it is difficult to open up the competition in the Red Sea market.”

　　Looking for a way to expand value-added services?

　　In order to salvage the decline, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned that in 2022, Baby Grid will expand the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Maternal and Infant Intensive Care" project, and cooperate with the team of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to expand offline stores nationwide.

This also means that it will open up the TCM maternal and infant track in the field of fertility consultation, and the customer group it will face will be even more niche.

　　As for why BabyGrid developed the project this year, and how it will be integrated with offline stores, the relevant person in charge of BabyGrid did not respond to the Beijing Business Daily reporter.

　　In fact, whether it is expanding from the cross-border category of mothers and babies to all categories, introducing extended services such as maternity hospitals, maternity yoga, childcare, or opening offline stores or playgrounds, maternal and infant e-commerce will expand its reach. , are to build a complete parenting consumption cycle, so as to strengthen user retention, increase the repurchase rate, and increase more sources of profit.

　　However, it also takes time for consumers to pay for the value-added services provided by maternal and infant e-commerce.

"I am more cautious about the choice of professional services for mothers and babies, and generally choose brands that already have some popularity and reputation in the market." Consumer Ms. Liu told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily.

　　Judging from this year's semi-annual report, Baby Lattice is relatively cramped.

In the first half of 2022, revenue fell by 52.93% year-on-year to 160 million yuan; net profit reached 11.711 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 38.11%.

In terms of specific business, revenue from sales of goods and services also declined, down 46.07% and 71.68% respectively.

At the same time, the net cash flow from operating activities was 6.01 million yuan, a decrease of 68.81% compared with 19.27 million yuan in the same period last year.

　　In the financial report, Baby Grid attributed the above performance to the impact of the epidemic.

However, in terms of the client side, the growth rate of registered users of BabyGrid has slowed down significantly, falling all the way from 42% in 2020.

In 2021, the registered users of BabyGrid will be 14.53 million, with a year-on-year growth rate of only 14%.

　　Small and beautiful are no match for big giants

　　"Whether it is in terms of category or supply chain, the breadth and depth of vertical e-commerce cannot be compared with the top comprehensive e-commerce platforms, and there is no way to find a way out just by providing goods." E-commerce analyst Lu Zhenwang believes.

　　Zhao Zhenying, a researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory for E-commerce Transaction Technology, also agreed.

He believes that, in general, the conversion rate, GMV and profit margin of e-commerce transactions are proportional to the number of SKUs on the platform, and proportional to the richness of the platform's categories, so the development path of vertical e-commerce "small but beautiful" is difficult to match. Big platform competition.

　　Although mothers and babies are just in need of consumption, they are also a battleground for all e-commerce companies.

In the face of comprehensive e-commerce companies with strong funds and users, vertical e-commerce companies are often unable to withstand the offensive of giants if they do not have unique products and services.

Just as now, Alibaba and JD.com have set up Tmall Smart Maternity and Baby Room and JD.com Maternal and Infant Life Museum.

　　Vertical e-commerce companies often advertise more professional and considerate services due to their deep cultivation of subdivided tracks, but in fact they ignore the most basic consumer experience of consumers.

When vertical e-commerce fails to provide users with a better service experience than comprehensive e-commerce (including price, category, distribution, after-sales, etc.), its transformation process often evolves into blind expansion without a fulcrum.

　　This year, in addition to maternal and child e-commerce, platforms such as Yangquan, Kaola Haigou, and Mogujie are still struggling in their respective tracks.

On July 1, the mother and baby e-commerce company Miya announced the closure of the main site, which caused a lot of controversy.

Miya founder and CEO Liu Nan said frankly in the online media communication meeting, "The era of vertical e-commerce has come to an end, and the platform side should take the initiative to transform when the cash flow is abundant."

According to "Qilu Evening News" reports, Miya has several own brands such as Rabbit Mother Selection, Famansu, Youpei Farm, and Pedroli.

　　Compared with comprehensive e-commerce, the limitations of vertical e-commerce are destined to be a staged product of e-commerce in a specific historical environment.

　　"The concentration of vertical e-commerce audiences means that its core users may be more sticky. In the future, it is more likely that vertical e-commerce will transform into integrated e-commerce or enter integrated e-commerce platforms. It is also a way out for vertical e-commerce to realize the realization of its own value due to the cost of traffic." Zhao Zhenying said.

　　Beijing Business Daily reporter He Qian intern reporter Qiao Xinyi