Author: Wang Hai ▪ Lu Hanzhi

　　As an important form of consumption in China, the number and scale of e-commerce transactions have increased rapidly over the past decade.

　　According to data from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of June 2022, the number of online shopping users in China reached 841 million, accounting for 80% of the total Internet users; in 2013, the number of online shopping users in China was only 302 million, accounting for 48.9% of the total Internet users. %.

Wind statistics show that the e-commerce transaction volume has grown from 4.57 trillion yuan in 2013 to 14.92 trillion yuan in 2020.

In just a few years, the number of users has increased by 1.68 times, and the transaction volume has increased by 2.26 times.

　　At the same time of rapid growth, the e-commerce industry has undergone major changes in terms of consumer purchasing experience, logistics supply chain, and business strategies.

　　Ordering: From PC to Mobile to Live Streaming

　　In terms of consumer purchasing experience, consumers have gradually shifted from placing orders on the PC side to placing orders on the mobile side.

In 2014, Alibaba proposed the "all in wireless" strategy, focusing on Taobao's mobile development.

On the day of "Double 11" in 2015, two-thirds of the 91.2 billion yuan of transactions occurred on the mobile terminal.

At the 2016 Taobao Seller Conference, Zhang Yong, then CEO of Alibaba Group, said that nearly 80% of Taobao's entire network traffic comes from wireless.

During the "Double 11" period in 2017, Taobao's mobile transaction accounted for more than 90%, and JD.com's mobile transaction accounted for 89%.

　　After the shift to mobile, the content of the e-commerce platform has changed from graphic form to short video/live broadcast, and live broadcast e-commerce has emerged.

　　The competition of e-commerce live broadcast is essentially the competition of people, goods and fields.

In terms of people, anchors need to continue to innovate and form differentiation; in terms of goods, the competition is the richness of goods and the speed of new releases; in terms of presence, it is necessary to optimize the scene design of live broadcasts to enrich the content.

　　With the evolution of competition, major e-commerce platforms have launched the policy of "recruiting horses", and the behavior patterns of merchants doing business on e-commerce platforms are also changing.

Unlike online celebrity shops that are mainly based on pictures and texts, which are generally updated twice a month, the live broadcast is basically broadcast every day, at least 4 to 6 hours a day, and the requirements for the style of the goods are huge.

The characteristics of "multiple styles and small inventory" place high demands on the speed of the supply chain.

　　CNNIC data shows that as of June 2022, the number of e-commerce live broadcast users was 469 million, an increase of 5.33 million compared with December 2021, accounting for 44.6% of the total netizens. The industry has entered a cooling-off period.

　　A clothing merchant in Hangzhou told the First Financial Reporter: "E-commerce is constantly changing, and any sales model can last for two years."

　　Logistics: from quadruple paper documents to electronic face documents

　　In the past ten years, the volume of express delivery business has increased rapidly.

　　Data from the State Post Bureau shows that in 2021, the total business volume of express delivery service enterprises nationwide will complete 108.30 billion pieces, compared with 9.19 billion pieces in 2013, a tenfold increase.

In the context of the increasing number of express orders, some new technologies and new processes have begun to be applied to all aspects of express logistics.

　　Taking Alibaba as an example, relying on the advantages of e-commerce business, Alibaba began to distribute in logistics in 2013, and Cainiao was established.

　　"At that time, most of the parcels received by consumers were quadruplets, and most of the parcels were sorted manually, which did not have the ability to automate sorting at all. Now the mainstream distribution centers are all automated, and the first is the electronic panel. Order, make the address informatization." In July this year, during the Cainiao Open Week and Technology Day, Ding Hongwei, vice president of Cainiao Technology and general manager of the logistics technology division, said.

　　"In the past eight or nine years of Cainiao's development, we have used a large amount of data, algorithms, and AI capabilities, and hope that the data products created in the process of business development, such as the methodology of data operation and the mid-stage capabilities of big data, will give To our entire industry, to serve corporate customers." Ding Hongwei said.

　　At the same time, express logistics continues to move to towns and villages.

　　On the supply side, the government, enterprises and other parties participate in the digital infrastructure construction of the sinking market, optimize the traditional agricultural product supply chain model, and facilitate the sales of agricultural products to the outside world.

For example, JD.com, Alibaba, Suning, etc. continue to extend the supply chain, logistics and other new retail infrastructure downwards, and promote the upward trend of agricultural products through measures such as traceability system, technology output, brand empowerment, and channel expansion.

On the demand side, by continuously improving the consumption environment in rural areas, rural consumption will be driven and industrial products will decline.

All the villages in the country have achieved direct postal service, and the coverage rate of express delivery outlets in townships has reached 98%, which solves the logistics and distribution problems of rural residents in the process of online shopping.

　　Player's attack and challenge

　　In the past ten years, the transaction volume of the "Double 11" shopping festival has reached a new high every year.

In just a few years, it has grown 13 times.

　　Stimulated by the huge transaction volume, various shopping festivals such as 6.18, Farmers' Day, New Year's Day and so on have appeared one after another.

　　According to data from JD.com, the cumulative amount of orders placed by JD.com during the June 18 shopping festival this year reached 379.3 billion yuan, but the growth rate was not as good as before.

In 2018, the cumulative amount of orders placed during the June 18 shopping festival on JD.com was 159.2 billion yuan, which has more than tripled in five years.

　　In the process of increasing transaction volume, the shopping cycle of shopping festivals such as "Double 11" and 6.18 has changed from one day in the past to more than ten or twenty days today.

Businesses have been excited and excited about the festival from the past, to now it has become a daily routine.

The form of marketing has also evolved from pure online in the past to online and offline linkage.

　　For e-commerce platforms, new rivals have also emerged.

　　After the "Double 11" in 2021, platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have given data.

The live broadcast of Douyin's "Douy 11" Good Things Festival totaled 25.46 million hours.

Among them, the total time of self-broadcasting by merchants was 12.27 million hours, the total number of viewers was 39.5 billion, and the number of brands with a turnover exceeding 10 million (including 100 million) reached 577.

　　Kuaishou data shows that from October 20 to November 11, 2021, the number of Kuaishou e-commerce merchants to launch broadcasts increased by 52% compared with the same period in 2020, of which the number of brand merchants to launch broadcasts increased by 391% year-on-year.

The number of overall brand merchandise orders increased by 350% year-on-year, and GMV increased by 433% year-on-year.

　　From Expansion to Calm: Where is the Industry's Second Half?

　　Fanatical consumption stimulates the nerves of capital.

In 2014, Alibaba and JD.com completed their listings in the United States.

Five years later, Ali returned to the Hong Kong stock market.

　　However, the journey has not been smooth.

For example, Gome and Suning, which started with offline chain businesses, have always wanted to reach online, but they were ultimately unsatisfactory.

　　With the promulgation and implementation of the E-commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, China's e-commerce industry has begun to operate in a standardized manner.

　　This plan has the greatest impact on daigou and wechat merchants, because regulations have clearly required e-commerce operators to register as market entities and fulfill their tax obligations in accordance with the law.

Whether it is selling goods in WeChat Moments, or "bringing goods" on the live broadcast platform, or even merchants on Taobao and Tmall, they are all identified as e-commerce operators.

　　On March 15, 2021, the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions" formulated and promulgated by the State Administration for Market Regulation was officially released, and will be implemented on May 1 this year.

　　This is the first detailed rules for the supervision of e-commerce after the implementation of the E-commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, which clearly regulates the excessive collection of personal information, tying of products, live broadcast, and choice of two.

　　In addition, the tax issues of anchors have also been further regulated.

In December 2021, the Inspection Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Taxation Bureau of Zhejiang Province made a tax administrative penalty decision on Huang Wei (net name: Weiya) in accordance with the law, recovering taxes, adding late payment fines and imposing a total of 1.341 billion yuan in fines.

Wei Ya's tax problem also triggered a "tax payment tide" for online anchors.

　　"It is now the default for industry self-discipline. Tax payment or self-examination and self-correction are conducive to the development of the industry, which has a greater positive impact on the industry." The founder of an MCN institution said.

　　After the fierce fighting and brutal expansion in the first half, the e-commerce industry began to gradually enter the second half.

The theme of the second half of e-commerce will focus on meeting the more refined needs of consumers.

　　At present, the main players in the e-commerce industry are Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Suning.com, Vipshop, Netease Yanxuan, Netease Kaola, and other comprehensive or vertical businesses with multiple business models and types. of e-commerce.

　　"As one of the typical representative models of the new economy, e-commerce should have complete laws to effectively guide and restrain it, so that the industry can go on a path of healthier and orderly development." China E-commerce Research Center special researcher, local Yu De, founder and CEO of Song.com, told Yicai.com that the current era of irregular and unjustified "barbaric growth" is bound to come to an end.

　　The founders of the above-mentioned MCN institutions believe that the second half of e-commerce is interest e-commerce.

"Although the top anchors have developed rapidly in the past one or two years, they have no external traffic outside Taobao, so every big promotion and event, they need to be on Weibo, offline advertisements, elevator advertisements, Xiaohongshu, etc. To buy advertisements from each channel, you also need to send live broadcast notices on the official account to attract consumers. At present, there is no third super anchor in the short term. From the perspective of Taobao ecology, the recommendation mechanism of 'Thousands of People and Thousands of Faces' is also very good. It must be locked in the live broadcast business.”