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Objective and real blogger shop exploration videos can help consumers make the right choice and help consumption recover. However, with the increasing number of bloggers visiting the store, there have also been problems such as "false planting", "advertising in disguise" and "eating overlord meals". Experts pointed out that credit management systems including experts and merchants can be introduced, and methods such as public announcement of credit points can be used to regulate the behavior of experts and merchants.
"I heard that the xx of this store is particularly authentic, take you to taste it today" "I don't allow you to not know, there is such a delicious treasure store" "Such a big table is only xx yuan, friends who love to eat must not miss the benefits..." Nowadays, open the short video platform, you can often brush a variety of shop exploration videos.
As a third-party assessment, Tandian connects consumers and brick-and-mortar merchants, and if it can be objective and truthful, it can help consumers make the right choice and help consumption recover. However, the reporter also found in the interview that with the increasing number of bloggers visiting the store, there were also problems such as "false planting of grass", "disguised advertising" and "eating overlord meals".
Exploring the shop and planting grass loves and hates
"I often brush the videos of food exploration shops, and when I see good food, I will 'plant grass' and collect." Wang Meili (pseudonym), who lives in Fushun, Liaoning, used to search before going to play and eat to see the recommendations and evaluations of bloggers who explored the store. "Some shop-exploring bloggers will also launch preferential packages and group purchases, which is quite cost-effective." Wang Meili said.
With the development of the Internet celebrity economy, many self-media bloggers have become "shop explorers". On March 3, the reporter searched for the keyword "shop exploration" on a social platform, and there were more than 31.1661 million related notes. The rich scenes and immersive experience allow many consumers to "plant grass" through shop exploration bloggers like Wang Meili.
"The main purpose of watching the restaurant video is to recommend dishes for themselves, investigate the environment, make selections and even 'avoid lightning' through the blogger's real experience." However, Ms. Liu, a Beijing resident, recently found that there are more and more bloggers visiting the shop, more and more video posing, and the content is gradually homogenized, "Some people shoot the food very beautifully and beautifully, but if you can't see a few shots of eating, it will feel unreal." ”
There are also cases where consumers encounter "wrong goods" and lightning protection becomes "stepping on thunder". A consumer went to the health club recommended by the blogger and found: "The actual room is very small, there are not many buffets as mentioned in the video, and the projection is also bad." ”
In addition, some shop-exploring bloggers have also opened their mouths. On February 2, Mr. Zhang, a netizen in Ma'anshan, Anhui Province, saw a video posted by a blogger visiting a hot pot restaurant, questioning his video for claiming that "beef and mutton are slaughtered on the same day, very fresh", and then he sent a private message to the blogger, hoping that the shop promotion would not exaggerate and be kicked out of the fan base by the other party.
After this incident sparked heated discussions among netizens, the hot pot restaurant staff responded that the online video was filmed and released by the blogger himself, "Beef and mutton are frozen, and it is definitely too late to kill now." ”
The reporter found that similar rollover incidents are not uncommon. In November 2021, an Internet celebrity blogger tried the same fried sauce noodles twice, but the statements before and after were contradictory. After tasting it for the first time, he complained that it was not only too expensive but also unpalatable, and then released a video claiming that the fried sauce noodles were made by his mother. In June last year, Xuchang Inspector was ordered by the Xuchang Municipal Market Supervision Administration to correct, criticize and admonish him because the page information showed that "Xuchang is the most economical to eat and drink" and "the first place in group buying sales" and other words such as "Xuchang is the most economical to eat and drink" and "the first place in group buying sales".
The traffic business has spawned all kinds of chaos
"Last year, I spent 2500,<> yuan to ask a blogger to shoot a shop visit promotion, and I feel that the effect is not bad, after all, we are a new store and need exposure." The owner of a barbecue restaurant in Beijing's Changping District told reporters.
The popular shop has also become a means for merchants to attract traffic and promote consumption. Data shows that in 2022, on the Douyin life service platform, 72% of merchants have invited influencers to visit stores and receive orders.
As the number of bloggers has surged, the shop has become more professional and more commercialized. A short video platform in Beijing visited the store to receive orders from MCN agencies, and the quotation table sent to reporters showed that according to the level of fans, the cost ranged from 800 yuan ~ 10000,200 yuan, and the fees for influencers with more than <> million fans could exceed <>,<> yuan.
However, the lack of norms and the uneven quality of practitioners have also spawned all kinds of chaos, making businesses complain. A practitioner told reporters that some experts will ask merchants to continue to recharge to maintain the recommendation position, and if the merchant refuses to pay, they will write bad reviews.
In addition, many merchants have encountered the phenomenon of visiting bloggers eating "overlord meals". In May last year, a blogger who visited the store agreed with the merchant to enjoy a free "three-person meal", but brought eight relatives and friends to the store to consume. The merchant asked for an extra meal, but the blogger refused to pay on the grounds that he had 5 shop exploration accounts. Earlier, at a barbecue restaurant in Langfang, Hebei Province, a man claiming to be a blogger with 8 million followers asked the store to get a free order.
At the same time, shopkeepers also have "bitter water". Although the threshold is not high, more and more practitioners have entered the game, and the shop exploration industry has been continuously "involving", and even guiding the shooting skills of shop exploration has become a traffic business.
"Use the light to make the food taste and at the same time eat it very fragrant." On the short video platform, you can search for many tutorial videos, and the next step is to guide users to purchase courses.
Guide the shop to say goodbye to barbaric growth
"Authenticity is the soul of shop visits." Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that the key to whether the exploration shop as an industry can prosper and develop depends on whether the shooting content is true and whether the relevant introduction is true. Shop visits that lack authenticity, suspected of false publicity and unfair competition, also harm the rights and interests of consumers.
A number of experts said that the emergence of various chaos in shop visits is mainly because shop visits are a new type of publicity method, lack of relevant legal norms, and the legal attributes of relevant behaviors and the division of responsibilities of relevant subjects are not clear enough. For example, false propaganda has a strong concealment, it is difficult to find and identify, and even controversial.
Recently, Douyin Life Service released the industry's first "Catering Shop Exploration Specification", which cracks down on false publicity with punishment actions such as warnings, video removals, account downgrades, and ban contributions, and will be included in the rating and evaluation system for merchants and talents, and consumers can also feedback to the platform through video reports. At the same time, it clarifies the code of conduct, rights and responsibilities that merchants and network experts should abide by in the process of exploring stores, and protects the rights and interests of consumers, merchants and influencers. At present, the specification has been piloted in 8 cities including Chengdu and Nanjing.
Zhu Wei believes that the relevant norms of the Internet platform have made a good start, which will help promote the self-discipline and orderly development of the industry. How to regulate the business behavior of shop explorers and merchants in a systematic way, how to introduce credit supervision, how to motivate good works to eliminate false information, etc., have become important issues to be faced in the next big market of shop exploration, and many parties need to work together.
"Credit management systems including talents, merchants, etc. can be introduced, and methods such as public announcement of credit points can be used to regulate the behavior of experts and merchants. Zhu Wei said.