Why did 1688 suddenly become popular? What are the new trends in the consumer market behind price reduction HE Tuber sales? Let’s take a look at the article shared by the author and learn more about it!

Are you a 1688 girl?

In recent years, 1688 is becoming the most popular shopping APP in girls’ dormitories.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, 1688’s various good products have become traffic passwords, attracting cost-effective consumers to place orders and make group purchases.

According to QuestMobile data, in the first half of 2020, 1688’s monthly active users increased by 82.14% year-on-year.

1688 is not a new website. It was founded by Dad Ma as early as 1999. It can be said to be the "ancestor of Taobao".

As the oldest business of Alibaba, 1688 was listed in Hong Kong, China, in the name of B2B company with Ali International Station in 2009. It was unparalleled for a while. At that time, 1688’s business model was mainly to collect membership fees from factory sellers and provide them with endorsements. and help them find buyers.

One of the most important tasks of 1688 is to assist the growth of Taobao. It opened up Taobao's backend and supported small and medium-sized sellers to wholesale goods to Taobao for sale with one click. This solved the supply problem for the rapid growth of Taobao in the early days.

So to put it simply, 1688 is a B2B e-commerce supply platform. It can be understood as a large-scale online wholesale market for enterprises to purchase goods. It is recognized as the backbone of Taobao and the supply network for many Taobao sellers. Many Taobao merchants purchase goods directly from here. .

Different from Taobao's positioning, 1688 builds a B2B domestic trade supply chain, while Taobao's original intention is to build a C2C trading platform. The relationship between 1688 and Taobao sellers is actually that 1688 sellers are manufacturers, mostly manufacturers, while Taobao sellers can be understood as dealers or brand owners.

To be honest, in fact, 1688 has not been so cheap for a day or two, but why has it suddenly become popular in the past year?

The biggest reason is because it’s cheap!

1688 was originally a platform that individual buyers would not pay attention to, but after the epidemic, it was labeled as “cheaper than Pinduoduo” and became the new favorite of the Wool Party.

The initial information gap about "1688 has an Internet celebrity foundry" was discovered by C-end KOLs and users such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. Many taps were based on the notes of Xiaohongshu and other sources, and the 1688 store was found according to the picture. of.

It is precisely because of this that in recent years, 1688 has become popular on Xiaohongshu due to its "cost-effectiveness" label. Nearly 1.8 million tap notes have directly attracted a group of fans who call themselves "1688 girls". Among the nearly 60 million buyers on the platform , 80% of the daily traffic is entered by users independently, and the monthly transaction volume is nearly 3 billion.

Price competitiveness is the key to winning the hearts of these 1688 girls.

Among the 1688 buyers, the “Generation Z” aged 25 to 30 accounted for 48.8%, and the “new middle class” aged 30 to 35 accounted for 44.9%.

1688 classifies this group of consumer users into two categories: Generation Z whose wallets have not yet bulged up, and the new middle class whose wallets are already deflated.

Generation Z, who pursue niche products and embrace domestic products, value practicality more and pursue the consumption concept of "everything except the logo, preferably with some extras";

The new middle class’ wallets have become “deflated” in recent years, and they are more concerned about quality-price-performance consumption. However, this is not a downgrade of consumption, but a grading of consumption. They are more “artistic consumption and spiritual pursuit” and are more willing to pay for “fun”, such as carrying LV. It is common to see people wearing pull-back shoes and riding shared bicycles to go to Internet celebrity stores.

How cheap are things on 1688? We can compare: Searching for "tempered film" on Taobao basically costs more than 10 yuan with free shipping. After searching for "tempered film" on 1688 and selecting "drop shipping", most of the products displayed cost no more than 2 yuan. The threshold is a minimum of 2 pieces, and an additional postage of 7 yuan is required. There are also items like cups, floor mats, etc., the price can usually be cut in half, or even 20% off!

3. How do the 1688 girls weed wool?

For example, if you want to eat MUJI French fries, it’s very simple. Go to the brand’s Taobao/Tmall store, find the OEM information in the store information, and then directly search for the factory name on 1688. Basically, you can do it. Find the original factory directly.

You will find that the manufacturer of MUJI French fries is Neptune Food (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., and then if you search for the factory name on 1688, you will be able to find the self-operated brands of this manufacturer.

The same 50g French fries cost 9 yuan in Muji, but you can take them home for just over 3 yuan here.

Look beyond the surface. The underlying reason for this situation is actually that China's retail industry is entering an era of low-price retail.

Since China joined the WTO and integrated into the global economic chain, China's economic development has entered the fast lane, ushering in 20 years of rapid growth.

Due to the growth of the national economy, the increase in personal income, and the willingness to consume, consumers have always had a strong desire to change their lives. They are also willing to take high-leverage loans, buy cars, and buy houses to improve their living conditions, and even when they have a surplus, Willing to spend more money to invest in real estate.

Due to economic growth, strong willingness to consume, and very good land revenue, the government has invested heavily in infrastructure, and modern cities have sprung up one after another.

However, these are all achieved through a stable external environment, determined investment directions, and a good economic cycle.

But after all this, after Trump came to power in 2018, some external environments began to change, and the international political environment began to become unstable. The United States comprehensively blocked China's high-tech fields, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East war, the United States' interest rate hikes, etc. All have made the world's economy become very unstable.

China's economic environment is extremely complex. The country is spinning around in the middle-income trap. People's assets have shrunk, their income expectations are pessimistic, and their consumption has become very cautious.

What we have taken for granted in the past 30 years has changed today. Chinese society contains a lot of constants and variables.

In the past, companies only needed to pay attention to the small gears of variables, but today they must pay attention to changes in constants.