Vertical B2C E-Commerce: Collective Rush To Department Stores?

Recently, consumer B2C The website is quite busy.

First, Jingdong Mall acquired Qianxun. Then, ordinary people signed a contract with young writer Han Han and recently popular idol Wang Luodan to represent men's and women's clothes respectively; McCullin is not idle, and recently announced that its e-commerce website, Mai Wang, has launched a menswear channel.

Previously, it was a women's online shopping platform focusing on selling women's clothing. At present, Mai Wang's product line has covered 7 categories, including women's clothing, household goods, beauty and health care, children's clothing, mother and baby, underwear, shoes and bags, accessories, and each category is constantly expanding its product categories.

Based on this, McCullin believes that there are more wheat nets brand The strategy of "fashion department store platform" is increasingly clear.

Impulse from vertical to department store

In fact, it is more than wheat net.

Jingdong Mall is also a typical example.

Since 2004 Electronic Commerce Jingdong Mall has long been known for selling "low-cost 3C products".

In 2008, JD's intention of "department store" began to appear, and the daily necessities channel was launched in October of that year.

In March this year, Jingdong Mall announced the acquisition of Qianxun. People who are used to buying home appliances in JD may feel puzzled. "Why would a home appliance seller buy a clothes seller?"?

In February 2009, SK Group of South Korea announced its plan to invest 500 million yuan in China to build Qianxun and enter the B2C field. Qianxun mainly sells clothing, shoes and hats products such as European and American famous brands and Korean popular brands through purchasing on behalf of others. Guo Hongchi, CEO of Qianxun, said in an interview with this newspaper last year that there are "nearly a thousand" clothing brands represented by Qianxun. From the current management website, its products also cover cosmetics, mother and baby products and household goods.

Fang Yingzhi, an assistant researcher of China E-Commerce Research Center, believes that it is an indisputable fact that Jingdong has transformed into a department store after its acquisition of Qianxun.

Looking at the leading B2C e-commerce websites in the vertical field in China, such as Dangdang and Zhuoyue, they are more and more like department stores in terms of the categories of goods they cover.

These websites were once typical of taking a vertical and professional route.

Vanke, who started out selling men's shirts, has expanded its current product line to women's clothing, shoes, children's clothing, accessories, and home furnishings. Although its insiders said that at present, "we still adhere to the vertical market of online clothing shopping", and men's and women's clothing will account for 60% of sales, as early as the end of 2008, Chen Nian, the founder of Vanke, told reporters that "anything is possible" for what Vanke sells.

Behind the "department store" route

Vertical and professional B2C was once very popular, especially e-commerce. Now on the Internet, you can buy vegetables, shirts IT、 Diamond, even building materials and other products in various retail consumption fields.

Taking mother and baby products as an example, as far as major products such as milk powder and diapers are concerned, supermarkets and department stores are still the main sales channels, but the rapid expansion of sales performance of Lijiabei, Leyou and other products is regarded by the industry as the reason why mother and baby products should be separated from supermarkets and department stores and develop vertically.

As the B2C e-commerce of vertical 3C products, the rise of JD has shocked Suning and Gome, which are traditional retail stores.

Under the shock, Suning and Gome also announced that they had "reached the net".

As a matter of fact, the rise of Suning and Gome in those years pushed the large supermarkets and department stores out of the main track of home appliance sales by taking a vertical and professional route.

Today, when they are still in a panic to deal with the "naughty" of the "bad boy" Jingdong Mall, Jingdong has a new "trick", that is, to take the "department store" route.

Is it ahead of time, or as someone said, in order to ease the profit pressure caused by the low profits of 3C products?

In the opinion of Analysys International analyst Cao Fei, if JD increases its department store product line, it will increase its cost, operation and other pressures in the short term. However, if it increases some products with high gross profit, these products may bring better profits than 3C products when the sales reach a scale.

But it does not rule out greater "attempts".

As Cao Fei said, after all, there is no comprehensive B2C e-commerce enterprise like Amazon in China. From the perspective of consumer demand, they need the Chinese version of Amazon.

Today's Amazon also cut in from such vertical fields as books.

This is an inspiration and opportunity for every B2C enterprise that is leading in the vertical field. Perhaps this is also the reason why many vertical B2Cs are moving towards "department stores".

But not everyone with dreams can become president.

"Comprehensive B2C is needed, but not too much, because direct competition may not only lead to price competition, but also have higher requirements for service capabilities and other aspects". Cao Fei thinks.

One of the charms of business lies in the wave after wave mode subversion and catching up.

Since e-commerce is going back to the "department store" industry, is there a chance for Carrefour, Wal Mart or other large supermarkets and department stores to return? After all, they have accumulated many years of experience in brand and retail management. At the same time, it is not that no one has tried to open an online sales platform.

According to public reports, in 2010, Wal Mart announced that it had "access to the Internet". As early as a few years ago, Carrefour had tested the "online mall" several times.

However, in operation, Carrefour only retains the e-commerce of Beijing and Shanghai, two international metropolises, while other cities have stopped.

According to media reports, Chen Bo, PR Director of Carrefour in China, believes that "online shopping is a trend of future development", but for Carrefour at this stage, "online shopping is not a priority", and Carrefour will still "focus on the development of physical stores."

Cao Fei believes that the operating experience of e-commerce is the advantage accumulated by these vertical B2C enterprises over the years.