Although the factory products have gained exposure under the blessing of e-commerce, the cost has become a stumbling block to its expansion. Merchants admit that in order to be able to settle in e-commerce and gain the consumer market, manufacturers will try their best to reduce the ex-factory price and retail price; On the contrary, manufacturers have to rack their brains to find a price balance point among manufacturers, brands and consumers, so as to make profits and prices equal.
"transform" the manufacturer
Customizing products and transforming production lines are the ties between e-commerce and manufacturers, and even the key factors that can make both parties hit it off. Faced with the huge flow pool of "double 1 1", manufacturers who cooperate with e-commerce actually have their own small abacus, that is, they hope that these customized products can be quickly digested by the market.
In order to increase sales and output, it has become a compulsory course for manufacturers to transform production lines and even supply chains. Zhang Xiangfa, brand CEO of Jiangxi Kate Bunny Products Co., Ltd., said in an interview that the traditional assembly line needs 60 people to work at the same time, and it takes at least 60 days from the entry of materials to the completion; After the demand of e-commerce forced the assembly line to upgrade, each assembly line only needed 12 people, and the time for materials to become finished products was shortened to 7 days. It is reported that Carter Rabbit has rearranged the process production, equipment research and development, process formulation and personnel management.
The demand of e-commerce for customized products has made many snack companies join the "transformation" army. Yang Kai, the e-commerce director of Youyoumei, introduced a batch of customized Youyoumei vats, saying that this family barrel of plums mixed with various flavors is a new product developed by Youyoumei and Chrysanthemum. Based on the cost performance and Tmall's consumer demand, the packaging was changed from bagged to barreled, and the sweet and sour degree of the product was clearly marked.
Regarding the customized products on the e-commerce channel, Yang Kai further explained: "The consumption data provided by e-commerce shows that users are getting used to entertaining relatives and friends with plums or giving them to friends at ordinary times. E-commerce users have new needs for gift boxes, so they will try to improve packaging and enter e-commerce. " In addition, e-commerce is a natural sales channel, and customized products jointly developed by brands and e-commerce also have "guaranteed" sales channels.
Create explosions and seize the market.
The original intention and purpose of manufacturers and e-commerce companies to choose customized products are to focus on selling goods with explosive potential. To a certain extent, it is possible for e-commerce to cooperate with manufacturers, because customized goods can become an explosion that instantly ignites consumption fever. For e-commerce, explosions can bring new customers and new traffic, and also reflect the role of consumer big data provided by e-commerce in the production end; For manufacturers, explosion means that a single brand can be used, that is, the brand can be recognized by the market at the lowest cost, reducing the inventory pressure of warehousing.
Lv Xiang, the person in charge of 3C household appliances category in Jingxi, said that from the perspective of household appliances category, the more subdivided category in this category is a larger scope for cultivating explosions in Jingxi. In Lu Xiang's view, many brands in more subdivided categories have gone out of the climbing period, and there is no brand that can occupy consumers' minds, which provides an opportunity for manufacturers to break out.
It is worth noting that e-commerce has already touched the door for the choice of customized products that can become explosions. E-commerce companies will explore the long tail market and the categories that users are easy to migrate in the big category classification, and find more subdivided categories from the mass category. Undoubtedly, e-commerce gives priority to categories that have not yet formed the Marseille effect. In this category, no big brand has the absolute right to speak, and small brands are still in the exploration stage. At the same time, consumers have a high demand for emerging sub-categories, and e-commerce channels can grasp the data in time to guide manufacturers' production. When the two factors are superimposed, the explosion occurs, which becomes an opportunity for manufacturers to participate in the "double 1 1".
For the category that can explode, Wang Lin, the head of Jingxi brand promotion, explained the selection criteria of the platform. She explained that e-commerce companies will choose high-frequency categories according to big data, and then enterprises will look for manufacturers who are willing to touch the net in the corresponding industrial belts, and then invite manufacturers to send samples. Next, the platform and organization will evaluate the samples and compare them with the online wholesale price, and the e-commerce will price the products of the selected manufacturers below the wholesale price. The above process is the first link of the explosion.
Multiple interests need to be balanced.
Price is a ruler for consumers to measure whether e-commerce sells manufacturers' products economically, and it is also a ruler for e-commerce to judge whether manufacturers can become their partners. In view of the sinking of the market, consumers' sensitivity to price is magnified, and e-commerce companies struggling to sink users naturally value the importance of price.
In fact, it is on e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, Juhua and Jingxi. Low-priced products abound and most consumers are reluctant to leave because the price is close to the people. However, when the price reaches the standard of sinking market, how to profit from it becomes the thinking point of manufacturers. Zhang Xiangfa admits that when he entered the e-commerce as a manufacturer and exploited the sinking market with the help of the latter, he was faced with the balance between the company's survival needs and the product's guaranteed cost performance.
"In order to achieve the balance between the company's survival and product cost performance, and the balance between product price and quality, the company needs to reconcile in many aspects. It is the most difficult thing to balance between making factories and companies profitable and making consumers realize that goods have cost-effective advantages and value for money. Therefore, product development and supply chain management need to be run in repeatedly. " Zhang Xiangfa explained.
Want to profit from the cost price close to the industry, forcing manufacturers to plan from design and material selection. For example, Zhang Xiang developed toddler shoes with suede. For the same shoe size, the cost price of big brands is in 20 yuan. After Carter Rabbit and the material supplier re-studied the materials, the price of the materials was only 1/3 in suede. At the same time, Carter Rabbit directly cut off unimportant decorations and complicated processes that would increase costs, and paid attention to experience rather than visual beauty.
A manufacturer, who did not want to be named, said that if the manufacturing side also wants to have a price war, manufacturing enterprises and e-commerce companies will fall into the stage of vicious competition, and ensuring the same quality and lowering the price is the feasible route. Zhao Zhenying, a researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory of E-commerce Transaction Technology, said that the impression of low price will consume the enthusiasm of factory brands and direct selling products, and also affect consumers' judgment on quality. Key words with price tags in bulk purchase, group purchase and 9.9 yuan package may restrict the transformation of small and medium-sized manufacturers.