How far is O2O from local life?

June 11, the United States Group CEO Wang to the media disclosed that the United States to buy May single month turnover has reached 2.975 billion yuan. In 2014, the goal of the United States regiment is to exceed 40 billion of the turnover, and 300 cities.

In mid-May, the United States began to launch a large-scale brand advertising, its advertising slogan is "American Regiment once, the United States once." This shows that in the short term the development of the United States group is mainly group buying. However, in January this year, Wang publicly said that group buying is a "very light and thin, very broad way to apply, but not enough to sink", the United States Regiment to the O2O, group buying has been behind the base.

"Although O2O is the direction of the future, but group purchase itself is not equal to O2O, just o2o one of the forms of expression." "Lei, director of e-Commerce research Center, said.

This article will be dedicated to answering two questions, what is the relationship between group purchase and O2O? Group buying company to local life O2O how far?

What is the relationship between group buying and O2O?

At the end of 2008, the "originator" Groupon began to work in the United States and quickly hot, its intention is to achieve by centralizing the user to obtain the advantages of large-scale procurement, the way to channel to reduce the price of users to buy products.

The model quickly reached China. Group buying industry because of its low threshold quickly attracted many participants, however, the domestic after the Hundred Regiment war, the baptism of thousands of wars, has deviated from Groupon's original intention, now go into a more extreme state, is through the continuous reduction of business profits to curry favor with users, quickly realize its "circle scale", "Circle of Water", "loop Flow" Purpose.

According to a catering group executive described, Chinese food in the entire catering market occupies nearly 50% of the share, while the customer unit price of less than 200 yuan Chinese food restaurant net profit only 8%~15%. And if you use Group buy package, net profit is few. And the group buy sales salesman will claim, group buying sales is "to help businesses do restaurant cost operating marginal effect."

The reality is that, with the popularity of mobile internet, many users do not buy to do the consumer decision, but to arrive after the search package and buy the consumption, so that businesses lost more profits.

From the perspective of maintenance users, users have been accustomed to the use of group buying this way, if the total does not participate in group buying, some brand recognition is not so high catering businesses will cause a large number of users lost.

But the merchant faces the dilemma choice, if continuously reduces the profit, that will sacrifice own development. If you reduce the quality of the dishes, it will eventually offend the user.

Therefore, in the merchant, buy, the user tripartite relations, most of the merchants sacrificed profits, preferential users, the achievement of the Group purchase site. But this kind of "sucking blood type" development is short and swift, but the late stage is insufficient.

Moreover, the concept of O2O,O2O is also from the United States, the intention is to refer to online consumption, offline experience, and O2O closed loop refers to the on-line completion of the transaction. A O2O without a closed loop stays in the media mode, where the user sees the information and consumes it online, but the offline entity store cannot determine whether the user is from the line. Only after the completion of closed loop will enter the trading mode, to achieve transaction data precipitation.

In other words, whether it is the O2O, the mobile internet era, in fact, is the electricity business. Only in the online platform is the sale of different types of things, the consumer sales through the logistics to the home products, and O2O Sales is the user to reach the physical store experience products or services.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the PC era of E-commerce development for 10 years, E-commerce volume reached the national total turnover 6%~8%. The mobile internet era has allowed the rest of the more than 90% industries to have the possibility of electronic business. Local life services related to catering, leisure and entertainment, hotels, tourism and other industries become the focus of local life O2O.

The mobile internet era has revolutionized electronic commerce. Previously, users had to be able to connect to the PC in order to be networked, and now they could stay connected. Before the user registration is a strange account, or an IP address, and into the mobile internet era, the user is a mobile phone number, or even mobile phone number plus payment account plus personal complete clear information.

This makes the mobile internet era of O2O closed-loop more attractive. Because only the closed loop can achieve real O2O, not only to know how users to offline, how much amount of consumption, long-term data accumulation can also provide value-added services. Group purchase because of its fast trading way to achieve the first O2O closed-loop form. However, this does not mean that group buying is O2O.

The future local Life service O2O, should through the LBS technology, realizes the multi-channel, the multi-level information display, passes the information to the user through the fragmented way. For the merchant, you can use data acquisition transactions to achieve information management, merchant positioning more clearly, what kind of price and service can attract to the number of users, clear old user retention and the introduction of new users.

Therefore, group buying is not equal to the local life O2O, but only the local life O2O big cake which is very small.

How far is it to the local O2O group purchase?

In fact, the future of O2O is to do the local Life service "Day Cat". is through the mobile end platform to the merchant information precipitation, to reach a deal, and the popularity of lbs let a small mobile phone window rendering Tens other merchant information become possible.

All roads lead to Rome, although the ultimate goal is consistent, but it is clear that the United States and the public comment on the choice of different roads.

Public comments relying on the accumulation of information on the ten-year review, in the vast number of merchant information, customer reviews on the basis of information, the development of advertising promotion, group buying, booking, take-away and other business. At the same time, the public comments in the development process, the adoption of a more open attitude, funded the acquisition of large catering sales call center Chi Long, and invested in the "Hungry Mody", "Big Mouth" and other vertical areas have done a good company.

Zhang realized that the life service O2O is a very big market, not a company can complete the whole industry chain, and the public comments will be the core business do a good job, others can do their own doing, other things and partners to do.

From the aspect of product flow, the public comments on the one hand with Tencent, Samsung, millet, navigation software and other products to integrate, increase the flow of imports, on the other hand, as a traffic distribution to undertake services to other partners.

Tencent Micro-life merged into the public comments, the distance from the O2O a step closer. In addition to the transaction level can cooperate with the merchant, trading, membership card data means that the public comments and merchants will enter a deeper cooperation. It is very easy for the merchant to make a decision on whether to buy online or not, and the on-line or Offline membership card system will be very difficult. It can be said that the real depth to the merchant transactions, member data management is the local life O2O should do.

From the industry point of view, the general public comments according to catering, leisure and entertainment, marriage, hotels, online tourism and other different industries have adopted a different way of development.

Anti-American Regiment, founded in 2010 by the United States Group to rely on group buying business quickly expand the size of the transaction and basically sit steady group buying industry boss position. But Wang also clearly recognizes that group buying is not a complete business model.

So on the basis of existing business, the United States Regiment and the development of the United States Regiment hotel, Cat's eye film, the United States and other businesses to sell. We hope to occupy local O2O market by ploughing in different fields. In addition, the United States regiment is also working to help businesses to install WiFi to win more than one entrance.

According to Liu Yanfeng, the public relations director of the United States, the cat's Eye film April volume has reached 260 million yuan, accounting for the total flow of 10%. And the United States Group Hotel has accumulated more than 40,000 hotel merchants, but also the main contributors to the U.S. regiment revenue.

But the success of the group in group buying is not easily replicated in other areas, cat's eye movie development will encounter time network, Che's sniper, and the United States hotel or go to the difference route, to do Ctrip do not want to dabble in the Fast hotel field, or will face Ctrip, where and so on competition. It is understood that where to go the new "destination" division has formed a large number of ground teams, will be the size of the hotel to include all where the system.

The takeaway business is the same, in fact, the takeaway business is a huge incremental market. If the United States group to organize a large foreign sales team, but also need a great deal of input.

The group is also trying to split the cat's eye film and the hotel business, according to people familiar with the matter. At present, Beijing has been basically split up, and then the relevant staff of the various stations will be handover.

An interesting analogy can be described, the public comments like a fully equipped aircraft carrier, although now the speed will be relatively slow, but in the initial stage has completed a variety of running-in, docking work. And the U.S. Regiment now splits the business into a small fleet, respectively, fast forward, hope that one day in the future through product upgrades will be a variety of products to integrate. The risk is that, although the current development speed, but the future integration needs to face a variety of problems, and the lack of synergy development effect.

Of course, the end of the two companies are local life O2O, but at this stage has gone a different path. From an ecological point of view, the public comment is indeed above.