Recently, there have been more discussions about shopping-guide-type websites.

Recently, there have been more discussions about shopping-guide-type websites. Especially in Taobao ban Beautiful said, Mushroom Street, fold 800, shopping guide website have begun to transform. And about whether the shopping guide has the existence the value, as well as the shopping guide transformation Road whether smoothly the viewpoint is one after the other. As a long-term immersed in the shopping guide site of the depth of users, I am the view of the shopping guide site is absolutely just need, whether the success depends on positioning is clear.

Inspiration from offline shopping market

To determine whether an industry has vitality, usually the easiest way is to see what the industry does in the market whether there are users to pay for this, shopping-type website undoubtedly has strong demand for users. The value of shopping guide, on the one hand, is reflected in the use of goods from the vast number of products to choose their own goods, on the other hand, a heavy consumer protection.

Take the line, the shopping guide in all kinds of shops are a common thing, clothing store shopping Guide to you to introduce a variety of different types of clothing, car 4S store will give you a variety of car performance prices, even the barber shop will give you a guide to introduce the most popular hairstyle, but usually the role of this shopping guide by the hair stylist concurrently, And now in the supermarket shopping guide Shadow is also everywhere ...

The point to note here is that a shop like Zara is now considered "going shopping" by many people, but my understanding is that Zara is simply a guide to become smarter, from the previous initiative into a passive, in all clothing stores are working hard to sell, let the shopping Guide "end", so that you have a more "free" feeling of choice. But if you ask those handsome girls who are going to fold their clothes back and forth, they will tell you the quality, style and so on of each piece.

Offline Shopping Guide Market has basically formed a very mature system, from the shopping guide's hard to sell, like Zara to create a free buying environment, the role of shopping guide has not been replaced, on the contrary in the continuous progress. In contrast to online shopping, Taobao, Cat, Jing Dong, 1th stores and other major electric power to form a large shopping mall, in this square and a variety of small shops, if you are in it, you will also find that such a dazzling array of things, really is not able to.

In addition to the simple introduction of goods, shopping guide In fact, there is a role is to use their integrity as a consumer to buy goods guarantee. In short, many times we buy goods, are said to buy from a shop, even if things need to change or retreat, we are the first time to shop to find that shopping guide. Therefore, the guide to a certain extent, will play a certain role in consumer protection.

From the above content can bring us a few enlightenment:

First of all, online shopping guide site for users to have the necessary;

Second, even the online shopping site, but also need to face like Zara's Guide to Evolution, on the online shopping guide site, perhaps the most obvious embodiment is from the previous Crazy window mode evolution to now rely on content for marketing;

Finally, the shopping guide site because it involves its own brand, in the recommendation of the product more than a layer of screening, consumer Protection has a role in promoting.

The lifeline of the shopping guide website

But any industry has its own threshold, shopping guide site is no exception. Shopping guide is mainly rely on the content recommended marketing, then the lifeline of the shopping site is clear positioning, in their own field is sufficient professional, can provide users with valuable information. If the user in the shopping guide website still has the choice phobia, that I can only say, this shopping guide website sincerity does the failure.

Take now more representative Shopping guide website, beautiful said and Mushroom street belong to a class, focus on women shopping, do "her" economy, through the recommended content and social attributes, to provide women with shopping guide, but beauty and Mushroom Street also has its differences, the difference between them is that the beauty of the media attribute, Mainly relies on its own operation namely PGC to pull the user, but Mushroom Street main partial social attribute, relies on the user to produce content namely UGC mainly.

What is worth buying (SMZDM) and folding 800 This kind of shopping guide site, then belong to the price-oriented, both are to provide users with the most preferential and most economical things, but the difference is, what is worth buying products to the main shopping mall, the overall price more tall some, the pursuit of the relative concessions And fold 800 is the first proposed "9 9 package Mail" concept of the website, the above products are more of the day cat Taobao, the service of the Cock silk users, the pursuit of a manual bargain, absolute history of low prices.

There is a similar type of Huihui shopping assistant, it actually with other specialized shopping platform has a special page different, it is in the form of browser built-in plug-ins, but also price-oriented, but it plays the biggest function is to provide users with a real-time parity system, Let users choose which to buy according to the price of each website.

These three types can be said to be at present the user is most also the most successful shopping guide type website, its basic system has developed maturely. On the one hand will be similar to Zara's shopping guide, not crazy sales, but as a content and choice of advice providers, on the other hand is aimed at a certain location, to find their own areas of expertise, and then achieve the ultimate. Find their own differentiated positioning, and then do the ultimate, for users to contribute valuable content, which can be said to be a shopping guide lifeline. Otherwise, if you as a shopping guide platform, are not clear what they want to do, users go into the inevitable confused, such a site, more can only be defined as a federated site, and can not be called a shopping guide.

Guide the development of the future of the website

All sorts of data from the media, Beauty said, Mushroom Street and 800 of the flow and turnover in the past two years have been soaring. From this point we can see that the shopping-type site in the user level has a large audience market. But on the other hand, from Taobao blocked, Beijing-East close CPS, comprehensive shopping platform for the guide is still not very welcome. Therefore, the current domestic shopping-type website is in a "love and hate" of the tangled environment.

Here may be someone to say, Taobao, Jingdong can be blocked these shopping websites, and then do their own. This is in fact falling into the most traditional problem, that is, "if your product Tencent follow up, what do you do?" "Shopping Guide website can develop, the reason is mainly reflected in three aspects, first of all, the Internet is a fast-breaking field, the first entrants will have its unique advantages, shopping class site to find business opportunities have basically laid its inherent industry threshold, see Beauty said, Mushroom Street, fold 800, what is worth buying.

Second, a key question is whether the shopping guide can be replaced by its own operations. Take offline for example, all clothing in the factory has its fixed product number, and each chain design style, style display basic, why also need to guide, the same for online, operation is equivalent to your product number, your store design, your style placed, To a certain extent, these can reduce the pressure of shopping, but can not fundamentally replace.

Finally, whether a part can make something stronger than a company. Even those big platforms have a variety of technologies, the comprehensive advantage of resources, but shopping for a company's number of people tend to be more than the number of this department dozens of times times, and in the professional, so much focus on one thing, product experience and professionalism in general will be stronger than a large platform of dozens of people in a department of products.

The above several reasons can also answer why the big shopping platform repeatedly blocked, but more and more to buy shopping site fire. Shopping-type website and its own subdivision of the combination of people, is bound to make a belong to their own market. So very much agree to read an article before an entrepreneur for the shopping guide site prediction, shopping-type site may not be a giant platform, but the creation of several billions of to tens of billions of dollars in the market value of the company is still not a problem.

But if you want to meet that standard, still need two prerequisites to meet at least one, the first premise is that the concept of large-scale shopping platform change, will not be good at the field of a more open attitude to let others do, with Taobao own words, called "build up the electric quotient of the ecological system." After all, beer bottles and wine caps cannot always be made on their own, and Samsung and Apple's accessories are not all part of their own.

The second premise is that the shopping guide site relies on its own accumulated users, out of the clamping of these platforms, do a subdivision of the vertical shopping platform. We can see, like beautiful said, Mushroom Street, has been waiting for platform-like site concept change, began to do their own shopping platform, but this shopping platform, focus or to guide the content of the drive, according to their published data, Beautiful said the plan to do 3 billion yuan in turnover this year, and Mushroom Street in November 2013 and December, the transformation only two months of its own electric business platform "excellent shop" turnover reached 120 million yuan. This development, from the listing of the road is not far. To do its own platform there is also the advantage of having a loyal user, the self-employed profit will be higher, but also easier to grasp the lifeline in their own body.

PostScript: The above analysis is more or based on shopping guide to discuss, in fact, in our daily life, shopping guide site may involve all aspects of life, tourism, food and even news, and so on, all aspects will have a shopping guide site's survival value. Now the development of mobile phone application market, users more "fragmented" time has been fully utilized, which in fact to help users quickly positioning, quick choice of shopping-type site, there is a better space for development.