Second-tier City group purchase lifeline

Where should the group buying site go? The latest inflection point is the two or three-line city, for those who have already gone through the noisy but still not solve the problem of the purchase site, if this year still can not find a way out for themselves, the results will be tragic, and the two or three-line city can really become a buy a lifeline?

To expand the two or three-line city is to innocence?

According to media reports, the recent U.S. network will be in Leshan, Nanyang, Yingkou, Putian, Zaozhuang and other 20 cities to open a new station, is currently recruiting city managers.

U.S. network related to the head revealed that the recruitment mainly for the website business expansion, will be spread to the three or four-line city. Another group buying giant handle network is also preparing for "two times enclosure." Handle Nets Vice President Si Ying introduced, handle net before the Spring Festival started to enclosure for the purpose of "thousands of people recruitment", and to more than 10 cooperative headhunting Company issued a management job demand, as well as a large number of two or three-line city sales and other positions. "Thousands of people recruitment is continuing, there are currently 1/3 new employees into the post, this round of recruitment, handle net staff will reach about 3500 people, landing 200 or so, are significantly higher than at present." "The new company said.

The "Sync" of the group and handle network illustrates a problem: the group buying network is returning to the strategy of 2 years ago, occupying two or three-line cities.

In a sense, the era of group buying site is hot, its expansion in the two or three-line city is very positive. Zhao once worked at a group buying website of the second line branch, she told the author, in the year group buying site rely on the rapid rise of venture capital, and a second-tier city, overnight influx of dozens of of group buy Web site to enter and open branches to carry out business, but also the rise of a number of local group In a short period of time, there has been a war of poaching, but only half a year, these branches and local group buying network will be closed.

"The vast expanse of whiteness is really clean," said Zhao: "In fact, such a scuffle down, group purchase site in the end how to carry out the business, what kind of business, the branch company up and down have not been clear, on the split." "A once noisy full net is an example of 2400 people in its heyday, and soon there are just over 300 people."

And many electric business practitioners also said that in the early days of the Thousand-group war, group buying net has only become a real shop online promotional advertising platform, on the surface to see a large number of buy information is very attractive, but the actual turnover is not high, and whether consumers in the purchase of online customized localized life services, in the physical stores can enjoy the same concessions

After a momentary freshness disappeared, no clear profit model of the group buy network began to appear a large number of delisting. According to group buy navigation website Group 800 released the latest data show that by the end of February this year, there were only 943 sites in the real sense of maintaining operations (less than 7 days after group-buying activities were not updated), compared with 5,058 of the all-time highest record, with a survival rate of only 18.6%.

Such results allow the industry to buy the site of the future cast a lot of shadows, although on the surface, in 2012, China's online buying market volume reached 34.8 billion yuan, an increase of 61%. But the loss is also the same, in group buying burned the most crazy half a year, handle net loss of nearly 400 million yuan. In other words, an average of 25 hundred bills will be burned every second. According to Renren's earnings, the net loss of the glutinous rice net in 2012 also reached 27.3 million U.S. dollars, about 170 million yuan.

Returning to the two or three-line city, returning to the most standard group buying model, seems to be a cry for hope.

Will the two or three-line city become a support point?

Group buying has been lost for a long time.

Once, the group buying network in the excavation of localized life service feel labored, have put their eyes on the net to buy, "accurate is the ultra-low-priced online shopping model" a person in the electric business so much more than a year before the purchase network transformation: "Such a net, despite playing a variety of terms, but in essence and large electric dealers such as Taobao, There is no essential difference, but in order to compete for consumers, competing low prices, the result is not to hurt people, but the cost of their own to lose the naked. ”

In exchange for the results of their own local life services This is not the characteristics of the electricity business has been marginalized, group buying network has become a low-cost online shopping, the name of the group purchase has become increasingly discredited. Of course at the same time because the location is not clear to make their situation more and more embarrassing, and thus, the desire to return to become more vivid.

glutinous Rice Network general Manager Shenboyang pointed out that last year, the United States about 340 billion U.S. dollars in the electricity market, China just over half of the United States. and E-commerce accounts for 5% to 8% of the entire retail business in the United States. But behind this figure lies a huge market behind it, the local service sector. In the group buying industry, many service companies do not have the means to conduct e-commerce, since the physical type of retail industry can produce such a large market, there is reason to believe that the service business of the imagination of e-commerce space. This future depends on group buying sites to each other's benign competition and common development.

The goal is to reposition itself in the local life service, while locking the direction in the two or three-line cities that were once abandoned. But there are also concerns, as early as in 2011 group buying big Development period, many group buying websites have laid out two or three line market, but because the competition is too intense, supply is greater than demand, the majority of the regional stations due to serious losses have closed. The return of the moment, will not repeat itself.

In this respect, group 800 co-founder Hu Chen said, because of "North Canton" and other first-tier city group purchase sales gradually slowed down, the increase is difficult to further increase significantly, enterprises to complete a greater breakthrough must rely mainly on small and medium-sized cities. "Two years ago, there have been some aggressive group buying enterprises into the 234-line market, although these enterprises eventually removed the station or even closed down, but the local market and consumers have had contact and understanding of the group, the talent also has a foundation." "Hu Chen at the same time revealed that, in addition to the United States network, handle nets, glutinous rice Network and the mass Review group from last year four quarter began in the two or three-line city to take a number of 24 coupons, after the collapse of the network of the city.

More crucially, there are indications that the current growth of the group buying network is largely from the two or three-line cities. According to statistics, last November, the total turnover of the 40 cities was 1.342 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 71.8%, the chain rose by 200 points in October. Despite a small rise in the number of first-tier cities, this is still a significant decline compared to the absolute dominance of first-tier cities in overall sales, and today's group buying markets may need more local cities to replenish new energy.

In this respect, industry experts analysis, by domestic group buying development, the transition between the pre-group purchase site competition makes key cities market has become saturated, it is difficult to get a large increase. In the two or three-line local cities, most of them are in the initial stage, and their huge consumption potential has not been sufficiently excavated.

Difficulties in labor-intensive industries

Looks like the future opens again, but the door is still likely to close as it did in previous years.

is not a question of market potential, but the problem of people, once returned to the local life services, and fully open up the two or three-line city market, we must, as in the same year, in the two or three-line cities, a wide range of recruiting, followed by the possibility of substantial growth in performance, but also the inevitability of great pressure on human resources.

"After all, local life services require a large number of sales and market face-to-face contact, which is very similar to the traditional industry, but the display counter is set up online." "The level and size of regional managers and business personnel, and the outlook for pay, will become critical, and this will eventually become a significant burden on profits," Zhao said. ”

But the solution is also highlighted, as early as a year ago, the litters group began to test water similar to the Taobao shop so that local life service providers to open their own shops, to reduce the two or three-line city to expand the business of human resources costs.

However, such "saving" mode also brings a lot of drawbacks, the most critical is the quality of service is difficult to guarantee. Due to the lack of local regulatory mechanisms to easily open stores, self-help information, and false, fraud or the consumer to trap the bundling of consumer behavior due to the lack of necessary audit mechanism to become vulnerable to drilling.

In particular, a recent industry report specifically mentioned that the group purchase site to customer complaints feedback rate is still low, the quality of service to be improved. Only handle nets, glutinous rice nets, litters group, such as several national large group buy a few more attention to user complaints, the rest of the majority of the site is ignored user experience, feedback rate of 0, after-sales service is "very bad."

At the same time, it should be noted that half of the group buying users for enterprises and institutions white-collar workers, undergraduate education users accounted for the proportion of 40%. Such a crowd structure and complaints feedback, it is inevitable that the current consumption of the main white-collar crowd to buy increasingly away from, this will become the next group buy network breakthrough, in the consumer based on the heavy hidden dangers.

Two or three-line cities must be the lifeline of group buying, but this blood transfusion line can get rid of the bottleneck of many years ago, the key is to buy net management whether from the past extensive form into a real modern enterprise fine management, otherwise, this will not be a lifeline, but the last straw crushed camel.