Table of Contents
Executive Summary
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- Impact of COVID-19 on social commerce
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- Figure 1: Short-, medium- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on social commerce, April 2020
- Social commerce benefiting from the COVID-19…
- … yet discrepancies exist for different platforms
- COVID-19 pushed live commerce a step forward
- Shifts in consumer behaviour
- The market
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- Figure 2: User number of online shopping, 2015- March 2020
- Companies and brands
- The consumer
- Both buying and promoting become common in social commerce
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- Figure 3: Social commerce related behaviour, April 2020
- Pinduoduo and WeChat ecosystem are most popular
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- Figure 4: Awareness and usage of social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Household cleaning products champion on shopping list
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- Figure 5: Products and service purchased on social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Trade-in quality and service for the price
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- Figure 6: Impression of different types of social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Promotion and knowledge sharing are more appealing
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- Figure 7: Types of content willing to share, April 2020
- A promising future for social commerce
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- Figure 8: Attitudes towards social commerce, April 2020
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Various user behaviours and attitudes on social commerce across city tiers
- The facts
- The implications
- Compete to earn mindset of well-educated consumers
- The facts
- The implications
- What’s next for selling on WeChat
- The facts
- The implications
Market Factors
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- Growing internet users and online shoppers
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- Figure 9: User number of online shopping, December 2015- March 2020
- Figure 10: Online retail sales in goods, January 2018-April 2020
- Online shopping gets more common
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- Figure 11: Purchase channel of selected consumer goods, September 2019
- Huge traffic and existing connection on social media platforms
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- Figure 12: Usage of selected top apps, December 2019
- Figure 13: Proportion of usage time by app types, December 2019
- Social commerce is popular on WeChat
- Livestreaming commerce continues rapid growth
- Better shopping experience on social media platforms
- Regulated and healthy environment drive market growth
Key Players – What You Need to Know
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- WeChat’s mini program took off in 2019
- Competition in earning consumers
- Elevate livestreaming to the next level
Performance of Major Platforms
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- Pinduoduo
- Mogujie
- Youzan
- Yunji
Competitive Strategies
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- One-stop shopping experience matters
- Product quality comes first
- Brands can recruit loyal consumers to be their ambassadors
Who’s Innovating?
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- Diversified content for livestreaming commerce
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- Figure 14: Duoduo live’s museum livestreaming, March 2020
- Build one’s own circle of trust in shopping
- Senior management level participates in brands’ livestreaming
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- Figure 15: James Liang in Ctrip’s livestreaming session, May 2020
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Both recommendation and incentive drives sharing
- Challenge in converting watch to buy
- Postgraduates are buying more
- Loyalty program was a common weakness
- Young generation and high earners prefer entertaining and personalised content
- Males and low earners trust themselves more
Social Commerce Related Behaviours
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- Unconventional heavy user of group buy
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- Figure 16: Usage of group buy, April 2020
- Buying from KOL is more prevalent among group-buy heavy users
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- Figure 17: Buying from KOL, by gender, age, personal income, and city tier, April 2020
- WeChat group to maintain relationship and generate repeat sales
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- Figure 18: Members of WeChat shopping group, by gender and personal income April 2020
- Willing to share products and promote for brands/retailers
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- Figure 19: Promotion related behaviours, April 2020
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- Figure 20: Promotion related behaviours, by age, April 2020
- Individuals are also selling on social media platforms
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- Figure 21: Sellers action on social media, April 2020
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- Figure 22: Sellers action on social media, by age and personal income, April 2020
- Sellers are also the buyers
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- Figure 23: Social commerce usage, by sellers and non-sellers on social media platforms, April 2020
Awareness and Usage of Social Commerce Platforms
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- Pinduoduo wins the crown in awareness, usage and purchase
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- Figure 24: Awareness and usage of social commerce platforms, April 2020
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- Figure 25: Awareness, browsing rate and purchase conversion of social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Xiaohongshu: challenge in converting content into purchase
- COVID-19 fuelled WeChat growth in retailing
- Vertical social e-commerce players fail to drive purchase
- Northern consumers prefer livestreaming shopping
- Postgraduates are buying more, yet not from Pinduoduo
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- Figure 26: Have purchased on social commerce platforms, by education, April 2020
Product and Service Purchased
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- COVID-19 make the household cleaning product to the top
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- Figure 27: Products and service purchased on social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Shopping preference by gender are more obvious in social commerce
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- Figure 28: Products and service purchased on social commerce platforms, by gender, April 2020
- Buying luxury on social commerce is more popular in tier one cities
- Postgraduates bought more electronics using social commerce
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- Figure 29: Products and service purchased on social commerce platforms, by education, April 2020
Platform Association
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- Traditional e-commerce platforms stand still
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- Figure 30: Impression of different types of social commerce platforms, April 2020
- Product quality matters for social commerce
- Vertical social commerce platforms need to build up popularity
- After-sales services is vital for brands selling on WeChat
Sharing Trigger
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- Valuable content drive sharing
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- Figure 31: Types of content willing to share, April 2020
- Females are more active in sharing
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- Figure 32: Types of content willing to share, by gender, April 2020
- Young consumers favours personalised content
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- Figure 33: Types of content willing to share, by age, April 2020
- High earners are more into knowledge and entertaining content
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- Figure 34: Types of content willing to share, by personal income, April 2020
Attitudes towards Social Commerce
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- COVID-19 gave social commerce a lift
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- Figure 35: COVID-19’s impact on social commerce, by gender and income, April 2020
- Social commerce succeeds in user base increment
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- Figure 36: Social commerce vs traditional e-commerce, by selected demographics, April 2020
- Friends and families are more trustworthy
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- Figure 37: Attitude towards recommendation from friends/family, April 2020
- Figure 38: Attitude towards recommendation from celebrities and friends/family, April 2020
- Males and low earners tend to be independent thinkers
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- Figure 39: Attitude towards recommendation from celebrities, by gender and income, April 2020
- Figure 40: Attitude towards recommendation from friends/family, by gender and income, April 2020
- Great opportunity in opening personal stores
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- Figure 41: Attitude towards opening personal stores, by gender and income, April 2020
- Searching function and algorithm worth improving
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- Figure 42: Attitudes towards product recommendation, by income and education, April 2020
Meet the Mintropolitans
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- More engaging in buying and promoting
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- Figure 43: Social commerce related behaviour, By sellers and non-sellers on social media platforms, April 2020
- Buying more products from more platforms
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- Figure 44: Repertoire analysis of products and service purchased, by consumer classification, April 2020
- Figure 45: Awareness and usage of social commerce platforms, by consumer classification, April 2020
- Interested in sharing their attitudes
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- Figure 46: Impression of different types of social commerce platforms, by consumer classification, April 2020
- Keep using social commerce after the outbreak
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- Figure 47: COVID-19’s impact on social commerce, by gender and income, April 2020
- Figure 48: Social commerce vs traditional e-commerce, by selected demographics, April 2020
Appendix – Methodology and Abbreviations
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- Methodology
- Abbreviations
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