New clothes at the end of the year. As a Wuxi Hanfu merchant that has risen rapidly on the Pinduoduo platform, Qin Tao has become increasingly busy recently. "At the end of the year, orders have increased dramatically. Live streaming, stocking, packaging, customer service... I am busy until late at night every day, and continue the next day."
Qin Tao came into contact with Pinduoduo not long ago, but the speed of volume greatly exceeded his expectations. His store mainly sells woolen coats produced locally in Wuxi and adopts the "factory direct sales" model. Due to the high quality and cost-effectiveness of the products, the store quickly accumulated nearly 70,000 loyal fans and achieved monthly sales in just 4 months after opening the store. Breaking one million yuan.
After five years as a soldier and six years as a criminal police officer, Qin Tao chose to retire from the army and change his career in 2011 in order to end the 11-year separation from his lover. After that, I spent 9 years working hard in e-commerce. From the age of 18 to 38, 20 years have suddenly passed. From a tough guy to a Hanfu businessman, the biggest keyword in Qin Tao's story is "persistence" - adhering to military standards, adhering to love and freedom.
▲Buy new clothes at the end of the year. E-commerce orders are becoming increasingly popular, and Qin Tao is working overtime with his team. (Photo by Qian Yun)
Pinduoduo, an attempt full of uncertainties
“In these years of being an e-commerce company, I have almost stepped on After going through all the pitfalls, it was only in the past four months that I saw hope. "The hope Qin Tao is talking about is Pinduoduo. Entering Pinduoduo is an attempt full of uncertainty, at a time when the original e-commerce business has hit a bottleneck.
After retiring from the army in 2011, Qin Tao came to Jiangsu, where his wife is located, to settle and develop, and began to get in touch with the local high-quality industry-the clothing business, and became familiar with the entire link from design to production to sales. And began to explore e-commerce.
There are many high-quality large-scale clothing production factories in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Their products are mainly used for export trade and offline wholesale. They only do production but not sales. Qin Tao recognized this unique advantage. He could get the latest first-hand supply at the factory at the lowest price and sell it on the e-commerce platform. He lived near the factory, and the quality and style of the goods could be confirmed in a timely manner.control.
▲Through the "factory direct sales" model, Qin Tao brought Wuxi's high-quality woolen coats to Pinduoduo. (Photo by Qian Yun)
As a result, Qin Tao spent nearly 10 years working hard on traditional e-commerce platforms, making thermal underwear and woolen clothing. At its best, the woolen coat ranked 75th in the Hanfu category on the platform, with annual sales of more than 40 million. Good performance is an affirmation of product quality and store service. Qin Tao's high standards and high quality have also been recognized by consumers.
But the embarrassing thing is that while sales are very high, profits are very low. As the operating expenses of traditional e-commerce platforms are getting higher and higher, Qin Tao found that all the hard work all year round was in vain, with very little profit.
“After my analysis, the main reason is that the promotion fee is too high.” Qin Tao said that after the traditional e-commerce platform became successful, it became increasingly difficult to do business, with the production-to-investment ratio as high as 1:4. In other words, the operating cost is as high as 25%, which almost eats up all the profits of a piece of clothing, and sometimes, it is not even enough. And this situation is getting worse.
At that time, Qin Tao knew a colleague who specialized in selling pants on Pinduoduo. A single style of pants could sell more than 10,000 pairs a day, making considerable profits. This made Qin Tao completely dumbfounded, and also gave him the idea of switching to Pinduoduo.
Traditional e-commerce has no performance and no profit, while new e-commerce is full of vitality. Qin Tao felt that he should give it a try. Since the threshold for opening a store on Pinduoduo is not high and the operation is very simple, he tried to open a store. In just 4 months now, monthly sales have exceeded one million yuan, which was something I didn't expect at the beginning.
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For the same woolen coat, Qin Tao’s price on Pinduoduo is 100 yuan lower on average than on traditional e-commerce platforms
, which is extremely cost-effective high. (Photo by Qian Yun)
The most important thing is that the price of the same woolen coat on Pinduoduo is on average lower than that on traditional e-commerce platforms 100 yuan, but there is still profit in Pinduoduo. Each order earns a little less, but the order volume increases, and the overall profit is much greater than before.
"Pinduoduo has low costs and high conversions. The production ratio is 1:8." Qin Tao said that he prefers to do business on Pinduoduo. "I can sell it a little cheaper than before, and I still make some money. And my customers can also spend less money.”
Soon, Qin Tao decided to abandon the traditional e-commerce platform and focus on Pinduoduo.
Keep your feet on the ground and look up at the stars
In Qin Tao’s view, the most important thing for long-term business is product quality, followed by consumer experience.
Having been an e-commerce business for nearly ten years, Qin Tao always puts product quality first. Therefore, he personally participates in getting goods, selecting styles, and designing and making patterns; and, in order to ensure product quality, he It is required that all goods must be delivered from the production factory to his shipping base first, and be shipped uniformly by his team instead of being shipped directly from the factory.
Secondly, he wants consumers to feel that they are worth their money after receiving the clothes, instead of feeling like they have spent money in vain or been deceived. This is a bottom line that he cannot cross as a soldier. In just 4 months, Qin Tao's Pinduoduo store has attracted a large number of loyal fans with its high praise rate and excellent price/performance ratio. Repeat customers who purchased seven or eight items abound, and some consumers even opened offline stores directly. Purchase goods from Qin Tao's store.
▲The anchor of Qin Tao’s store is trying on coats and introducing fabrics through Duoduo live broadcast. (Photo by Qian Yun)
With the booming business in Pinduoduo, Qin Tao has currently reached supply cooperation with 6 large-scale production factories. Qin Tao said that it was Pinduoduo that started making woolen coats. In the past, he took the initiative to go to factories to get the goods, and some goods were still unavailable. Now that he has started making woolen coats, many factories will come to him and give them to him. More choices, easier access to better supply.
The live broadcast is also very effective and has become a powerful tool to improve the conversion rate of the store. Qin Tao hired professional anchors and insisted on taking turns to live broadcast every day. At the same time, he maintained the speed and high quality of new products in the store. In this way, old fans bring new fans, and through the sharing of what you see in the live broadcast room, the store's reputation is further confirmed and spread.
"Pinduoduo provides a good platform that makes the rules of the game simple. With good quality and high cost performance, you can play it successfully." Qin Tao said that Wuxi has a rich clothing industry chain, in addition to Mao There are many high-quality, cost-effective clothes locally, such as dresses, tank tops, etc. Next, he plans to gradually expand from winter clothes to spring and summer styles, and slowly expand to cover all categories and consumer needs of all ages. .
▲One of Qin Tao’s hobbies is cycling. Every year he takes a long vacation to see the world. (Photo by Qin Tao)
Only when you have your feet on the ground can you look up at the stars. "I work very seriously when I work, but I will definitely give myself a long vacation every year to have fun and see the world." Qin Tao is a person who pursues passion and freedom. He loves cycling, traveling from north to south. From west to east, he likes to measure the land with his own steps.
Qin Tao has been studying photography recently. He has already planned that after this year’s winter clothing season is over, he will set out on a cycling road again to take pictures of the beautiful scenery he sees and feel the wind blowing by. The sound in my ear. 38 years old, stillHe is a willful young man.