---
title: "Coca-Cola Can't Resist Either: Is Social E-commerce Really That Attractive?"
description: "On May 20, Coca-Cola's Tmall flagship store launched a new plant-based beverage called 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty', positioned as a 'sleep aid and beauty' drink. As the new product was officially launched on Tmall, Coca-Cola China also announced that it would be sold nationwide through social e-commerce channels. As a popular subcategory under the health trend, Coca-Cola China's entry into plant-based beverages is not surprising, but notably, this is Coca-Cola China's first foray into social e-commerce."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2020-05-22"
language: "en"
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# Coca-Cola Can't Resist Either: Is Social E-commerce Really That Attractive?

> On May 20, Coca-Cola's Tmall flagship store launched a new plant-based beverage called 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty', positioned as a 'sleep aid and beauty' drink. As the new product was officially launched on Tmall, Coca-Cola China also announced that it would be sold nationwide through social e-commerce channels. As a popular subcategory under the health trend, Coca-Cola China's entry into plant-based beverages is not surprising, but notably, this is Coca-Cola China's first foray into social e-commerce.

**On May 20, Coca-Cola's Tmall flagship store launched a new plant-based beverage called 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty'**, a new product introduced by Coca-Cola China, positioned as a 'sleep aid and beauty' drink. As the new product was officially launched on Tmall, Coca-Cola China also stated that it would be sold nationwide through social e-commerce online channels.
Plant-based beverages are a popular subcategory under the health trend, and Coca-Cola China's entry is not unusual, but it is worth noting that **this product marks Coca-Cola China's first venture into social e-commerce.** One cannot help but marvel at the allure of social e-commerce, as even a giant like Coca-Cola cannot resist diving in.
**-01-**
### **What is the operating model of the new product?**
**Given Coca-Cola's product development capabilities and brand strength, even if the product itself lacks highlights, the quality should not be an issue. The editor is more concerned about the product's operating model.
It is understood that this product is not operated directly by Coca-Cola China, but by Shandong Zhuangdie, the exclusive online general distributor for 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty', which is responsible for the product's promotion, operation, and sales. Shandong Zhuangdie has 'rich experience' in social e-commerce, and the capabilities of both parties complement each other.
In terms of brand marketing, 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty' focuses on content operation and new media traffic, emphasizing the creation of a brand IP new media KOL and KOC matrix.
In the terminal market, 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty' takes a different approach, focusing on long-term consumer mindset cultivation, launching the live plan mini-program, using systematic tools to manage consumer groups, and creating a good consumption experience.
'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty' builds a community operation system, managing agents in a layered manner through communities, helping top agents with team operations, and further focusing on the growth and gains of agents.
"We are accelerating our transformation into a consumer-centric, all-category beverage company. Social e-commerce is an emerging retail channel in the past two years. We look forward to exploring new subcategories and channel models, and trying a series of new products to meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers in the digital and multi-dimensional era," said Coca-Cola China. In the future, it will adjust products and models in a timely manner based on trial results and consumer feedback.
**-02-**
### **The Charm of Social E-commerce: Giants Say 'So True'**
**Regardless of whether 'Zunxuan 28 Sleep Wake Beauty' achieves good results, it is foreseeable that Coca-Cola will continue to invest in social e-commerce in the future.** In fact, Coca-Cola is not the first batch of food and beverage giants to test social e-commerce. In recent years, brands such as Mengniu, Yili, Wahaha, and Nestlé have entered social e-commerce early, and even if results are poor and they are criticized, they remain undeterred and continue to forge ahead.**
Where exactly does the charm of social e-commerce lie, that giants still say 'so true' even after repeated setbacks? In fact, just a few sets of data can make it clear.
> In 2018, China's online retail market was 9 trillion yuan, and the social e-commerce market was 12.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 14% of the entire online retail scale; in 2019, China's social e-commerce users reached 422 million, with a market size of 2.1 trillion yuan; it is predicted that in 2020, the social e-commerce scale will reach 3 trillion yuan;
With such a big cake, how could these giants not be tempted? On the other hand, it's not just the rapid increase in scale; community e-commerce itself has some outstanding advantages.
**1\. Turning uncertain needs into reality**
Today's consumers live in an era of material abundance, where certain needs are well satisfied. Thirsty? Buy a bottle of water. Clothes old? Buy new clothes. As consumption levels rise, consumers have more disposable funds, and their aspiration for a better life gives rise to new needs without a clear direction.
At this point, what can social e-commerce bring to consumers? A friend of yours has used a product and verified it is good. Based on their understanding of you, they recommend it to you, thinking you need it and it suits you. This recommendation solves the problems of trust endorsement and need realization, and before this, you didn't even know you had such a need. This is the advantage of social e-commerce.
**2\. Releasing the power of retail edges**
Who are the 'recommenders' in social e-commerce? Before 2017, there was a group of 'mom group' WeChat business people. Over time, offline sales guides, opinion leaders in the field, and in the past two years, community group buying and the addition of small store owners have made 'recommenders' more diverse and rapidly expanding in scale.
According to incomplete statistics, there are 50 million mothers in China with fragmented time and not valued in the workplace; additionally, the development of e-commerce like Tmall and JD.com has impacted offline sales guides, with 60 million sales guides, one-third laid off and two-thirds having long idle time during work.
With such a base, myths of 'getting rich overnight' frequently appear, driving more people to join the 'recommender' ranks and promoting the rise of social e-commerce.
**3\. Strong experience after complete infrastructure**
The full maturity of infrastructure such as mobile internet, logistics, payment systems, and apps is an important reason for the rapid development of social e-commerce. In addition, social e-commerce has formed a replicable standardized business model, such as the typical S2B2C model, with decentralized front-end and centralized back-end.
Platforms can provide community e-commerce entrepreneurs with integrated services including logistics, training, IT, design, and content. The front-end individual only needs to reach more groups through social sharing to complete the delivery experience.
In the past, traditional B2C e-commerce was one-to-many centralized service. Consumers experienced rigid advertisements and cold detail pages, without warmth or trust. Social e-commerce, on the other hand, is many-to-many decentralized service, connecting supply and demand in a fragmented way. There is warmth and trust between consumers and recommenders, as well as direct and real experiences after using products.
Material abundance brings 'uncertainty' in demand, and how to move consumers becomes the key to business; the power of retail edges, with mothers and offline sales guides as the main recommenders, is gradually released relying on internet tools; the maturity of warehousing, logistics, payment, and related tools and models makes the soil for social e-commerce more fertile, giving consumers a more real and warm experience and sense of participation.
It can be said that social e-commerce solves the problem of connection among the three dimensions of people, goods, and places, and these three forces together contribute to the vigorous development of social e-commerce.**
**-03-
### **Giants Cross the River: Will 'Big Players' Create a New Landscape?**
**Having too many choices is not necessarily a good thing. Today, when consumers want to buy a product, similar products make them dazzled, and they are numb or even disgusted by the overwhelming advertising bombardment from brands. Consumers are more willing to trust products recommended by people they trust, which is the fundamental reason why social e-commerce can rise: it saves consumers the problem of choice and trust endorsement.
With the development of social e-commerce over the past seven years, it has gradually evolved from the wild growth of many small brands to the sequential entry of large brands. In recent years, many well-known brands such as Alibaba, JD.com, Mengniu, and Wahaha have entered the social e-commerce industry, and today Coca-Cola's trial further proves that the trend of giant brands entering social e-commerce is increasing.
The entry of these 'big players' is bound to have a huge impact on the landscape and development of social e-commerce. Can the scale and standardization of big brands bring healthier development to future social e-commerce, or even reconstruct the social e-commerce industry? Let's wait and see.
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