---
title: "Inventory | Innovative Channels and Characteristics in the New Retail Environment"
description: "Click to read the original text for details. User-centricity is a key feature of today's retail. Driven by technology, based on intelligence, collaboration, and plasticity, and relying on supply chains and deep integration of online and offline, the 'people, goods, and places' are reconstructed to meet different user needs. In the new retail environment, based on traditional channels and the development of mobile internet, various innovative channels have emerged. The new retail model of full scenarios, full data, full channels, full time periods, and full categories has also been realized. According to different functions, innovative channels under new retail can be divided into..."
author: "李青林"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-07-24"
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# Inventory | Innovative Channels and Characteristics in the New Retail Environment

> Click to read the original text for details. User-centricity is a key feature of today's retail. Driven by technology, based on intelligence, collaboration, and plasticity, and relying on supply chains and deep integration of online and offline, the 'people, goods, and places' are reconstructed to meet different user needs. In the new retail environment, based on traditional channels and the development of mobile internet, various innovative channels have emerged. The new retail model of full scenarios, full data, full channels, full time periods, and full categories has also been realized. According to different functions, innovative channels under new retail can be divided into...

Click to read the original text for details.
User-centricity is a key feature of today's retail. Driven by technology, based on intelligence, collaboration, and plasticity, and relying on supply chains and deep integration of online and offline, the 'people, goods, and places' are reconstructed to meet different user needs.
In the new retail environment, based on traditional channels and the development of mobile internet, various innovative channels have also emerged. The new retail model of full scenarios, full data, full channels, full time periods, and full categories has also been realized.
**According to different functions, innovative channels under new retail can be divided into platform-based, content-based, short video, online-offline combination, O2O, and social types. Under different modules, different scenarios can bring different experiences to consumers.**
**Commonly used platform-based type**
E-commerce platforms are currently the most frequently used channels by brands and consumers. With the birth of the mobile internet, e-commerce platforms have shifted from PC to mobile, and from web pages to apps. Representatives of the platform-based type include the traditional e-commerce platforms Tmall and JD.com, which are familiar to everyone, as well as Pinduoduo, which focuses on consumers outside the fifth ring road and went public within three years, and Douyin Luban e-commerce derived from Douyin's strong fan base, as well as Mengtui from Qutoutiao, and selected e-commerce platforms such as NetEase Yanxuan, Xiaomi Youpin, and Biyao.
**1. Wide coverage and fast brand dissemination**
E-commerce platforms represented by JD.com, Tmall, and Pinduoduo can be said to cover all consumers nationwide. Tmall's Double 11 and JD.com's 618 have become two major shopping festivals in China and even globally. For brands, these three platforms can expand brand influence in a relatively short time.
**2. Large traffic**
Whether it is JD.com, Tmall, Pinduoduo, or Douyin Luban e-commerce, as well as NetEase Yanxuan and Xiaomi Youpin, which are increasingly familiar to consumers, they all bring huge traffic to the platform. Currently, e-commerce platforms remain traffic gathering places.
**3. More precise consumer targeting**
With the continuous change in consumer demand, precise matching with consumers has also become a major function of major e-commerce platforms. For example, Pinduoduo focuses on consumers outside the fifth ring road, Douyin Luban e-commerce attracts young people, Mengtui sinks channels, Xiaomi Youpin is part of the Xiaomi ecosystem, NetEase Yanxuan is the first ODM model in China, and Biyao uses the C2M model to achieve direct connection from users to factories, providing users with luxury quality,平民价格, personalized exclusive products. Different e-commerce platforms rely on different product characteristics to meet the needs of different consumers.
**4. Diversified dissemination channels**
In addition to the traditional product display methods of Tmall and Taobao, the dissemination methods of platforms are also more diverse. Douyin Luban e-commerce, through video display, directly jumps to the purchase page under the Douyin system interface to complete transactions. No third-party Taobao or Tmall stores are needed.
Mengtui is a comprehensive e-commerce app that brings together life experts and focuses on recommending good products. It advocates only recommending good products. Under the products, there are real evaluations from life experts, providing a series of help before and after shopping, including usage tips and small knowledge. This is also a feature of Mengtui.
It can be said that currently e-commerce platforms are suitable for all categories, but different platforms also have different focuses. For example, JD.com is suitable for 3C products, Douyin Luban e-commerce is suitable for creating internet-famous products, and Mengtui is suitable for interesting and personalized products. In the era of folded consumer demand, the same consumer will choose different platforms for shopping based on different needs.
**Content channels for planting and pulling grass**
Nowadays, consumers no longer shop for the sake of shopping, especially on mobile. Consumers are willing to recommend good products through sharing, and brands also attract consumers by deeply exploring product characteristics. Thus, content aggregation platforms led by Xiaohongshu and Mogujie have emerged.
**1. Most understanding of young people**
'Mark my life' is Xiaohongshu's slogan. Consumers can learn the latest fashion trends through Xiaohongshu and share their lives with millions of netizens. Similarly, Mogujie's homepage displays a large amount of professional fashion content in a waterfall flow. Some of this professional content comes from Mogujie's official content team, which itself has MCN attributes with multi-channel matrix distribution and content creation capabilities. Mogujie allows people to enjoy the shopping experience while discovering fashion trends. It can be said that as content channels, Xiaohongshu and Mogujie understand young people best. Xiaohongshu and Mogujie provide a professional community where users with different needs share their experiences and feelings about products. Through user sharing, various problems users encounter when choosing products can be fully solved. Users can choose products that match their needs for reference, and can also consult other users through comments. Users can find answers to questions in this community.
**2. Deeply explore product characteristics**
As the name implies, content platforms pay more attention to the in-depth exploration of product characteristics. Through users' experience and analysis of products, consumers can find products that are more suitable for themselves. In other words, through users' content sharing, Xiaohongshu and Mogujie can allow users to buy products with the highest cost performance with the least money.
**3. Achieve precise product placement**
As of January 2019, Xiaohongshu had over 200 million users, of which 70% were post-90s. Mogujie integrates existing resources, including e-commerce, community, influencers, content, etc., to serve different female users. By driving the upgrade of the upstream supply chain, providing products for women, creating an influencer ecosystem, and introducing fashion experts, it conveys an independent fashion attitude while providing products and content to meet the consumption needs of female users.
Planting and pulling grass on Xiaohongshu and Mogujie has become an essential skill for young consumers.
Like Mogujie, Xiaohongshu's main user group is concentrated in women aged 20-35. Women in this age group have a strong pursuit of beauty and are also keen on online social networking. In terms of product categories, Mogujie pays more attention to beauty and clothing products, while Xiaohongshu is suitable for a wider range of categories. In addition to beauty and clothing, food, electronic products, and household items are also its main recommended categories.
**Internet celebrity factory: short video**
The popularity of 4G networks has brought earth-shaking changes to the mobile internet, and short video apps have also emerged. Douyin and Kuaishou have become typical representatives of short video. With the emergence of Douyin and Kuaishou, short video has also become the most popular channel for bringing goods.
**1. Super traffic pool**
'South Kuaishou, North Douyin' are the two mainstream video software. As of early January 2019, Douyin's domestic daily active users exceeded 250 million, and monthly active users exceeded 500 million. As of December 2018, Kuaishou had over 160 million daily active users and 300 million monthly active users. It can be said that Douyin and Kuaishou have become super traffic pools where young people gather.
**2. Wide dissemination range and fast speed**
Through short videos, content can be spread to all places covered by the network in just a few seconds. It can be said that its dissemination range is phenomenal. On Douyin and Kuaishou, internet-famous products can be known by consumers nationwide overnight. Therefore, Douyin and Kuaishou have also become production factories for internet-famous products.
**3. Strong ability to bring goods**
With hundreds of millions of daily active users, Douyin and Kuaishou have a huge monetization foundation. From data, the users of Douyin and Kuaishou are mainly young women under 24. In terms of class distribution, Douyin's user group is mostly young people in first- and second-tier cities, with a generally higher living standard and diversity than Kuaishou. Kuaishou is mostly composed of the broad middle and lower classes, with cities concentrated in third- and fourth-tier small cities. Therefore, both Douyin and Kuaishou have strong ability to bring goods.
Whether it is Kuaishou or Douyin, they are most suitable for internet-famous products. Most importantly, they can also create internet-famous explosive products. Through influencer promotion and user-generated content, internet-famous explosive products have become representatives of the two platforms. In the e-commerce sales of Douyin and Kuaishou, skincare and beauty products account for the highest advertising proportion at 25.0%, with sales categories mainly masks and facial cleansers. Men's skincare series advertising has also become its biggest highlight. Douyin has popularized 'Answer Tea' and 'Haidilao', and has also attracted more local catering and entertainment service merchants to advertise. Catering and food advertising accounts for 16.7%, mainly local services. Mother and baby, children, and cute pet series advertising accounts for a higher proportion than other channels.
**Online-offline combination type**
If pure e-commerce platforms can provide consumers with diverse shopping channels, then the new retail channels combining online and offline not only provide channels but also bring new consumption experiences. Examples include Hema Fresh and Three Squirrels.
**1. Reconstruct people, goods, and places**
The birth of Hema Fresh has given consumers a new understanding of people, goods, and places. With the Hema app, users can order online and enjoy free delivery within three kilometers. In offline Hema stores, consumers can experience unique consumption scenarios. Similarly, Three Squirrels, which just went public not long ago, has opened squirrel feeding stores nationwide in addition to its online e-commerce channels, bringing the internet snack brand offline.
**2. Landing offline**
Hema Fresh and Three Squirrels have successfully brought online traffic offline, reaching more consumers through the experience of new retail scenarios. It can be said that the combination of online and offline is complementary for different consumer groups. Young consumers can obtain products online, while conservative consumers can also enjoy the same shopping experience as online consumers offline. Offline word-of-mouth dissemination brings traffic online.
**3. Ultimate consumption experience**
If online scenarios focus on efficiency, then offline focuses on the experience of consumption scenarios. Both Hema Fresh and Three Squirrels present unique offline stores to consumers. Offline, consumers can taste fresh seafood through on-site selection and on-site preparation. At Three Squirrels, consumers interact with the IP through squirrel feeding stores.
For new retail channels combining online and offline, new retail represented by Hema Fresh is more suitable for fresh food categories, while Three Squirrels is suitable for exclusive categories.
**O2O type**
The emergence of O2O allows products and consumers to have deep contact. O2O platforms led by Meituan, Dianping, and Ele.me not only drive the development of the lazy economy but also save consumers more time.
**1. Directly reach consumers**
Meituan and Ele.me, mainly focused on food delivery, connect millions of restaurants with consumers. Food brands can directly reach consumers, and consumers can directly rate merchants through reviews.
**2. Both to home and to store**
In terms of business, Meituan and Ele.me mainly focus on delivery to home, while Dianping attracts consumers to stores through user content sharing. In terms of diversification, Meituan covers a wide range, while Ele.me focuses only on services and delivery, without extending to other businesses.
**3. Emphasis on user experience**
Currently, O2O platforms pay more attention to user experience. The business chain of life service e-commerce is longer and more complex. Specifically, life services have characteristics such as non-standardization, differentiation, and experiential nature. This means that even for services with the same price and name, consumers may receive significantly different services from different offline merchants, different service personnel, or even at different times. In comparison, Meituan's ecological synergy focuses more on the food, drink, entertainment, and life service system. Currently, Meituan has multiple entry points such as Meituan app, Meituan delivery app, Dianping app, WeChat, and QQ, which can meet users' ordering needs in different scenarios.
With the development of the times, users' time is becoming more fragmented, and their requirements for service efficiency are also increasing. The most important thing for an O2O mall platform is to improve efficiency, allowing users to shop easily anytime and anywhere, simplifying the shopping process of the O2O mall platform.
On October 8, 2015, Dianping and Meituan jointly issued a statement announcing strategic cooperation and the establishment of a new company. The new company will become a leading platform in China's O2O field. After the merger, the personnel structure of both parties remains unchanged, and they retain their respective brands and independent operations. Currently, Meituan aims to do group buying in all areas of life, including food, clothing, housing, and transportation, while Ele.me focuses on the vertical field of delivery.
**Social e-commerce type**
With the development of the mobile internet, e-commerce has entered the 4.0 era centered on social interaction. Social e-commerce platforms, community group buying, and social technology platforms have also appeared before us.
The essence of social e-commerce is an e-commerce model that develops rapidly based on social mobile social interaction. It is based on interpersonal networks, using Weibo, WeChat, and other dissemination channels, through social interaction, user-generated content, and other means to assist in the purchase of goods. At the same time, it applies social elements such as attention, sharing, and interaction to the transaction process. It is a fusion of e-commerce and social media, a social transaction model centered on trust.
Global Hunter, Yunji, Beidian, and Benlai Market are representatives of social e-commerce platforms. Similarly, community group buying represented by Linglingyi, Squirrel Pinpin, Kaola Select, and Xingsheng Youxuan have also appeared before consumers. In terms of technology, Youzan and Weimob have also become indispensable platforms for social e-commerce.
**1. Low customer acquisition cost**
The essence of social e-commerce lies in communication between people. Personal influence has faster dissemination speed and wider dissemination surface. For example, if you see a snack on a mini program and directly share it to your friend group, interested friends will actively buy it. This kind of dissemination greatly saves time, manpower, and promotion costs. Social e-commerce uses the existing strong social relationships between people to first attract users to the social e-commerce platform, making them users of the platform. Through the large social background, it can layer by layer fission, obtaining users in the already formed huge social network and ultimately settling users.
**2. Strong immediacy**
The core of social interaction is trust between people. Only trust can generate transactions, and only good products can maintain trust, thereby continuously selling products. The shopping circle of social e-commerce is precisely expanded along the familiar relationship chain in social tools. This can achieve immediate promotion of shopping information, realize the 'fission' expansion of users, and bring more traffic.
**3. High conversion rate**
Compared with the traditional e-commerce model of 'widely casting nets and focusing on cultivation', the model of attracting fans and fission in social e-commerce is easier to achieve high conversion rates. We need to transform the operation dimension from mere 'traffic thinking' to 'fan thinking'. It is not that high traffic means more goods sold, but that high customer quality and obvious demand intention mean more goods sold. Consumers of social e-commerce usually have higher stickiness and quality.
**4. High user experience**
Products are sold while chatting, products are sold while interacting. The transaction environment is relaxed and pleasant, and users are willing to consume. Compared with cold traditional e-commerce and offline stores, the user experience of social e-commerce is very high.
Social channels are more suitable for leisure food and fresh fruit categories because they are products with high repurchase rates and are easier to spread in communities. Similarly, explosive products are also suitable for social e-commerce.
As an evolution of traditional channels, new retail channels use advanced technology to provide consumers with services from different dimensions. In the era of consumption upgrade, innovative channels under new retail use O2O to improve consumer efficiency, and also use online-offline combination to meet consumers' new shopping experiences. Through short videos, we can have zero-distance contact with internet celebrities. Through content channels, we can bring products to those who need them most. And relying on e-commerce platforms, in the borderless world built by the internet, we can reach everything.


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