On September 9, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) organized a meeting. Internet companies including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu, Huawei, Xiaomi, Momo, 360, and NetEase were all present. The meeting made the following requirements:
First, for URL links of the same type of products or services shared by users, the display and access forms should be consistent; Second, when users send and receive legal URL links in instant messaging, clicking the link should directly open the page within the app; Third, no additional steps should be added to specific product or service URL links, and users should not be required to manually copy the link and open it in the system browser.
In simple terms, major internet companies must not block links from other websites for any reason. The MIIT required all platforms to implement this by September 17, or face direct penalties.
On the afternoon of September 17, WeChat had already responded:
1. Under the premise of ensuring information security, after users upgrade to the latest version of WeChat, they can access external links in one-on-one chat scenarios. 2. Provide users with the right to choose. For group links, as they involve a wide range of recipients, we will continue to develop features to facilitate users' personalized choices. 3. Establish an entry point for reporting external links, allowing users to report illegal or non-compliant external links. The platform will handle them according to the relevant rules and establish a credit rating for the management effectiveness of platforms providing external links.
Undoubtedly, "opening external links" will become an event that can rewrite the history of the Chinese internet.
In November 2013, Taobao blocked WeChat links. Clicking any Taobao link in WeChat would lead to Taobao's download page. Subsequently, WeChat also blocked Taobao links. If your friend recommended a Taobao product, you could only copy the password and open it in the Taobao app. The internet should be a sea, formed by streams of information. However, China's internet giants have turned it into a series of lakes. The fundamental reason is the competition for traffic.
Today's internet giants compete for traffic, essentially competing for each user's time. Douyin, with its algorithm, firmly grasps users' time and has gradually grown into a national-level app. This is why ByteDance was able to grow in the shadow of Tencent and Alibaba, becoming the third pole of China's internet. To make users spend time on their own apps, internet giants have created various "inconveniences." The "inconvenience" between WeChat and Taobao is a manifestation of this competition. The market has driven the development of the internet, but it cannot correct its own problems. So, the MIIT stepped in. What impact will this precise "surgery" have?
For each platform, it can be said to be a mixed blessing. First, Alibaba should benefit. The Taobao system can officially enter WeChat's national-level traffic pool, which is a huge advantage for Alibaba, which is thirsty for traffic. However, the potential impact is that Alimama's advertising will be greatly affected. Alimama's advertising revenue in 2020 was 253.6 billion yuan. Once the platforms are connected, will merchants invest a large amount of advertising fees in Tencent and Douyin? For Tencent, in the short term, it should be more harm than good. WeChat's user base is already on the same scale as China's population. For many Chinese people, WeChat is equivalent to the internet. In 2020, Pinduoduo's market value surpassed JD.com, and in just over four years since its establishment, it became an e-commerce giant alongside Alibaba and JD.com. Just when many believed that Alibaba and JD.com had divided the e-commerce world, Pinduoduo managed to tear open a gap. Why did Pinduoduo succeed? No matter how you analyze it, there is one name you cannot avoid: Tencent.
With the help of WeChat's social ecosystem, Pinduoduo quickly developed by bringing people from third- and fourth-tier, even fifth-tier regions, who had never shopped online, into the e-commerce world. Due to the isolation between WeChat and Taobao, Taobao shopping links cannot be opened normally in WeChat. If WeChat users can directly open Taobao links, or even directly purchase Taobao products in WeChat, it will inevitably have a certain impact on Pinduoduo. Not only Pinduoduo, but almost all Tencent-affiliated products will be affected to varying degrees. However, advertising fees from Alibaba merchants may flow into Tencent in large quantities, which is a potential benefit for Tencent.
For individual users, there won't be much change in the short term. Use WeChat for socializing, Taobao for shopping, and Douyin for short videos. For ordinary netizens, they won't feel any inconvenience. The formation of consumption habits takes time, and change also takes time. In the short term, within the Alibaba system, users will continue to use Alibaba services, and within the Tencent system, they will continue to use Tencent services. The "inconveniences" caused by internet giants to each other are more about inconvenience for merchants. For example, the "choose one of two" practice, which has been criticized for a long time and was previously rectified. For users, they don't feel obvious discomfort; everything is habit. When internet giants open up to each other, forming new consumption paths, users will actually need a period of time to adapt.
Let's focus on the FMCG industry. Overall, the policy is a positive for the FMCG industry. After the opening, brand operators will have more room for maneuver in operations, and many new play methods will emerge. Innovative brands that produce niche long-tail products, if they can accumulate true private domain traffic, will have the opportunity to transform their brands from quantitative change to qualitative change. Currently, merchants spend a large amount of costs on purchasing traffic. Once they are connected, there will be more ways to reach consumers, and operating costs may decrease. This means merchants can focus more on polishing quality and providing better services. This is a good opportunity for merchants who are dedicated to creating products and building brands. Of course, the MIIT's requirements have no detailed rules, and platforms have flexibility in their responses. For example, will Alibaba take measures such as invisible demotion for brands that previously invested heavily but no longer invest? Policy triggers change; lakes are only connected by ditches, but they cannot completely become the sea. From a macro perspective, the fragmentation of traffic remains an irreversible trend.
Moreover, don't forget that no matter how it evolves, all brand operators face the same environment. Therefore, how to achieve precise matching and communication between products and users through omni-channel operations is a question that never goes out of style. Digitalization, omni-channel marketing, organizational transformation, and sustainable development are still topics that every brand operator must consider. The opening of external links is a landmark event. Tencent has already taken the first step in rectification, and it is foreseeable that more platforms will take corresponding measures.
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