I. Overview of C2C e-commerce websites
(1) definition
According to different people's habits, e-commerce is divided into B2B, B2C, C2C and so on. C2C is CustomertoCustomer, and early Yi Bei is the embryonic form of C2C e-commerce. The purpose of the website is to provide an electronic platform for people to sell unwanted items, and users can display their own items in the virtual electronic store provided by the website. People in need can bid, and the highest bidder can get this item within the specified time, pay and mail it to complete the transaction. Although with the continuous development of e-commerce, C2C e-commerce websites have increased one-price services, online shopping malls, group purchases and so on. There are also opportunities for small businesses to make money by buying funds from websites, which has not changed. It can be seen that the core of C2C website is still the essence of providing an online transaction carrier for buyers and sellers. Therefore, the author thinks that the definition of C2C e-commerce website is: to provide an online trading platform for buyers and sellers (ordinary consumers or small businesses), so that sellers can actively publish the information of the products they sell, and buyers can choose their favorite products, and it also includes a series of supporting services that are more convenient for trading.
(2) Providing a trading information exchange platform.
C2C e-commerce is to move traditional transactions to the virtual network and expand the business field. The most basic service provided by C2C e-commerce is to let buyers and sellers distribute and obtain detailed information of goods, and provide a platform for information exchange between buyers and sellers to realize transactions. Specifically, it is to play the role of intermediary in traditional transactions. But the way of publishing and obtaining information can be more flexible and humanized. For example, buyers can add some pictures to promote their products, and buyers can quickly search by classifying or entering keywords to get the information they want.
(3) Provide a series of supporting services.
C2C e-commerce website not only solves the basic information exchange service, but also provides a series of supporting services that can ensure the rapid realization of online transactions. After the transaction is completed, it is necessary to solve the problems of fund payment and goods mailing.
Taking Taobao as an example, regarding the capital flow, C2C e-commerce website introduced an independent third-party payment platform (Alipay), which basically realized secure electronic payment, improved the efficiency of online transactions and reduced the payment risk. At the same time, in order to facilitate buyers and sellers to understand the credit of both parties, we also provide credit evaluation services. In addition, in order to better meet the needs of users, we also provide a series of supporting services such as convenient instant messaging and online community.
(four) a large number of users, complex identity, small transaction amount.
By the end of June 20 13, the number of netizens in China had reached 59 1 100 million, and the Internet penetration rate was 44. 1%. More and more people have joined the online shopping group. For example, the C2C e-commerce website represented by Taobao Paipai is open to everyone and can become a user without any verification. There is no threshold for e-commerce C2C to connect large-scale buyers and sellers. At the same time, the identities of the two parties involved in the transaction are complex, and the roles of buyers and sellers often change. Some users only sell things they don't need and buy things they need through C2C website. Some are self-employed individuals who specialize in online sales for the purpose of making profits through C2C websites, and some are engaged in online sales while operating physical stores. At the same time, although there are many users of C2C e-commerce websites, both parties to C2C transactions are often ordinary consumers (individuals), which determines the trading characteristics of' small profits', and the items they buy are often small. Therefore, compared with B2B bulk purchase, the turnover of each transaction is relatively small, but more users also decide more batches of transactions.
Second, C2C e-commerce platform profitability analysis
Profit model is a profit-oriented and user-oriented operation model for enterprises to maximize organizational value. C2C e-commerce website is also an institution that needs profit to ensure sustainable development. The factors affecting its profitability can be analyzed from the following two aspects:
(A) their own conditions
The self-condition of C2C e-commerce website is the foundation of profit model construction. Only by providing customers with the products and services they need can the fundamental condition of profit be guaranteed. For China e-commerce websites taking Taobao as an example, although the services and products provided are free, if there are no free products and services that can attract users, they will also make profits through advertisements. It can be seen that whether C2C e-commerce websites can provide products or services that customers need is the key to affect the profit model.
(2) Environmental factors
Similar to business entity management, environmental factors will also affect the profit model of C2C e-commerce websites. First of all, it is influenced by macro factors of the industry, including political, economic and social macro factors. For example, if the state does not monitor the advertisements on e-commerce websites, it can attract many advertisers who cannot publish advertisements through C2C e-commerce websites through other media such as TV broadcasting. Different economic levels in different regions and people's different understanding of information technology also affect people's purchasing power and purchasing channels; Secondly, Porter's five-force analysis model can be used, and suppliers, users, competitors, entrants and substitutes in the industry where e-commerce websites are located will also have an impact on C2C e-commerce websites. Especially the profitability of C2C e-commerce websites, users are the most important. Only websites that attract users can exist and develop, and it also determines that websites attract advertisers, so it is possible to make profits. In addition, the convenient mode of information technology and the almost zero conversion cost of users make the threat of competitors and substitutes, which also makes C2C e-commerce websites face great survival pressure and indirectly affects the profit model of the websites. C2C e-commerce platform can only carefully explore the profit model, so as to avoid customers' resentment and conflict caused by Taobao's launch of "making money and turning it into treasure" in the past, and pat the "ant moving" launched for Taobao to attract Taobao customers, resulting in huge losses for Taobao.
Third, the profit model analysis of typical C2C e-commerce platform in China
Taobao, founded in 2003, is an online platform for personal transactions in online retail of goods founded by Alibaba, accounting for about 80% of the domestic online shopping market, and it is the leader in the online shopping market in China. The coverage of goods and services has reached the level of "only unexpected, nothing can't be bought".
Taobao is a service that provides the most basic trading platform. Sellers can open stores and send commodity information, and buyers can browse commodity information and bid for it.
At the same time, it provides some supporting services for the whole value chain. Buyers and sellers communicate instantly through Taobao Want Want, and funds are paid safely online through Alipay service that provides credit guarantee. Finally, a credit evaluation system for mutual evaluation between buyers and sellers is provided. The relationship between Taobao and Alibaba is also worthy of attention. Taobao is the product of Alibaba's profit, and there is no pressure to make money. However, from the "free three years" on the day of its birth to the policy of continuing to deal with competitors for free after the birth of Tencent Paipai, Taobao is the "boss" of C2C platform in terms of registered users, turnover, market share and online shopping penetration rate, but Taobao has still failed to achieve profitability. However, Taobao has also begun to explore profit-making measures. Among them, the most famous website provides promotion services and collects value-added services of "making money into treasure" from sellers, which is a reference for the profit model of "bidding ranking" of search engines. However, due to the improper launch time and the interference of competitors' free measures to plunder users, a large number of Taobao users resisted, which led to the product being removed from the shelves in a short time.
After that, Taobao was very cautious about the charging behavior. At present, there are mainly consumer protection, Taobao Wangpu, SMS notification, wireless value-added services, Taobao B2C Mall and later mobile phone Taobao, shopping cart, baby legend and other services are still free. However, the biggest impact is the 20 13 balance treasure service.
Although the service of Yu 'ebao Fund faces many controversies, due to its high yield, it still attracts huge funds from customers to flow to Yu 'ebao. Taobao relies on capital capital operation to obtain high profits, which is the most successful case in the exploration of Taobao's profit model in recent years.
Fourthly, the profit model of China C2C e-commerce website.
(1) revenue source
The key to revenue analysis lies in who C2C e-commerce website provides and what kind of product or service value it provides, so the website may make a profit by charging users who enjoy the value it provides. Collect fees from users who enjoy the basic services of the website, including login fees for providing trading platforms, transaction fees similar to intermediary fees, virtual store rental fees and special value-added function fees. Taobao can take the lead in forming a tacit understanding with other C2C websites, agreeing to charge at the same time, which will not affect their respective market share, and * * * will change the current situation that C2C e-commerce websites are unified for free. On the other hand, we can consider the potential needs of website users. For example, in the face of the increasingly rich variety of goods, can you use the profit model of search engine bidding ranking to rank your own goods at the front of the corresponding search result list by charging a certain fee? Although the model of "making money" has failed, there are still some sellers and supporters. Can we find a balance between support and opposition, which will not hurt the resistance of those who are unwilling to pay, but also meet the needs of those who need it? We can refer to Google's practice and divide the search results page into two columns, with the original search results list on the left to protect the interests of sellers and buyers who resist paying. Sellers who are willing to pay on the right can put their items in a search similar to "sponsor link" by paying the "bidding ranking fee".
(B) charging strategy
The premise of realizing profit is definitely charging, especially how to charge China C2C e-commerce website from the free service stage to the charging stage is a sensitive and key issue. We can learn from Tencent's charging strategy and adjust and improve it according to the characteristics of China C2C e-commerce website countries.
Taobao's free model has made the online market an absolute advantage, preventing users from flowing to competitors. While ensuring the basic service function is free, some innovative and unique fashion elements such as qq show are introduced to meet the value-added needs of some young people's entertainment forms. Therefore, C2C websites such as Taobao can offer charging strategies for value-added services such as potential functions, competitive ranking and store promotion for some users with special needs.
(C) Logistics strategy
Mailing goods after payment really marks the substantial completion of online transactions. Therefore, logistics is an essential part of e-commerce. The rapid development of e-commerce has brought huge profits to logistics companies. Due to the characteristics of C2C e-commerce website, such as small transaction amount and many batches, mailing expenses often account for a large proportion of payment. In such high-frequency transactions, the profits of logistics companies are often higher than those of sellers, and the annual C2C website transaction scale of hundreds of billions of yuan has brought huge profits to logistics companies. Therefore, logistics service can be regarded as one of the supporting services provided by C2C website, which can improve the value chain for customers while enhancing its own value, and can also bring rich logistics profits as one of the revenue channels of the website. Although C2C website's expanding logistics business and Internet information service belong to different fields, it is beneficial to the long-term development of C2C e-commerce network in China, especially through the acquisition of logistics companies with a certain scale to realize the business docking of C2C e-commerce and its own special logistics.