However, the tree wants to be quiet and the wind will not stop. Aside from the merits of the "hand in the car door" incident, China auto e-commerce actually has a long-standing problem: how to make consumers willing to buy cars online. Is low price really the only way out for car e-commerce?
Three-way secret war "delivery door"
On July 20th, Yi Kai Auto Flagship Store launched "Tesla China -Model? 3? 20 19? In the 10,000-person group purchase activity with the upgraded version of battery life as standard, many consumers finally completed the purchase in this channel.
On July 2 1 day, Tesla official website issued a document saying: "Our company did not cooperate with EBay or Pinduoduo in this group purchase activity, nor did it have any form of entrusted sales service with EBay or Pinduoduo, nor did it sell any vehicles produced by our company to EBay or Pinduoduo in this group purchase activity."
Tesla finally kept his promise. In late August, Tesla refused to deliver the car to the group owner, which immediately caused an uproar.
It is worth noting that in this incident, in addition to consumers, there are actually three stakeholders involved. First of all, Pinduoduo and Pinduoduo are e-commerce platforms, but they don't sell cars, which is equivalent to an intermediary platform for drainage. The second one is Tesla China, who sells cars.
The third is to buy a car, which is a new retail platform for cars. According to public information, it is advisable to buy a car to provide automobile trading services for consumers, brokers and regional service providers through the combination of online data, technology-driven and offline direct stores. According to the official introduction, as a new type of automobile supermarket platform, Yiyouche takes the third-and fourth-tier cities as the starting point and the second-tier dealer model as the goal, and solves the three core problems of "vehicle source, customer source and transaction scenario" in automobile distribution, providing users with real-time * * * access to the national automobile transaction service with the best vehicle source and price.
You got it? In fact, this matter is not a contradiction between Tesla and Pinduoduo, but a dispute between Yitai and Tesla. How to understand this incident? To put it simply, Yiyou opened an official flagship store in Pinduoduo, and then it was recognized by consumers in the name of low price and group purchase. Yiyou's staff bought Tesla online in the name of consumers.
Where is the car e-commerce road?
After understanding the role of buying a car, we naturally know the core of "paying the car door". In order to be able to buy domestic models that are about 20 thousand cheaper than the market price? 3. Choose to provide information to Yiyou and agree to the latter's replacement. Among them, it is desirable to buy a car and make up the difference in the middle-Tesla's price is unified nationwide, and there is no discount for the time being.
But the problem is that Tesla's gameplay is completely different from other manufacturers. In the traditional automobile consumption market, the same car will have different prices in different regions and different dealers, but Tesla has been playing a game since its birth-the official has pricing power, and consumers can only place orders through the Internet.
Why not give the car to the owner? The main reason is that Tesla wants to maintain its pricing power. This is the biggest feature of Tesla and one of the most attractive selling points for consumers. Secondly, it is also because Tesla wants to maintain its high brand image. For a long time, the quality and workmanship of Tesla cars actually belong to the general level, and the problem of excessive body cracks has been criticized. But Tesla's greatest charm is that it has established its own high-end, high-tech brand image through autonomous driving and revolutionary big screen. Of course, the establishment of this brand image is inseparable from Musk's excellent marketing ability.
It is difficult to fight a mountain, but it is easy to destroy it. Since Tesla has shaped the brand image of high-end new energy vehicles, it is impossible to go to the low end. I believe everyone knows Pinduoduo's current market position and reputation. Musk can open a store in Tmall to sell peripheral goods, but he will never let Pinduoduo lower his corporate image. From this perspective, refusing to deliver the car is a strong signal for Tesla to defend its brand position. Those consumers who covet cheap cars are just pool fish.
However, behind the delivery door incident, it also reflects the sadness of China auto e-commerce. The positioning of buying a car is the new retail of cars, claiming that you can buy any brand of cars on your own platform. It is its ambition to be a one-stop car buying platform, but unfortunately the resistance is huge.
I'm willing to pay the difference for a car. Of course, I hope to use Tesla's great influence to launch my name, which is the so-called "tiger skin as a banner". Buying a car can lose money on Tesla, but I hope to make money and let more consumers know about themselves, thus expanding their market share. But now it seems that this time it will be miscalculated.
During the epidemic this year, it was all the rage to watch cars online and sell cars on the spot, but it didn't play much role in terms of actual sales. This is the particularity of cars as commodities. Even if it has been established for five years, the influence of car e-commerce such as Easy Car is still average, and it still needs to attract consumers' attention with low-cost gimmicks. It seems that at least in the short term, the road to automobile e-commerce is still extremely difficult.
According to the headlines of riders, the main reason for the popularity of online sales is that it is cheaper than physical stores, and it can be delivered to your door to help consumers save time and cost. It is also for this reason that the sales of gold jewelry, cars and other valuables have never really developed on the Internet. Perhaps, for the new car retail, it may always be a wrong idea to choose low-priced sales, and customizing cars may be a very promising road.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.