author | Zhang Yu
editor | Yang Bocheng
The second-hand idle trading platform has fallen into a crisis of trust. On November 29, the topic "Netizens reported that Zhuanzhuan issued a yin and yang testing contract for second-hand mobile phones" ranked first on Weibo's hot search list, attracting a lot of public attention.
01.
One out and one in, profit of 4,000 yuan in half an hour
Zhuanzhuan turned himself into the whirlpool of public opinion. The reason was that on November 28, the anti-counterfeiting video blogger "Monkey Big Shot" released a measured video saying that in Four mobile phones were purchased at 4 stores in Beijing on the Zhuanzhuan platform for a total of 13,610 yuan. However, when these four mobile phones were recycled through Zhuanzhuan, they could only be sold for 9,567 yuan, with a price difference of 4,043 yuan and a profit of up to 30%.
"Monkey Master" said that the quality inspection report issued by Zhuanzhuan when selling mobile phones showed that there were no problems with the mobile phones. However, when the same mobile phone was recycled through Zhuanzhuan less than half an hour later, "the camera was spotted when taking pictures" was found. Various flaws such as slight screen scratches".
Source: Screenshot of "Monkey Master" video
In the video, "Monkey Master" pointed out that Zhuanzhuan has violated the law. After obtaining the notarization, he will report Zhuanzhuan to the market supervision and management department for allegedly defrauding consumers. The
event fermented quickly. On November 29, Zhuanzhuan issued a statement in response to the incident, saying that while apologizing to the "monkey boss", it organized an investigation as soon as possible. After investigation, it was found that there were indeed "slight scratches on the screen" and "spots on the camera taking pictures" during recycling testing, which led to a reduction in recycling prices. The "camera has spots when taking pictures" is an operational error, and the "screen is slightly scratched" is due to subjective differences in color judgment by different store employees.
Zhuanzhuan said that although second-hand products are different from new products, and the condition of each machine is different, these are not excuses. If you hurt the user experience, you should be punished. In addition, Zhuanzhuan also stated that from now on, all Zhuanzhuan stores across the country will launch a "7-day no-reason return" service for second-hand goods.
Picture source: Zhuanzhuan official Weibo
However, netizens did not buy it, "avoiding the important and choosing the light. What everyone is paying attention to is why there are yin and yang quality inspection reports." "If more people like this come forward, the market environment will be better. Better.” “If you’re not afraid of making mistakes, you’re afraid of continuing to make them regardless.” “If you apologize to the blogger, what about the consumers who were deceived before?” Questions abound.
In response to Zhuanzhuan, "Monkey Master" once again claimed, "Zhuanzhuan only mentioned 'slight scratches on the screen' and 'spots on the camera', and attributed these to the clerk's operational errors and subjective judgment differences. So for the inconsistent detection of mobile phone hardware, is it also determined by the difference in judgment of the store staff?"
"Monkey Master" also revealed that he will also release a related video involving another mobile phone, "This mobile phone has the most serious problem. . When repurchasing, the quality inspection report showed that the phone had not been dismantled, repaired or replaced. However, when sold, the test results showed that it had been dismantled and repaired."
is a second-hand idle trading platform, recycling at low prices and increasing prices. Selling is Zhuanzhuan's normal profit model, but earning the price difference by issuing a "yin and yang test report" is defrauding consumers. In the short term, this incident not only damages the interests of consumers, but also affects the brand image of Zhuanzhuan. In the long term, it will cause consumers to lose trust in the second-hand idle trading platform and cause indelible consequences for the entire second-hand market. The negative impact is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.
02.
Zhuanzhuan’s second-hand business is not easy to do
Zhuanzhuan was rich in resources when it was born. In November 2015, Zhuanzhuan was transformed from a second-hand channel of 58.com under the 58 Group into an independent APP and officially launched online. At first, Zhuanzhuan mainly focused on the C2C model, building a platform to achieve a free market for direct transactions between users, and benchmarking Xianzhuan. fish.
However, the C2C model has the pain point of information asymmetry, so Zhuanzhuan took the lead in launching the C2B2C model, hiring professional machine inspection engineers to conduct machine inspection and quality inspection, and launching corresponding quality assurance services. Under the C2B2C model, Zhuanzhuan has established two models: official guaranteed sales and free transactions, which has become popular among consumers.
In April 2017, with the backing of 58 Group, Zhuanzhuan reached a final agreement with Tencent. After receiving an investment of US$200 million from the latter, it settled in WeChat Pay Jiugongge, becoming one of the three major second-hand payment platforms along with Xianyu and Aihuishou. Idle trading platform.
stands on the shoulders of two giants, 58 Group and Tencent, and has eaten up all the traffic dividends. The "2020 Second-hand Trading Service White Paper" released by Zhuanzhuan shows that it has accumulated its own precise traffic through services. Under the influence of multiple factors such as the epidemic, Zhuanzhuan's revenue growth rate exceeded 200% in 2020, and has doubled for three consecutive years. growth above.
However, with the general trend of peaking mobile Internet traffic growth, Zhuanzhuan has gradually fallen into trouble, and its number of monthly active users continues to decline. Analysys Qianfan data shows that Zhuanzhuan’s monthly active users in December 2020 were 15.075 million, a decline of more than 56% from 34.74 million in November 2019, which was almost a cliff-like decline.
Not only that, Zhuanzhuan is far behind its competitors. Analysys Qianfan data shows that in October 2022, the number of monthly active users of Xianyu was 103 million, while the number of monthly active users of Zhuanzhuan was 20.22 million. The difference is very obvious.
Zhuanzhuan has shown signs of falling behind. The fundamental reason is the lack of business ecological support.
, as a second-hand idle trading platform, needs to solve two problems: one is "who to sell to", which is related to traffic and audience; the second is "who will sell", which is related to sellers and supply chain.
Second-hand products need stable and accurate traffic push in order to be seen by consumers with targeted purchasing needs. For example, Xianyu relies on Taobao and Tmall to attract traffic, while Aihuishou relies on JD.com. Both parties not only have stable audience, but also a solid supply chain. In contrast, Zhuanzhuan, which lacks business ecological support, has been working alone.
Tianyancha data shows that from 2017 to 2021, Zhuanzhuan has completed 5 rounds of financing, with a cumulative financing amount of more than 1.08 billion US dollars. The investor lineup includes 58 Tongcheng, Tencent Investment, Xiaomi Group, Shunwei Capital, etc. However, what cannot be ignored is that the above-mentioned investors lack e-commerce genes and supply chain capabilities, and cannot fundamentally help the transformation. By relying solely on the concept of second-hand transactions, no matter how many strategic adjustments it makes, Zhuanzhuan will never be able to establish its core competitiveness.
Picture source: Tianyancha
As a single second-hand idle trading platform, Zhuanzhuan not only has not established its internal traffic cycle, but also needs to continue to spend huge sums of money to purchase traffic from third parties, but the purchase of traffic is like a bottomless black hole , will continue to devour Zhuanzhuan's profit margins, and eventually fall into a vicious cycle, causing fatal damage to its long-term development. This is also the reason why Zhuanzhuan wants to make profits through the "Yin and Yang Detection Contract".
It can be seen that Zhuanzhuan’s second-hand business is really difficult to do. When the existing traffic is exhausted, Zhuanzhuan will also fall into growth difficulties.
03.
Word-of-mouth declined, and the number of complaints increased
In fact, traffic is not the only factor in winning through conversions. In contrast, word-of-mouth is the key factor in winning.
On the consumer service platform Black Cat Complaints, searching with the keyword "Zhuan Zhuan", there were as many as 75,000 complaints. Among them, suspected fraud in quality inspection reports became the hardest hit area, and it not only involved mobile phones, but also cameras. , headphones and other categories. In addition, there are also "money fraud", "false machine inspection reports", "deceiving consumers", etc.
For example, a consumer complained on Black Cat Complaints that he bought a mobile phone on Zhuanzhuan, and the inspection report said there was no problem with the phone. However, after receiving the phone, the power button was scratched and bumped, and the screen had three bubbles. . The inspection report does not match the actual product. In the photos uploaded to the platform, you can clearly see scratches and bumps on the power button. However, the inspection report did not point out the scratches and bumps, which seriously infringes on consumer rights.
Source: Black Cat Complaint
In addition, Zhuanzhuan was fined many times for violating regulations. Tianyancha data shows that Zhuanzhuan has been administratively punished four times. The reasons for the punishment include not obtaining the "Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate" to engage in Internet drug and medical device information services, and not obtaining the copyright owner's permission to distribute his works, etc.
is a second-hand idle trading platform. Trust is the basis for delivery. The development and growth of the platform are also inseparable from the accumulation of reputation. If Zhuanzhuan falls into a crisis of trust again and again, the impact on its reputation will be devastating, and the business will naturally It cannot be maintained stably for a long time.
Only by treating consumers well can we go further. Obviously, Zhuan Zhuan still needs a lot of make-up lessons.
