Group Discussion #2&3_Week 3_Group 10

 Group Members:

Liu Zhilin

Chen Chenyu

Wang Ziling

Luo Yingxue

Qian Zirui

Huang Yufei

 

Discussion 1

1. What is partnership about?

Taobao & WeChat Pay

Taobao has integrated WeChat Pay as a payment option within its e-commerce platform. This collaboration aims to broaden the payment methods available to shoppers on Taobao, thereby enhancing their overall shopping experience and catering to the diverse payment preferences of consumers. At the same time, Taobao is one of the most significant usage scenarios for WeChat.

 

2. Strength/Weakness? How compatible with each other?

Taobao

Strengths: The strengths of Taobao are based on its relatively stable and large user base. Its convenient and efficient logistics system, safe and stable payment methods, and humanized pre-sale and post-sale services make it trusted by users. Since it continuously provides a steady and convenient online shopping experience, its user stickiness is well maintained.

 

Weakness: Taobao is potentially losing a competitive edge over e-commerce features embedded in WeChat's ecosystem (e.g., WeChat Mini Programs and WeChat Stores). This is because users usually prefer to get the product once they are attracted by the videos or pictures.

 

WeChat Pay

Strength:

The high number of WeChat Pay users will bring new GMV growth to Taobao

In fact, WeChat also maintains a large number of long-term users. Users rely on the security and convenience of WeChat payment as it has penetrated in their daily lives, from paying salaries and tuition fees to buying daily necessities.

 

Weakness:

But WeChat Pay has a competitor with similar features, Alipay. Similar payment methods make it difficult to outperform Alipay on a functional level. 

 

how are they compatible with each other?  

The strength of Taobao and WeChat lies in their ability to be compatible, thus increasing user satisfaction. By integrating WeChat Pay into Taobao, a large number of WeChat Pay users can seamlessly shop on Taobao, generating consumption growth for the e-commerce platform.

 

3. New values created? 

For Taobao:

WeChat Pay can bring better services to Taobao merchants and users, and on the other hand, it can make up the service scene for WeChat Pay. At the same time, it also increased service channels for Taobao merchants and added payment options for users, which will help Taobao improve its overall service experience.

 

For WeChat Pay:

As one of China's top online shopping platforms, Taobao's sizable transaction volume will greatly boost the usage of WeChat Pay and facilitate the penetration of WeChat Pay into the e-commerce field.

 

4. Portential Risk?

· Payment Security: Many selling companies deceive consumers by providing false payment information and QR codes and lure them to transfer money into the provided accounts. Many users have been defrauded of large amounts of money because the other party provided certain accurate information.

 

· Invasion of Users’ Privacy: It is difficult for the two platforms to ensure complete non-disclosure of information when sharing users' personal information. Moreover, if the user's privacy is leaked to other platforms or fraudulent organizations, the user's trust will be seriously affected.

 

Discussion 2

BILIBILI

Long tail:

Everyone can watch, and everyone can upload videos. Users are encouraged to produce more appealing works by spontaneously creating secondary works for the sake of movie and fiction works that interest them. The platform also provides users more opportunities to spread the content they produce. The platform's algorithms enable matching of supply and demand, i.e. active search and passive recommendation.

 

Freemium:

Bilibili’s animation and film content requires a paid-membership system just like other video sites, ad-free videos, and exclusive content. Non-membership users can only watch the first few episodes, and they still have to subscribe to a membership based on their needs.

 

Succesful:

Limited video quality and limited access to premium videos. The freemium model provides not only a large number of different kinds of videos for free but also a lot of premium services and features, which allow deep engagement of users. The limited number of high-quality videos encourages users who want to explore more content to become VIP users, and the premium features are experienced through limited-time free services.

 

The millions of tags on Bilibili make the content ecology of the entire platform very diverse. People with various interests and backgrounds gather on the platform to jointly produce content and socialize.