Vancl's third round of a massive $30 million financing has once again shocked the traditional apparel industry, the online retail market, and all practitioners concerned with e-commerce. Without a doubt, Vancl, as an online shirt direct sales brand enterprise, is undoubtedly one of the most eye-catching figures in the 2008 Olympic year! The torch of the online Olympics has quietly gone out on various websites along with the Olympics, but Vancl's advertising fire still burns brightly...
Often, people seem to "overly" focus on debating its business model; in my view, Vancl, positioning itself in "online direct sales" of clothing, is not just about selling shirts! Vancl should be the crystallization of integrated marketing efforts such as product positioning, brand management, corporate culture, etc.
Vancl's Integrated Marketing
What is integrated marketing? Integrated marketing refers to analyzing a specific market for a company, finding marketing breakthroughs, comprehensively applying two or more marketing elements, at least combining the marketing department, frontline sales departments, or more relevant departments for communication, achieving a combined marketing strategy to counter competition or meet consumer needs, thereby not only setting competitive barriers through specific combinations of marketing elements but also maximizing resource utilization.
Let me enumerate a few points to simply analyze Vancl's integrated marketing:
1. From the standardized shirt positioning to the classic and brilliant "68 yuan" initial experience pricing strategy;
Analysis: Vancl sells standardized men's shirts online based on the consumption habits of men in their daily lives, capturing three key points: high standardization, men, and direct sales (disrupting the traditional model, bypassing other steps, directly facing consumers determines the low-cost operation of the product, and "68 yuan" is also within the consumer's affordability).
2. CPS revenue-sharing strategy; unified production and management of network (theme) advertisements
Analysis: By using the CPS marketing strategy, exposing its advertisements on influential and high-traffic portals, P2P end sites, and website alliances; attracting consumers' attention through exquisite online advertisements (and many other channels like DM, traditional magazines, or media), guiding consumers to Vancl's online shopping platform. These undoubtedly play a crucial role in building the VANCL brand and promoting VANCL's culture, and are also important means of VANCL's e-commerce strategy.
3. From the construction and design of the Vancl online mall platform, to the consumer's purchasing process experience, then to logistics distribution and after-sales service;
Analysis: Advertisements guide consumers to the Vancl online mall platform landing page, optimizing this landing page and its visual effects; consumers cultivate trust through a good user experience on the online mall platform, place orders through cash-on-delivery payment method; receive products through efficient logistics distribution; initial product experience; quality issues or other problems, follow-up after-sales services, etc. VANCL's superior shopping experience and good service aim to make ordinary internet users potential customers, then formal customers, and finally loyal customers, making it possible to achieve the ideal goal.
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It is very clear that Vancl's integrated marketing does not simply refer to the sequence and continuity of work efficiency on the assembly line, but rather emphasizes the integration of all operations and executions in the entire marketing system complementing each other!
The most important aspect of integrated marketing lies in the concept of "integration." It is closely related to internal corporate standardization management, corporate culture concepts, team cohesion, execution power, marketing strategies, and media public relations, forming an "integrated" whole. Through the company's corporate brand image (including products and services), value is realized from inside to outside.
When companies engage in marketing, the maximization of effects is not limited to the industry they are in, but rather in driving the industrial chain! Vancl's development is constrained by the upstream and downstream links of the industrial chain it is in. Vancl's integrated marketing precisely realizes the cross-transmission and mutual penetration of brand value among suppliers (mainly raw material procurement), products (product R&D, design, processing, production), channels (currently mainly online), consumer terminals, and Vancl's own e-commerce platform mall and other upstream and downstream links!
Whether as consumers, corporate marketers, or managers, we can all clearly feel Vancl's sincerity and the wisdom it reflects; Vancl's charm, warmth, and vitality slowly become a powerful force driving consumer purchases. This is exactly what many enterprises need to learn when conducting e-commerce. After all, B2C is no child's play; B2C is a systematic project, where carelessness in any link or oversight in details could possibly affect the overall development.
Vancl's Next Step
In the starting phase, due to limitations of capital and resources, single-brand short product line operations may be the best strategy for traditional enterprises entering B2C e-commerce (see: http://www.probiz.com/blog/2008/03/13/1205402700000.html). Enterprises can focus on the construction of specific products; the total sum of supply chain management, inventory management, logistics, and other operational costs is relatively small, making it easier to control risks.
Vancl took this important first step with this kind of operating mindset. So, what will Vancl's next step be?
Compared to older players in B2C e-commerce like Joyo, Dangdang, and JD.com, Vancl, positioned in online shirt direct sales, has only been in B2C for a year. Correspondingly, Vancl's consumers have also not been around for more than a year. As a Vancl consumer, even if you have the financial ability to buy shirts multiple times a year, as the age of online shopping increases, Vancl, which positions itself on shirts, clearly cannot meet consumers' other multi-level and diversified needs beyond shirts!
To describe the issue from the perspective of a consumer's inner voice: "Through Vancl, I can buy clothes I like, but I can't buy other products besides clothes." We know that as an online direct sales and online retail enterprise, it certainly has the dominant right to decide what products to sell to its consumers. But we must also clearly understand that as a consumer, there is also the right to choose whether to buy this product or select other products from other merchants.
This is the inevitable problem that arises after developing with a "single-brand short product line" to a certain stage. Fortunately, Vancl is already making adjustment attempts, expanding from shirts as the main thread to underwear, POLO shirts, pants, cotton fabrics, outerwear, coats, home goods, and accessories, continuously enriching its product lines. However, this is still far from enough! One day, loyal consumers might demand: "I want adult toys, I want baby formula, I want diamonds..." Why? Because consumers grow up.
Vancl's next step may involve: being driven by consumer demand, continuously meeting the growing needs of consumers on the basis of its original brand advantages and user advantages! Only in this way can Vancl extend and develop into new fields on its existing map, maintaining sustainable growth in corporate performance and achieving scaled profitability!
A few suggestions for Vancl's actual operations:
1. With shirts as the main thread, expand to other peripheral products, while enriching the product line, strictly control product quality!
2. As the level of consumption rises, consumers' requirements for products further increase, Vancl must enhance the brand experience value for users, i.e., realize the leapfrog upgrade of products;
3. Combine with the dynamics and trends of clothing consumption, act swiftly, seize market opportunities;
4. Vancl's IT information system must meet the information carrying capacity with the growth of user base;
5. The construction of VANCL's online mall needs to strengthen personalized services, highlight its feature of men's shirts as the main product, update or renovate in a timely manner according to the times, and incorporate new elements.
Now Vancl is still sprinting towards its online direct sales record. Vancl is still young, and its growth trajectory cannot be separated from the attention and support of netizens.
Vancl has only taken the first step on the road to the future. We cannot prematurely or rashly conclude whether Vancl will succeed or not. Because the birth and development of a business model always evolves with market changes. However, one thing is certain: Vancl should serve as a model. Whether now or in the future, we will continue to pay attention to Vancl!
Will Vancl's transition from a single-brand short product line to a multi-product line mean that Vancl will transform from vertical shirt direct sales to a comprehensive mall? Will Vancl be the next Amazon? We wait and see. (Source: ProBIZ Business Software www.probiz.com Yang Zhenping)