In recent years, cashback shopping websites have proliferated, especially as the economic situation both domestically and internationally continues to worsen. Attracting consumers through discounts has become a basic element for maintaining competitiveness. Currently, the operational model of these cashback shopping websites is almost identical: consumers select products from the cashback website and proceed to the original sales website (such as Joyo, Dangdang, Taobao) to make their purchase. The cashback website then refunds a small discount, making the final price cheaper than if you had purchased directly from the original sales website. This service is called "cashback shopping guide," and in order to receive this discount, consumers need to register an account with the shopping guide website, submit their shopping list after completing a purchase, and go through the complex processes of waiting for approval and withdrawing funds.
The reason why cashback websites can offer discounts is that they convert the affiliate marketing commission system provided by large shopping websites into cashback for consumers. Affiliate marketing or partner programs (CPA - cost per action) have been around for a long time. Large websites hope to collaborate with smaller websites to jointly market their products, thus giving smaller websites some promotion commissions. As long as there are consumers directed from the smaller websites who complete purchases, the smaller website owners can earn a certain percentage of commission. However, the actual benefits of earning commissions through successful product promotions on these smaller websites are extremely low, and the promoted products may not be appropriate for the website's style. Websites with basic traffic would rather place ads from Google, Ali Mama, Baidu, etc., where they earn income simply from clicks, which is more effective than the complicated process of completing a purchase.
Therefore, in order to focus on product marketing, specialized shopping guide websites began to appear. Some roughly just posted codes or images obtained from larger websites, acting as sub-malls for those larger websites. Better ones added analysis, reviews, and other additional information. But without any particularly attractive elements for consumers, it was impossible to achieve scale. Subsequently, cashback shopping guide websites emerged under the banner of saving money through cashback. These websites abandoned commissions in hopes of increasing traffic and earning peripheral profits. They offered a service mechanism of refunding all commissions, where consumers would receive full commission refunds for purchases made on these websites.
This kind of cashback model quickly attracted many consumers' favor upon its debut. However, now more and more cashback websites have appeared, and they all look almost identical. With low technical difficulty and similar models, subsequent participants have been unable to attract traffic. Among them, service providers originally specializing in product sales (large websites) and sales alliances (small websites) also launched their own cashback websites (such as Lingke Te and Unique Media). These intermediaries do not rely on earning commissions for profit; they want transactions. As long as there are transactions, they can charge handling fees or get paid by advertisers. However, such practices directly compete with their member small website owners within their sales alliance. In theory, these intermediaries have the greatest resources and advantages to provide cashback services because they control the most product sources. But looking at the traffic of the cashback websites launched by the aforementioned two companies, they have performed poorly, indicating that such fixed cashback services cannot further stimulate consumer usage willingness.
So does this mean there's nothing interesting left in this market? Not quite, because consumer needs have yet to be fully satisfied. The cashback process is too complex and opaque, requiring submission of lists and waiting for approval each time for cashback. These create burdens for users and are the main reasons preventing the expansion of the consumer base. Our team decided to innovate in the cashback shopping guide sector, and thus eFanXian v1.0 (http://www.efanxian.com) was born.
In the past, most cashback websites developed horizontally, hoping that cashback products would cover all cashback malls. This is advantageous, but the number of malls does not necessarily represent relative competitiveness because the essence of the service has not improved. EfanXian (http://www.efanxian.com), on the other hand, chose to develop vertically, only providing cashback for Taobao (which itself covers all types of products), and minimized user pain in a single vertical approach, allowing users to quickly receive cashback in the simplest way possible.
EfanXian's biggest feature compared to other cashback websites lies in the fact that other cashback websites use an approval mechanism for cashback, whereas EfanXian transforms consumers into promoters automatically. When consumers log into EfanXian, exclusive technology automatically changes their identity into promoters of Taobao products. Therefore, all Taobao products that consumers see and buy on EfanXian belong to their own promotions, meaning they earn the commission from their own consumption. Since consumers themselves are promoters, there is no need to submit transaction lists or wait for approval, as Taobao will directly transfer the commission into their personal Ali Mama account. At this point, some people might wonder, "I don't have an Ali Mama account." There is no need to worry about this, as EfanXian requires users to input their personal email for login and simultaneously uses this email to request a corresponding identity recognition ID from Ali Mama. If this email is already registered, it will return the identity ID corresponding to this email. If the Ali Mama account has not yet been registered, a new set of identity IDs will be obtained. When commissions belonging to this ID are generated, Ali Mama will send an email requesting full registration, at which point full registration can be completed.
The functional mechanism provided by EfanXian represents a revolutionary process, returning the initiative to the consumers. Consumers not only enjoy convenient cashback services but also step into the realm of promoters. It’s not just simple cashback shopping but becoming a partner in product marketing who can earn commissions.
EfanXian is still very young, having been born only a few days ago, but we believe that as long as we adhere to services that prioritize user interests, we will inevitably gain favor. We also hope that EfanXian can create a win-win situation for buyers and sellers, helping everyone weather this financial crisis together and reinvigorate the e-commerce industry.