Has The Internet Done "Big And Small"?

If more than 3750 of more than 5000 people tell you that their lives are inseparable from the Internet. Because they spend about 19 hours a week surfing the Internet, no matter which city they are in, and how old they are, they all like to listen to music online, online chat, online games, online reading and participate in Internet social networking sites.

McKinsey management consulting company's latest 2010 Chinese consumer survey shows that the number of people like this has reached 420 million in China. Internet users in China are ranked first in the world, 5 times more than India, almost 2 times that of the United States and growing.

"In the past few years, China has increased about 6 million Internet users per month. If this growth continues, by 2015, the number of Internet users in China will increase to 750 million." The above report points out.

The conclusion is far from simple. According to the report, the influence of the Internet is increasing. It has become an important way for consumers to search for goods that they want to buy and to find the best cost-effective transaction. 1/4 of Chinese Internet users will make final purchase decisions after investigating products online.

Is the result of such research enough to make companies that want to use their brains on the Internet happy? An Hongyu, deputy director of McKinsey's global office in Shanghai, points out that the Internet has become an important and even regular part of Chinese consumers' purchase process, but the traditional media can not be ignored. At the same time, enterprises seem to be not fully prepared in many respects.

Who will compete?

Lisa is a marketing commissioner who is responsible for a foreign cosmetic brand. brand marketing The big head. However, in recent years, the increase in television advertising fees and the decline in TV ratings have given her a headache, which means that she has to invest more in order to get the same coverage of TV advertisements a few years ago to achieve the same communication effect.

Correspondingly, more and more consumers are trying to understand the products that they want to buy through the Internet and seek the best price performance transaction.

　　 Lisa Internet advertising may be a new choice against TV advertising.

However, McKinsey's findings may disappoint her. The survey shows that the average coverage rate of TV advertisements in China is as high as 85%, though it is much lower than that of 98% in 2008, but the average coverage rate of Internet media users is only 24%. The wide coverage of TV shows its irreplaceable nature as a media, and many Chinese consumers will not even consider buying brands that have not appeared in TV commercials, because they believe that brands that can afford expensive TV advertising costs must have successful businesses as support.

The Internet plays a different role in buying decisions. The first financial daily pointed out that before making the final purchase decision, more and more Chinese consumers will go online to inquire about product information. This trend is particularly prominent in the purchase of large quantities of goods such as automobiles. "The proportion of cars in the respondents is as high as 45%. About two of the people who are preparing to buy cars will read online reviews, much higher than household appliances and personal electronic products, clothing, Home Furnishing And personal care products. "

But he added that the high price of the product is not the only reason that encourages consumers to search online for information about the product itself. There is also a consumer's attention to the category of such products. For example, mother and baby products are also big users of online search.

Obviously, the Internet has proved to be a very powerful marketing tool, and it is very important to find target consumers through the Internet. It will take time for the Internet to replace television as the main channel of communication with consumers. For enterprises, the key to online marketing is how to choose the combination of TV and the Internet, and coordinate the experience of online and offline. An Hongyu pointed out that "for example, businesses can expand their popularity by using television advertisements, while using Internet advertising to motivate consumers to consider and ultimately buy their products. The functions of these two media should complement each other and not exclusive. " {page_break}

The shortcomings of Internet Marketing

At present, most businesses agree that the Internet has a profound impact on Chinese consumers, whether in the form of leisure and entertainment, or in the study of new brands and products, and even on the actual consumption patterns. Some businesses have begun to use the Internet to build brands for marketing campaigns, while others are trying to turn clicks into cash receipts.

In addition, the increasing reliability and popularity of Internet social networking sites are also playing an important role in motivating consumers to choose products and brands. For example, in automobile category, there are more than 1.3 Posts posted on Internet in one month.

Similarly, the survey found that Chinese netizens are more trusting of the official website of retailers and producers, and are more willing to get product information from there. Of the Chinese consumers who had surveyed the Internet before making the final purchase decision, 66% had visited the retailer website. This includes entity store network platform and network transaction platform. Another 34% have visited the producer's website. In fact, consumers often search the Internet for basic information about products and businesses. About 70% of consumers trust the information they get from these websites.

Although more and more consumers are establishing direct Internet interaction with producers and retailers, few brands have invested enough in their official website. In this regard, Diwei pointed out that most businesses are just copying their experience in other countries, such as simply translating the website into Chinese version, or outsourcing the task of building the enterprise website to the third party, lacking the ability and talent to formulate strategies for the specific situation of Chinese consumers, which may become a failure of Internet marketing.