This year's Double 11 is expected to see over 100 million consumers shopping for automotive categories on Taobao Tmall.
Within 3 to 5 years, Tmall Automotive is poised to become another category for Alibaba to break through the trillion-yuan mark in GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) after apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, and home appliances.
"Taobao Group's Automotive Business Division General Manager and Tmall Car Maintenance President Wu Feng said.
At the Tmall Automotive and Tmall Car Maintenance Full Industry Ecological Summit, Tmall Automotive announced its dual-brand model for the first time: Tmall Automotive is building an online all-scenario consumption network, while Tmall Car Maintenance focuses on building an offline and full ecological service network, achieving a business model where online B2C and offline O2O develop in tandem, providing users with a one-stop travel consumption experience of "viewing, buying, using, maintaining, and exchanging."
With the rise of new energy vehicles and smart cars, Chinese users' car purchasing standards have undergone significant changes.
These changes affect not only the car manufacturers but also the after-sales market for maintenance, car derivative products consumption, and so on.
"To give a simple example, the annual growth rate of car rice cookers this year is 1400%, which is a 14-fold increase," Wu Feng told reporters.
When the carrier of the whole vehicle changes, such as the transition from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, the car accessories and after-sales services that come with the whole vehicle, as well as car maintenance services, will change accordingly.
Roland Berger's report shows that compared to the overall population, new energy vehicle owners' consumption is more concentrated in three major areas: entertainment, outdoor travel, and cutting-edge digital products.
Taking camping as an example, the TGI difference between new energy vehicle consumers and the overall market in the "outdoor chairs and stools" category is as high as 348.54 (a TGI index above 100 means that a certain type of customer has a stronger tendency or preference, and the larger the value, the stronger the tendency and preference).
In addition, the consumption of smartwatches and bracelets by new energy vehicle owners compared to the entire platform's customer base has a TGI difference of up to 442.19.
In addition to the sale of car accessories, the information and consumption habits of online car users also begin to help car companies in product definition and research and development.
Online shopping platforms such as Tmall Automotive and JD Automotive have also become new touchpoints between car companies and users.
"Tmall Automotive previously had a research conclusion that female users' overall intention to purchase new energy vehicles is significantly higher than that of male users.
The reason is that more than 60% of new energy vehicle-related orders on Tmall now come from female users, which is very different from fuel vehicles.
For girls, new energy vehicles are just a 'big smartphone'.
Under the logic of the 'big smartphone', female users want appearance, exterior, and fine decoration," Wu Feng said.
Currently, Tmall Automotive has cooperated with more than 30 car companies to help them conduct research on user needs.
In addition to the transformation of peripheral product sales, the rise of new energy vehicles and smart cars will also further promote significant changes in sales and after-sales and other business forms.
At present, domestic car sales are mainly based on two models: dealers and direct sales, and some car companies are deploying agency models.
However, a few years ago, many car companies had deployed online showrooms and stores, intending to transfer cars online, but the attempts were not successful.
Wu Feng told reporters that in the era of fuel vehicles, car sales were mostly based on the wholesale of dealers, with non-transparent prices, and online sales did not have an advantage.
However, in the era of new energy vehicles, the direct sales model has emerged, and manufacturers have stronger control over product prices, which is beneficial for online car sales.
"The direct sales model is very beneficial for online development as it quickly and efficiently promotes national price unification, unified configuration, and standardized store services, including standardization of products, options, and services.
Therefore, the demand for online purchases of new energy vehicles has increased rapidly this year," Wu Feng said.
Tmall Automotive will also enter the offline car sales process, seizing the market share of new energy vehicle users' car purchases with Tmall's brand power and data capabilities.
In addition to the Tmall Automotive brand, Tmall Car Maintenance has also become an important part of Tmall Automotive's dual-brand composition.
Like Tmall Automotive, Tmall Car Maintenance is also in a trillion-yuan track.
Data shows that as early as 2021, the scale of China's automotive aftermarket industry broke through 1.3 trillion yuan, with a high growth rate for two consecutive years.
It is expected that by 2025, the scale of the automotive aftermarket will reach 1.7 trillion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 10%.
Currently, including ByteDance and JD, many Internet companies have deployed in the automotive aftermarket track.
Unlike the field of Internet e-commerce, many services in the car maintenance process require the participation of professional auto repair personnel, which is also one of the challenges faced by Internet companies in crossing the automotive aftermarket.
Especially with the rise of new energy vehicles, the higher technical threshold and the current manufacturer's control over product maintenance rights are considered to be an important challenge for after-sales operators.
Data from Western Securities shows that under the condition of the same car age for car owners, the annual regular maintenance and repair service expenses for plug-in hybrid and range-extended vehicles are 95% of those for fuel vehicles; the annual regular maintenance and repair service expenses for pure electric vehicles are 70% of those for fuel vehicles.
Tmall Car Maintenance General Manager Li Yi told reporters that the rise of new energy vehicle consumption is still short, and most users are still under warranty; new energy vehicle users have higher demand for light modifications such as film coating and color change, which will be a major profit point for after-sales operators.
In addition, although car companies currently have strong control over the maintenance of core parts of new energy vehicles, Li Yi believes that in terms of business models, car companies will not take on the after-sales system alone in the future.
"In about ten years, car companies may not fully open up authorized repairs or third-party repairs like fuel vehicles, because the safety hazards of fuel vehicles are smaller, and the safety hazards of new energy vehicles will be greater, including sensors, autonomous driving, including batteries, and so on," Li Yi said.
In the long run, in the sinking market, car companies will definitely authorize more service providers; in the first and second-tier cities, luxury brands will mainly be direct sales or strong control after-sales channels, and non-luxury brands will mainly be open authorization or third-party.
(Note: The translation is done to the best of my ability to convey the meaning of the original text.
Some terms may not have direct equivalents in English, and certain adjustments were made for clarity and fluency.)
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