In the past two days, people from multiple offline channels revealed that Apple has strictly controlled offline channels this year, hoping to prevent the iPhone12 from flowing to online e-commerce channels.
This means that domestic mainstream e-commerce platforms can't get the iPhone 12 series and iPad Air 4 from other channels except Apple's official delivery. Restricting the e-commerce platform from purchasing iPhone 12 series products from other channels also means that Apple is strictly controlling the price reduction of iPhone 12 series by e-commerce platform.
1
Did Apple block the e-commerce platform?
In recent two years, because the sales of iPhone phones are not ideal, both Apple official website and major e-commerce platforms have conducted price reduction promotions. However, it seems impossible to reduce the price of this year's iPhone12 series.
unlike the phenomenon that the iPhone 11 was slightly deserted when it went on the market, the release of the iPhone 12 has restored the phenomenon of hot sales of new iPhones in the past. In order to snap up the iPhone 12, there have been long queues in many Apple stores. One of the main reasons why many fruit fans are eager to buy iPhone 12 is that iPhone 12 is Apple's first 5G mobile phone.
Recently, a number of bloggers selling digital products broke the news that they have received or been asked to sign an agreement, promising that all purchased iPhone 12 series products will not flow to online channels such as,, Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo and Suning and overseas markets, whether directly or indirectly, and offenders will be fined 4, yuan each, and they will not get the iPhone 12 within three months.
why do you want to do this? Mainly because on the e-commerce platform, it is not Apple's official price reduction for iPhone 12, but the platform's own subsidies to attract users. The sources of these products are often resold through some unofficial channels.
to put it simply, after the introduction of this policy, it will be difficult for people to see the iPhone 12 series phones with substantially reduced prices on the e-commerce platform. After all, one will be fined 4, yuan, which is too much for businesses, so it will not be easy to resell mobile phones or tablets to online platforms.
Of course, this doesn't mean that these platforms can't sell iPhone 12 series products at all. Apple can sell products according to the official price tag, and now it is cracking down on unofficial channels.
It is worth noting that among the three major e-commerce platforms in China, some merchants of Tmall and JD.COM are authorized dealers, and only Pinduoduo is not authorized by Apple.
We now log on to the Apple Billion Subsidy page on Pinduoduo App, and we can see that there are only three subsidized models: iPhone, iPhone8 and iPhone11Pro. Among them, iPhoneSE has the largest subsidy, which is even cheaper than the same model sold in JD.COM, 62 yuan.
but when searching for iPhone12 on Pinduoduo, its selling price is even higher than that of offline sales channels.
for example, the price of the black iPhone12 128GB version is 799 yuan in Pinduoduo, 67 yuan in Tmall and JD.COM, and 685 yuan in offline channels. However, the delivery dates of JD.COM and Tmall are after October 31st, and offline stores are available from stock.
2
There is no subsidy of 1 billion yuan for iPhone 12 this year!
Compared with Tmall and JD.COM, Pinduoduo is undoubtedly the hardest hit. Apple's sudden move is probably related to the collapse of Apple's mobile phone price system caused by Pinduoduo's tens of billions of subsidies for iPhone 11 during the Double Eleven last year.
Last year's iPhone 11 billion subsidy campaign made it suck a lot of powder. If this activity can be reproduced on iPhone 12 this year, Pinduoduo's voice and popularity will definitely go up a step.
Subsidizing the latest iPhone for two consecutive years will also accumulate a large number of high-value users for Pinduoduo. However, Apple does not intend to give Pinduoduo this opportunity. After one operation, the layout of this year's subsidy of 1 billion yuan will be directly shattered, and even the word-of-mouth accumulated before will be affected, and the unique symbol of genuine fragrance in Pinduoduo will be weakened to some extent.
During last year's Double Eleven, Pinduoduo directly made a high-profile contribution of 5 million yuan to subsidize the iPhone 11 series products, which caused the price of the iPhone 11 on the Pinduoduo platform to plummet by 7-9 yuan. In response to the competition from Pinduoduo, platforms such as JD.COM and Tmall also gave iPhone 11 different levels of sales subsidies.
at that time, the vast majority of iPhone 11 on Pinduoduo came from offline channels.
This time, Apple strictly controls the supply of offline channels to Pinduoduo. On the one hand, it means that there may no longer be an iPhone 12； with a price reduction of nearly 1, yuan after subsidies this year. On the other hand, it also shows that Apple officials have learned the lessons of last year's Double Eleven and intend to regain control of the iPhone's price system.
Pinduoduo's marketing campaign for iPhone 12 has ended before it started.
Apple has firmly grasped the pricing power with this hand, and the price of iPhone 12 should not change again until the official price reduction is announced.
3
Pinduoduo flameout?
In fact, before the official launch of the iPhone, Pinduoduo has already tried to subsidize 1 billion yuan. Users can rob 3 yuan's coupons with 1 cent and directly break the iPhone 12!
However, due to a ban by Apple, these coupons have become useless data, including the possibility of a larger profit-making activity in the future, and it is impossible to realize them again, because there is no goods on Pinduoduo.
There is no official flagship store on the Pinduoduo platform, so there is really nothing to do with the supply of goods, and users can only silently bear the doubts.
in JD.COM and Taobao platforms, the purchase of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro has been opened, but there is no subsidy in any form at present.
Although this news has not been officially implemented, Pinduoduo, who was praised by everyone, is now quite like a wall falling down and being pushed by everyone. Many people began to deny the 1 billion subsidy strategy, and explained the rationality of Apple's new regulations, criticizing that the essence of the 1 billion subsidy is self-respect of traffic in the circle, which harms the interests of dealers.
But in fact, the pricing of these unofficial channels is lower than that of the official channels. Pinduoduo's tens of billions of subsidies are subsidized by itself, and the data in its financial report are not deceptive.
At the same time, users in Pinduoduo are extremely sensitive to price, and cheap is their first appeal. Billions of subsidies have not harmed anyone's interests, which is obviously a happy situation, at least for consumers.
the only thing that may be damaged is Apple's own brand image.
Last year's Double Eleven Pinduoduo shined brilliantly with billions of subsidies. Although the sales volume of iPhone 11 was far less than that of JD.COM and Henan because of consumers' doubts, in the end, the fact that it was really fragrant made more and more people fall to Pinduoduo, and its rapidly increasing number of users and sales was the best proof.
With the accumulated word of mouth for more than a year, this year's tens of billions of subsidy activities in Pinduoduo would have been even more popular, without much publicity, and a large number of users were consciously waiting for bonus hunter.
However, the sudden accident caused users to express their displeasure. Disappeared subsidies are equivalent to promises that cannot be fulfilled.
4
Conclusion
Although the tens of billions of subsidies are very fragrant, it is better not to bring real benefits to users. It is just a marketing activity, which will greatly reduce the credibility of the whole platform in the long run.
The reason why big brands are unwilling to cooperate with e-commerce platforms to give preferential treatment is mainly due to the lack of trust in the platform. Therefore, many e-commerce platforms can only cooperate with dealers in terms of price subsidies for a long time. However, the controllability of dealers is too small and the possibility of rollover is too great.