E-commerce members have raised prices one after another. Does it really save money or silence the cost?
April 30th, 2022

Recently, the price increase of e-commerce members entered the fast lane. Since the price increase last year, Tencent video again announced the price increase of VIP members, and then JD Plus + Tencent video membership annual card also raised the price.

Members have raised their prices one after another. Do you still buy it?

Recently, Tencent announced that the price of VIP package has been adjusted from RMB 218 to RMB 238 for 20 consecutive months, and the price of VIP package has been adjusted from RMB 218 to RMB 238 for 20 consecutive months. The prices of individual season cards and annual cards have also increased to varying degrees.

Tencent video VIP members increased prices. screenshot

Subsequently, the price of JD Plus + Tencent video membership card increased. People close to JD told China new finance that this was due to the increase in the price of Tencent video VIP.

In fact, in recent years, the price increase of members has entered the fast lane. The price increase of Tencent video VIP is only one year away from the last time; Iqiyi also raised the VIP price last year; According to several media reports, JD plus has raised its price once in 2017.

“For the price increase of Tencent video VIP, if it is calculated from the continuous monthly package of 15 yuan before April last year to 25 yuan this time, the price increase range is as high as 66.6%.” Some netizens calculated it.

Some analysts pointed out that selling members has basically become an important profit model for all e-commerce platforms. The Internet industry even ridiculed that “if you don’t have a profit model, you can sell coffee or members”.

Really save money or the cost of silence?

It is difficult to judge whether online video VIP members are worth it. After all, some film and television content cannot be watched without members. What about e-commerce members? Is it also “necessary” and is it worth it?

Screenshot of tmall app.

According to the introduction of many e-commerce platform members, members who spend tens or hundreds of yuan can save more than 1000 yuan on average (expected). For example, Alibaba 88vip is expected to save 1839 yuan a year; Jingdong plus can save 1847 yuan on average.

“I bought a member of an e-commerce platform for more than 200 yuan and it will expire in one year. Now the system shows that I saved more than 180 yuan. I saved 12 yuan in March.” Some consumers expressed to Zhongxin finance and economics.

The interviewees provide pictures.

In addition, the money saving bill of JD plus members provided by consumers to Zhongxin finance shows that the service lasted 846 days, saving 1222.12 yuan. However, it is worth noting that the consumer said, “among them, the exclusive price of plus is only 365.37 yuan, and there are some other benefits, such as 100 yuan coupon gift bag (5 yuan less than 100). Sometimes, although I receive it, it conflicts with other coupons and can not be superimposed; I haven’t used Jingdong medical services, Jingdong reading and other services at all.”

If you have a member, sometimes it will even lead to “misunderstanding”. In December 2021, some consumers used two mobile phones on meituan to test the member account and non member account synchronously. The results showed that the distribution fee of member account was 6 yuan, while that of non member account was only 2 yuan.

Meituan officials responded at that time, “it is because the software has a location cache and mistakenly uses the user’s last historical location, which deviates from the user’s actual location, resulting in inaccurate estimation of distribution fees, which has nothing to do with membership.”

“One year can save yuan”, or involving false publicity

As mentioned above, many e-commerce members declared: “it is expected to save 1839 yuan a year”, “421 yuan a year on average” and “1847 yuan on average”. Is this suspected of false publicity?

Screenshot of iqiyi app.

Interestingly, for the same member, different platforms show great differences in the amount of money saved. For example, JD app shows that “1847 yuan can be saved on average” by running plus; However, iqiyi app shows that for iqiyi VIP + JD plus members, JD plus “can save 421 yuan a year on average”. Which is accurate?

Zhao Zhanzhan, deputy director of Beijing Yunjia law firm and special researcher of the intellectual property research center of China University of political science and law, told Zhongxin finance and economics, “how much money can be saved on average? This should be for the consumption of users when they are not members, and it is the average value. As long as the e-commerce platform can provide relevant calculation basis, there will be no problem.”

The interviewees provide pictures.

Zhao Zhanzhan said, “this statement may be problematic, because it is difficult to guarantee how much users can actually save after handling membership, which also has a lot to do with the user’s own consumption amount.”

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