This article is written based on publicly available information and is intended solely for information exchange and does not constitute any investment advice.

For China's e-commerce practitioners in 2024, the consensus of returning to user experience to drive growth is becoming increasingly clear:

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first half of 2024, China's online retail sales reached 7.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.8% year-on-year.

It has been proven that the overall market is still growing, but the options for platforms to differentiate themselves have become more limited.

As the information gap between traffic entrances on major e-commerce platforms disappears, supply chain capabilities converge, and consumers become more rational in their decision-making between information sources, the consensus for growth among today's platforms stems from user experience.

Prioritizing user experience is a value discovery process that returns to the right path. Serving consumers well is the premise of everything.

For consumers today, living in the fourth consumption era and post-bubble economy, with an abundance of material goods and options, seeking new meaning and satisfaction within e-commerce platforms is also a fundamental logic that upholds the user-first principle, which has always been effective in the history of business development.

Throughout the history of retail, every few decades, a company has emerged to push the boundaries of user experience. Returning to the e-commerce industry, being close to users and listening to their voices is almost a necessity for an e-commerce platform to survive and thrive today.

In terms of prioritizing user experience, the most noteworthy action has been TikTok e-commerce's continued efforts to get closer to users:

At the end of August, TikTok e-commerce invited consumers to visit its Customer Experience Center in Chongqing, where they engaged in face-to-face communication with users to listen to their genuine needs and further enhance service capabilities and quality.

During this communication session, users shared their personal experiences regarding after-sales, consumer rights, customer service, logistics, and other needs and stories related to e-commerce shopping, providing insights into the diverse needs of today's e-commerce consumers and how TikTok e-commerce, being closest to these consumers, continues to improve the user experience on its platform.

01 Live Streaming: The Natural Warmth of Human Connection

For many consumers, 'shopping on TikTok' has become a part of their daily lives. TikTok e-commerce's latest data reveals that 3.8 billion daily traffic enters live streaming rooms, and with the platform's increasing investment in user experience, after-sales satisfaction metrics have improved by 13%.

During this Open Day for User Experience, we noticed that many consumers' lives were increasingly intertwined with TikTok live streaming, and this integration was echoed by the views of many on-site consumers:

Firstly, TikTok's content-driven e-commerce model makes shopping more convenient. Compared to the arduous task of searching for products among countless shelves, content-driven e-commerce makes it easier for consumers to find suitable goods and services that meet their needs.

Secondly, TikTok live streamers actively interact with users in the live streaming room, fostering a sense of participation. The conversational tone of the live streams creates a sense of companionship.

Including the popular trend of promoting agricultural products in TikTok live streams, allowing more people to directly connect with farmers, adding meaning to responsible consumption.

Additionally, for book and knowledge-based live streams, many authors launch their new books on TikTok, and following authors and streamers' recommendations has become a daily routine for many consumers.

In the words of consumers themselves, they prefer 'conversational live streams that create a sense of companionship' and 'streamers who promote agricultural products and help local farmers increase their income,' as they find this 'very meaningful.'

This is almost a necessary path for every mature and developed consumer market.

In the book 'Kodoku no Shakai' (The Society of Solitude), which describes the fourth consumption era, Japanese author Miura Nobuhiro devotes significant space to explaining the meaning of consumption. The core message is that:

Consumers in mature markets seek satisfaction in the process. With the decline of conspicuous consumption and the uncertainty of identity, today's consumers gain more identity recognition and realize self-worth through live streaming consumption, as well as the crucial companionship and connection offered by live streams, far exceeding the value of their purchasing behavior itself.

Through the rich functionality of its live streams, TikTok e-commerce Endow with bestowal consumers new consumer identities and values: Consumers now engage in socializing, shopping, and giving back to the community, all within the TikTok live streaming environment.

This undoubtedly reflects consumers' recognition of 'good content.' As live streaming e-commerce evolves rapidly, being an 'e-commerce creator' has become a serious endeavor for many, bringing more quality content closer to users.

TikTok e-commerce's latest data shows that over the past year, the platform has seen over 2 million young e-commerce creators and over 7.53 million new e-commerce creators. The average daily broadcast time of e-commerce live streams has increased by 33% year-on-year, and the number of e-commerce creators with GMV exceeding 10 million has grown by 52% year-on-year.

An important part of consumers' quality of life comes from discovering and purchasing products through TikTok e-commerce. This cloud shopping experience is turning more and more consumers into the TikTok live streaming generation, inseparable from the natural warmth of TikTok live streams.

In fact, it is not just consumers who are gaining new lifestyles from this new human-goods relationship; e-commerce platforms and creators are also beneficiaries. In a sense, they too are 'users' of the platform.

For these merchants, improving the consumer experience also involves immersing themselves in the 'human-goods' relationship. Their sales activities are no longer limited to sitting in a store or in front of a computer, but encompass a wider range of sales scenarios, taking them to a broader world.

02 The Value of Platform Customer Service: Professionalism and Warmth

During the consumers' visit to the customer service center, a surprising statistic about TikTok e-commerce caught my attention:

Last year, TikTok's platform customer service served over 200 million consumers.

To better address user service needs, TikTok continuously innovates its service approach through customer service, striving to provide more proactive and refined services in terms of processing efficiency, compensation, and special scenario support.

Over the past six months, TikTok e-commerce has strengthened its proactive identification capabilities to provide more timely services to consumers. TikTok e-commerce also offers specialized customer service for industries such as jewelry and maternity and baby products, with many of these customer service representatives being domain experts. Currently, the dedicated customer service team has grown by over 1,000 people, with nearly 400 million yuan invested annually in consumer protection, resulting in a 7.6% increase in consumer satisfaction.

TikTok e-commerce also continues to develop standardized and intelligent customer service tools for merchants and influencers, helping them provide higher-quality services to consumers. Merchants' service awareness has also significantly improved, with the average response time shortened by 16.8%.

The underlying logic behind the platform's continued investment in customer service professionalism and refinement is not difficult to understand:

It is important to note that some intelligent technology-based responses to consumer demands, which are often homogenized, may fail to address more personalized and specialized issues or provide the warmth that consumers expect. Therefore, more proactive and refined customer service designs become crucial.

A case shared by a female consumer on-site left a profound impression on me: During the return process for female hygiene products, TikTok e-commerce's platform customer service 'skipped the complex process and directly transferred the call to a human agent.' The next day, the platform customer service called the consumer to resolve an issue that might otherwise have gone unresolved online, making the consumer feel that 'the official customer service empathized with me, understood me, and spoke gently.'

Similar to this case, in most situations where platform judgment and intervention are required, consumers are less concerned about the monetary value of a particular transaction and more about the extra emotional care and personalized attention provided by the platform and merchants.

Unlike centuries-old offline business interactions between people, today's internet commerce is more like a vast virtual reality space where users have a stronger demand for responsible and warm responses from professional customer service representatives.

The professionalism of platform customer service, their unique understanding of products, and the care and warmth they can provide are currently the shortcomings of major e-commerce platforms. Today, the lowest prices and billion-dollar subsidies, which are ubiquitous on all platforms, are no longer decisive factors in survival.

Conversely, TikTok e-commerce's investment in professional platform customer service that directly interacts with customers has proven to be a powerful tool in enhancing user experience, effectively outperforming its competitors.

03 Capturing Users' Hearts: Timeliness and Convenience of After-sales Service are Key

In the field of e-commerce consumption, the timeliness of shipping and returns, as well as the convenience of after-sales service, are the top concerns for e-commerce consumers. Slow shipping, non-delivery, and excessive pre-sale periods can significantly impact consumers' willingness to place orders.

During this user interaction, this issue received considerable positive feedback:

'When buying fruits and seafood on TikTok, seeing labels like 'Bad Products Returnable' gives me a strong sense of security and peace of mind,' said a user avid about purchasing fresh produce on TikTok. As a user, they hope to see the platform offer more diverse types of service benefits.

In fact, in addition to addressing consumers' inquiries through customer service and ensuring after-sales service, it is also crucial to provide more upfront and high-quality 'service benefits' to give consumers greater confidence in their purchases and alleviate their concerns. It is understood that TikTok e-commerce is strengthening multiple service benefits across various stages, including product selection, ordering and shipping, and after-sales service, as well as across different product categories.

Consumers have shown greater recognition for platforms and products that offer service guarantees. 'Service benefits are not just empty words. They are like a guarantee card from the brand, assuring us that they truly care about our feelings. Now, I have a better impression of brands that take consumer rights seriously, feeling that they are more reliable and trustworthy for shopping,' said an on-site user.

The improvements in service guarantees and expedited shipping and returns experienced by these consumers serve as indirect evidence of TikTok e-commerce's investment in ensuring seamless returns:

In 2023, to enhance the user experience for returns, TikTok e-commerce's 'Express Return' service covered 88% of after-sales orders, shortening the refund timeline by an average of 12 hours and improving user satisfaction with after-sales service by 13%. For categories such as fresh produce and flowers, the platform also introduced the 'Bad Products Returnable' Quality Assurance Service. If consumers receive products that are rotten, damaged, mismatched, underweight, broken, or otherwise unsatisfactory, they can initiate an after-sales application through the order page.

To address consumers' need for convenient returns, TikTok e-commerce has continuously improved its 'Express Return' service. Currently, a full-node express refund service has been designed, allowing users to apply for refunds or returns at various stages, including before shipping, during transport, and after receipt, with immediate approval and credit without further review.

The platform also continuously refines its logistics fulfillment timeline network, offering services such as next-day delivery, door-to-door delivery, and guaranteed compensation for late deliveries. Meanwhile, if consumers encounter unexpected logistics issues in transit, the platform will help them understand the specifics of the situation and provide safeguard measures such as express refunds, merchant reshipments, and coupon compensation.

Whether it's returns or shipping speed, TikTok e-commerce's commitment to reliability stands as a Clear Flag , giving it a head start in the competition for consumers.

04 Conclusion

During this Open Day, relevant TikTok e-commerce representatives stated that in the new stage of 'Omni-interest E-commerce,' the platform continues to prioritize consumer experience, as 'good experience creates core competitiveness.'

The core significance of this statement lies in the fact that the competitiveness of e-commerce platforms today has gradually shifted from offering the lowest prices across the network and competing in supply chains to capturing consumers' minds.

TikTok e-commerce is demonstrating through its actions that it is seriously committed to e-commerce and fulfilling its regulatory responsibilities, essentially enhancing the stability of the Omni-interest E-commerce ecosystem. This is an inevitable trend in the overall ecosystem development and marks the beginning of a possible new flywheel effect.

However, it is even more evident that TikTok e-commerce's investment in prioritizing user experience holds true value for the entire e-commerce industry ecosystem:

Compared to other e-commerce formats, TikTok live streaming e-commerce's unique content and emotional value, as well as the humanistic warmth of its customer service team, constitute significant comparative advantages. As user experience improves over time, these advancements will ultimately shape consumer confidence and prove the far-sightedness of this strategic investment.