Economic Daily - China Economic Net Beijing July 20th 'French team won the championship, Vantage retired the full section', during the World Cup this year, Vantage beat the French team to take advantage of the marketing, popularity soared. But after the French team really won the championship, Vantage Online Not returning cash, only returning to the shopping card, the offline store refunds various conditions, causing consumers to question the marketing of 'Vatican's full payment', and consumers feel that they are being "ridden."
Online 'Retirement' becomes 'Return Card'
In the early morning of July 16, the French team won the World Cup, and the French team was equally happy to buy the Vantage 'Champion Package', because Vantage promised to 'return the full amount'. Subsequently, Vantage was also released on the official Weibo. 'Retirement of the whole process of publicity', and a sense of presence on the social platform.
According to the general consumer's understanding, 'returning the full amount' means returning all the purchases of the products purchased by the consumer, or returning the cash, or returning the money to the bank card, mobile payment account, etc. according to the original payment path of the consumer. Technical operation is not difficult. But what consumers don't think is that the good 'return full payment' has become the same amount of shopping cards, including Tmall supermarket card, Jingdong E card, Suning gift card, Gome. .
Consumers familiar with online shopping know that these cards can only buy self-operated products on various platforms, but the types of self-operated products are not complete, and sometimes the price will be slightly higher than that of third-party businesses. Take Jingdong E card as an example, it only Can purchase Jingdong self-operated products, but books, virtual goods, gold and silver investment and other commodities are not covered. This limits consumers' freedom of choice to a large extent.
Is it reasonable for Vantage to do this?
Economic Daily - China Economic Net reporter checked the official Weibo of Vantage. When the event was released on May 31, the advertisement of the chairman of the board of directors of Vantage showed that if the French team won the championship, from June 1 to June 2018 Consumers who purchase Vantage's 'Winning Package' during the 22nd on the 30th, Vantage will refund the invoice amount of the purchased 'Winning Package' product. After that, because the event is hot, it will be extended to July 3.
At the same time, Vantage officially released posters including the main players of the French team and the words 'French team won the championship, Vantage retired the full amount', but there is a very small word in the upper right corner of the poster: Store or various e-commerce platform Vantage authorized stores.
The reporter clicked on the activity details and found that the method of 'returning the full amount' is indeed a refund card. However, if you enjoy the disinfection cabinet valued at 1499 yuan in the 'winning package', you can no longer enjoy the card.
In this regard, some netizens can't hide their disappointment: 'This is obviously a routine. According to our normal understanding, the refund should be a direct refund of cash, not a shopping card.'
Yao Jianfang, an analyst with the Legal Rights Department of the E-Commerce Research Center, also pointed out that 'it can be seen that Vantage’s activities should be carefully planned, and it is difficult to pick out the loopholes, but from the full refund to the return to the e-commerce platform shopping card, especially In the case that the posters are not clearly informed to the consumers, it is easy to cause consumer anger and bring immeasurable loss to the brand reputation.
Offline store refund confusing
Vantage's marketing plan not only makes consumers who purchase the package full of expectations, but as the French team advances during the World Cup, it also makes the 'eat melons' very worried about whether the Vantage can afford it, plus the 'Vatican Beijing-Tianjin dealers to run the road' event. Fermentation, the stock price of Vantage shares once fell.
In order to stabilize the stock price, on July 4th, Vantage issued the “Announcement on Marketing Activities”. The announcement shows that the total retail sales of offline channels during the activity period is expected to be more than 700 million yuan, an increase of about 20% year-on-year, of which The retail sales of the designated products are estimated to be about 50 million yuan. The total retail sales of online channels is expected to be more than 300 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 30%, of which the terminal retail sales of the designated products will be estimated. For 29 million yuan.
It is worth noting that the refund responsibility of the offline channel is borne by the sales regional distributor. Only the online channel refund responsibility is borne by the company headquarters. If the online 'return full payment' becomes 'return card', the consumer is not detailed. Reading the activity details is excusable, and the offline refund is quite confusing.
According to Hyundai Express, a Nanjing consumer was told to sign an agreement to get a refund when he took the order and invoice to refund. The user said that the merchant did not explicitly sign any agreement at the time of purchase. According to the Changjiang Business Daily, Wuhan users purchased the 'winning package' designated by the offline dealer, but the final dealer said that only one of the products can be refunded, that is, only half of the total amount is refunded.
In addition, the Vantage dealers in Beijing, Tianjin, Langfang, Zhangjiakou and other places made the event difficult to implement. A consumer in Langfang said in Weibo, 'The winning package purchased at the Langfang Vantage store, now the dealers are running The Vantage official said that the store did not participate in the event and there was no complaint.
In fact, the cost of the dealer at the time of refund is only the purchase cost and part of the promotion fee. In general, the cost is less than 50 million yuan. For online, the cost incurred by the headquarters is only the production cost and the promotion cost, and is also very low. At 29 million yuan.
The Vantage Annual Report shows that in 2017, Vantage achieved revenue of 5.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%; net profit of 510 million yuan, an increase of 55.6%.
Zhongxiao Association 'calling words' Vantage
For the failure of Vantage users to retreat the full amount, the Chinese Consumers Association can't stand it anymore. On July 18, the China Consumers Association passed the microblogging 'calling' Vantage: 'The advertising expenses are spent on consumers, this marketing idea is still I am very appreciative! I hope that Vantage will fulfill its commitments and do a good job of refunding every consumer in accordance with the pre-sale agreement and commitment. Integrity is the perfect footing for any marketing.
On the evening of the 18th, the People’s Daily Central Kitchen also expressed its views on the incident. First of all, 'like the praise' of Vantage’s marketing, 'compared to a lot of crazy gold but not a few embarrassing advertisements, Vantage’s marketing is called ' Four or two dial-ups--with an investment of no more than 79 million yuan, the stock will rise and sales will increase, not to mention the fullness of the circulation, and the brand awareness will be greatly improved, but it also refers to the terms of the Emperor’s king, "some dealers said When you buy it, you can't retire without a small ticket. This is also the overlord clause. You know, if there is no follow-up service and good faith to support, the peak of the heat generated by the marketing may also be 'cool' immediately.
Qiu Baochang, president of the Institute of E-Commerce Law of the Beijing Law Society, reminded consumers: First, consumers can negotiate with it; second, consumers can complain to the market supervision department, and the third party will investigate and mediate; Consumers can file a lawsuit against the invoice they purchased.