A Platform Thinking Approach to E-commerce
Social Creator Platform OGQ has been exploring the field of e-commerce to help content creators apply their designs in real products, which can be a better way for them to connect with fans and make extra revenues. In August, OGQ acquired Womanstalk, an online credit settlement commerce platform.
The acquisition is expected to bring together Womenstalk’s strength in e-commerce and OGQ’s expertise in platform development as well as creator economy.
On Tuesday, the cofounder of Womanstalk and general manager of OGQ, Kyle Kim, shared his e-commerce experience and insights with all OGQ members.
Kyle introduced several interesting campaigns of Womanstalk, including customer service chatbot specially designed for female consumers, limited bargains for first-comers at appointed time, and the “get first and pay later” credit settlement system.
Although Womanstalk’s creative campaigns witnessed stable short-term growth, “the lack of Platform Thinking”, according to Kyle, hindered the its development into a sustainable profit-making platform.
As a revolutionary way of thinking how market works, platform thinking reconsiders how consumers, companies, competitors, and other subjects interact and create value. Instead of pure recipients of value, consumers can also be active participants and even producers of value creation.
Kyle demonstrated the Resource/Output figures showing how the result of product-centered strategy and strategic platform thinking may differ. The stimulus of events may yield satisfying result for one-time, while the strategic construction of the platform’s ecosystem can become fertilized soil to cultivate explosive growth.
Woobin kim, OGQ’s e-commerce manager agreed with the importance of Platform Thinking too. Similar to Kyle, he said that the current priority is to construct a better platform structure which provides automated POD (print-on-demand) tools and a space for creators and fan to communicate directly.
Moreover, he commented that in the field of Creator Commerce, POD may not attractive enough for young consumers. “On the basis of a smart platform strategy”, he added that, “actively creating the demand of young fans through visual merchandising will be the engine of growth and the future direction of OGQ Commerce.”
Through cooperation between the two teams, there is much to look forward to. It’s expected that overall Platform Thinking Strategy will inject new blood into OGQ’s e-commerce .
