# Industry Launch Guide–E-commerce Retail
# 1. Industry Characteristics
Clear cyclicity: the e-commerce industry has an obvious cyclicity, which can be divided into promotional cycles and routine cycles.Promotional cycles are usually related to major holidays (Christmas, Black Friday, local holidays) or are product anniversaries (a product's 10-year anniversary, Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals).Generally, budgets and unit prices increase significantly during promotional periods. For example, on average, budgets in Q4 are significantly higher than those in Q1 of the following year.
Timing of placements is key: e-commerce placements need to follow the pacing of large promotional events. Begin warming up 3-5 days before the start of each promotional event and attract users step by step.Once the promotion has officially begun, maximize exposure through bidding. Use weighted or special placements when appropriate.On average, revenue during promotional periods account for over 60% of annual revenue, making it relatively cost-effective.
# 2. Placement Strategies
# 2.1 Part 0 - Preparation before placements
# 2.1.1 Tracking link calibration: accurately connect the three parties; provide accurate package names and URLs
📢 Be sure to conduct tests before making placements to ensure normal redirection and attribution
Reference document: AppsFlyer (opens new window)
# 2.1.2 Please postback the correct corresponding in-app event to ensure the effects of optimization (currently only supports AppsFlyer to user postbacks)
Naming conventions for postback events on Xiaomi's side:
Registration events: REGISTRATION
First purchase events: FIRST_PURCHASE
Purchase events: PURCHASE
Opening the app events: APP_OPEN
Custom event 1: CUSTOMIZE1 (custom events can be any event authorized by the advertiser. For example, a gaming app may evaluate "playing a demo", thus the advertiser can authorize "play" as a "custom event")
Custom event 2: CUSTOMIZE2 (custom events can be any event authorized by the advertiser. For example, a gaming app may evaluate "playing a demo", thus the advertiser can authorize "play" as a "custom event")
Custom event 3: CUSTOMIZE3 (custom events can be any event authorized by the advertiser. For example, a gaming app may evaluate "playing a demo", thus the advertiser can authorize "play" as a "custom event")
# 2.1.3. When creating an advertisement, take care to ensure that the method of settlement is consistent with that agreed upon in the contract.
# 2.2 Part 1 - Increase magnitude
# 2.2.1 Core concept 1: improve your eCPM performance to gain an advantage in bidding
| eCPM = Bid * CTR * (CVR) * 1000 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Performance issues | Solution | Tools |
CTR | CTR performance generally below market average How to tell if your CTR is low? E-commerce* references from Xiaomi's strong markets: RU: 0.47~2.01%; ID: 0.6~4.6% IN: 0.48~2.46%; BR: 0.2~0.3% | 1. Objective factors: differs by product penetration rate, new products<知名产品 2. Divide into several situations and make targeted improvement - Distribution placement (icon): improve CTR by designing dynamic icons - Image placement (native/interstitial): - Direction for optimizing media: [Refer to: media guide] https://xiaomi.f.mioffice.cn/docs/dock4Sp2M0jv4H5clLkXYZ9Hcpc) - Ensure update frequency of media: update to new material in 1-2 weeks | Media center |
| BID | Bidding generally lower than market average How to know if your prices are appropriate? Video* pricing references from Xiaomi's strong countries: [refer to: benchmark] (https://xiaomi.f.mioffice.cn/sheets/shtk4B6vl3XDvZ9egXasgdEThAf) | 1. High-price CPI test: begin with a high unit price ad group to increase the chances of passing for cold-start placements; adjust unit prices after passing. We recommend that you observe the changes in impressions for 2-3 days after changing the unit price and to avoid frequent price adjustments in a single day, which may affect the algorithm. Note that the ad group budget is controllable. 2. Try CPC bidding to improve bidding power Pay attention to the balance between the placement CPI and the settlement CPI | |
| CVR | 1. Accumulated over 1k in clicks but still no conversions Return to Part 0 and check if tracking link is normal 2. There are some conversions, but conversion rates extremely low <0.1% | 1. Troubleshoot P360 and other anti-cheating effects If you've set filters for custom events, communicate with the operational team in a timely manner to prevent conversion attributions being deemed cheating. 2. Increase GetApps redirection links and improve conversion rates through the GetApps ecosystem GetApps currently supports these countries: ID/IN/RU/VN/PH/MY/TH/TR 3. Narrow your target audience and tap into matching groups through accurate targeting We recommend starting off with not too many criteria to ensure a basic traffic pool - Preferred placements: view conversion status by siteid and select preferred placements with good conversion - Increase target-audience packs: add corresponding competing products or packs for behavior groups of the sector - Time-slot targeting: e-commerce has better conversion during periods from afternoon to late night | Target audience pack generating tool |
# 2.2.2 Core strategy 2: increase traffic coverage to maximize impressions
- Expand the market to Xiaomi's strong markets:
- Global distribution of Xiaomi's strong market [continuously updated] [2022Q3] Ranking in Canalys phone shipments
- Global distribution of anchor markets in the e-commerce sector
Data source: "Research on the competition and opportunities of global cross-border e-commerce platforms (2022)"
Expand affiliate traffic
- Capability: aggregating affiliated traffic to expand the overall traffic pool and drive greater possibilities for magnitude expansion
- Advantages: provides traffic supplement for all models and in regions outside of Xiaomi's main markets
- Instructions: select corresponding placements or place orders on the corresponding AM
Expand in new publisher resources
Unable to copy content being loaded
- Pull tools to enrich RTA
The RTA method is more efficient in supplying target traffic that the advertiser side truly needs, thus it realizes the purchase of target users instead of simply buying traffic.
# 2.3 Part 2 - Increase quality
# 2.3.1 Strategy for manual optimization
Step 1: Comprehensive data analysis
Split by country to obtain the data table: siteid * eCPM * conversion * cost * KPI
↓
Step 2: Preferred placements and portfolio bidding: balance quality & magnitude to maximize acquisition
Ads with good KPI but low volume should be supported and bids for them should increase→ increase eCPM
Ads with poor KPI but high volume should be suppressed have lower bids→ decrease eCPM
The combination ensures that the overall CPI meets standards, improving quality and maximizing magnitude at the same time
↓
Step 3: Increase targeting and funnel optimization
Increase target-audience packs: add corresponding competing products or packs for behavior groups of the sector
Time-slot targeting: e-commerce has better conversion in the afternoon to late night periods.
# ⭐️ New capability: take advantage of the "Automatic Bidding" tool to optimize retention**
- Advantages: given a CPA unit price, automatically bids for each ad placement based on the target retention. Reduces time spent on manual adjustment and improves retention efficiently.
- Limitations: currently only supports optimization of the day 1 retention metric
- Instructions:
- Enable the postback of retention data (see Part 0 for details).
- Fill in the target day 1 retention rate when creating an ad group,
