Private Domain Market Data (2020)

2020年

Most brands choose to establish their own private-domain e-commerce channels before monthly sales reach 40 million RMB.

About half build their own mini-program stores, a quarter use Youzan, and the remaining quarter rely on other platforms.

The share of private-domain sales in a brand’s total sales is typically below 20%—meaning that for the vast majority of target brands, private-domain sales account for less than one-fifth.

Estimates suggest that Perfect Diary’s private-domain sales share was around 14.8%—an outcome achieved only after years of effort and investment from thousands of employees, according to its prospectus, which also states that its private-domain user base exceeded 20 million.

For Winona, its prospectus shows that private-domain e-commerce (mini-programs plus official website) accounted for just 16.53% of total sales in the first half of 2020.

There is actually a ceiling to the scale of private domains, generally limited to 20–30% of self-operated e-commerce channel sales.

As brands approach this threshold, operational costs rise exponentially, while both user growth and conversion rates become difficult to improve.

Breaking this down by monthly repurchase rate, Florasis’ Tmall flagship store has a monthly repurchase rate of around 3% (according to生意参谋), while Perfect Diary sits at 10–15%.

The overall monthly repurchase rate for private domains ranges from 10% to 15%, with some brands reaching 20–40%.