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the release of new products by apple and huawei frequently appeared on the hot search list. in addition to apple and huawei officials, the platform manufacturers were the first to sense the enthusiasm of consumers. in addition to the conventional pre-sale, timeliness and price competition, the gameplay, strength and "moving lines" of corresponding businesses of various platforms have also increased this year. in the "new" battlefield with serious homogeneity, everyone is still striving to play out differences and novelties. including tmall, douyin, jd.com, meituan and other platforms have also launched activities such as booking new phones and interest-free installments. some have launched up to 24 interest-free installments, and some have issued large discount coupons. in the industry's view, interest-free installments can reduce consumers' pain of spending money and awaken potential consumer demand, but the latter must also be based on rational considerations and reasonable decisions based on the actual situation.

interest-free installment payment is good

it’s not that you can’t afford the iphone 16, but that interest-free installments are more cost-effective. beijing business daily reporters interviewed multiple parties and learned that in response to the launch of this new product, many platforms launched interest-free installment activities.

among them, the four models of this series that were first pre-sold at apple's tmall flagship store supported huabei's 24-installment interest-free purchase 28 hours before pre-sale. it is worth mentioning that this is also the first time that apple supports huabei's 24-installment interest-free purchase during the launch period.

taking the basic 128g iphone 16 as an example, consumers only need to pay about 250 yuan per month if they use huabei to purchase it in 24 interest-free installments.

it is reported that the pre-sale of iphone 16 series at apple's tmall flagship store not only supports 24 interest-free installments for huabei, but also supports 24 interest-free installments for credit cards from nine banks, including agricultural bank of china, bank of china, china merchants bank, bank of communications, ping an bank, citic bank, pudong development bank, china guangfa bank, and industrial bank.

meituan flash sale has also launched a number of initiatives to welcome apple's new products, providing interest-free installments for up to 12 periods. in addition, it has launched cloud warehouse pre-sales and upgraded its supply services in the sinking market, allowing more consumers to enjoy same-day delivery after participating in the pre-sale.

at the same time, meituan flash purchase provides free shipping within 5 kilometers and interest-free installments for up to 12 periods for huawei's full-scenario products. from september 13 to october 7, it will launch a new benefit of "buy and get a 16-month wallet savings" for popular huawei models such as the pura 70 series. the total value of this benefit is 1,600 yuan, which consumers can receive monthly and use on meituan for local consumption scenarios such as take-out dining, group food purchases, hotel accommodation, leisure and entertainment, and daily necessities.

a beijing business daily reporter learned that on the douyin platform, if you place an order through douyin monthly payment and purchase a new apple mobile phone, you can also enjoy up to 12 interest-free installments.

jd.com is also one of the companies that launched interest-free installment activities. according to reports, with the support of jd.com bai tiao's 6-period interest-free coupon, the monthly payment for an iphone 16 worth 5,999 yuan is less than 1,000 yuan, and the monthly payment for an iphone 16 pro 512g priced at 10,999 yuan is just over 1,800 yuan.

in addition to the 6-period interest-free coupon for bai tiao, jd bai tiao users also have additional benefits. starting from september 10, search for "apple interest-free" on the jd finance app to participate in the bai tiao super koi event and receive a family bucket of apple new products (including iphone 16, apple watch series 10, airpods 4), as well as a chance to win a 24-period interest-free coupon for jd bai tiao, a must-buy iphone 16 benefit, and large instant discount coupons.

su xiaorui, a senior researcher at suxi zhiyan, told the beijing business daily that the 3c field has always been a battleground for installment consumption business. the competition to promote interest-free installments is aimed at attracting high-quality consumer groups, especially young customers, on the one hand, and on the other hand, trying to stand out in the fierce installment consumption and seize the initiative in the market.

reduce the pain of spending money

interest-free installment payments have a history of many years and have always been an important means for large manufacturers to promote product sales. renowned economist pan helin pointed out that interest-free installment payments can reduce consumers' pain of spending money and help them reach the consumption threshold, thereby awakening potential consumer demand.

from the perspective of large companies and other institutions, interest-free installment payments can help expand sales, allow finance to penetrate deeper into consumer scenarios, and also allow financial institutions to gain more customers, so various institutions are actively innovating and seizing opportunities.

"i think the interest-free installment payment is based on the manufacturer's consideration of expanding sales, but consumers still have to make rational considerations based on their own actual situation, because borrowed money must be repaid eventually, and consumers have to make reasonable decisions based on their own purchasing power. it is not worth buying just for the interest-free installment payment, but when needed, you should use the interest-free installment payment to coordinate your own income and expenditure and make some reasonable cash income and expenditure arrangements." pan helin said.

the interest-free installment plans offered by major companies can indeed help consumers with limited funds get on board first and obtain the desired products. however, su xiaorui also pointed out that consumers still need to pay attention to the details of the installment agreement, such as the number of repayment periods and the repayment amount.

in fact, in recent years, there have been more and more voices saying that "mobile phones are not selling well". su xiaorui believes that this does not mean that mobile phones are not just needed, but that consumers have become more rational at this stage and will not blindly pursue new products. the cycle of replacing and iterating mobile phones has become longer than in the past. in addition, in pursuit of rapid updates and upgrades, some mobile phone manufacturers have not made particularly eye-catching innovative changes in terms of functional experience, and are often complained about as "useless". she suggested that consumers can make rational choices based on the brand, model, market evaluation, etc. of mobile phones, and large manufacturers should also fulfill their consumer protection obligations, whether for consumer services for mobile phone products or consumer installment services, they must guarantee consumers' reasonable right to know.

beijing business daily reporter liu sihong