Electric giants dabble in industrial wholesale markets: Companies need to take precautions

News and technology information Beijing time January 17, the U.S. Science and Technology blog Business Insider yesterday to comment on the article said, Amazon and other E-commerce companies are gradually to the enterprise procurement market, to deal with the new online procurement methods, enterprises need to prepare for, from culture, data management and so on.

The following is a summary of the original text:

Amazon is eyeing your client. So it is with ebay and other E-commerce distributors. Nothing prevents them from tracking customer buying habits and persuading customers to buy their own products. You'd better start a rainy day.

If you look at the emails I received last month, you might think that I and Amazon CEO Bezos (Jeff Bezos) are intimate friends. I get emails from Bezos almost every day (he's on behalf of Amazon) and he gives me some shopping advice in the mail.

In addition to aggressively expanding the retail market, electric giants such as Amazon and ebay have also begun to shift their minds into the industrial market, where traditional physical stores find it only a matter of time before the companies gobble up their market share.

Think about it: companies like Amazon have technology, distribution networks and brand influence to do this. Ask the famous home furnishing chain, Home Depot and Lloyd Lowe, that they are lagging far behind in the distribution of electricity. Why can't amazon sell bolts, washers and motors? There is no reason.

For companies that buy things from distributors, it's important to be aware of this change and decide how to deal with that change. Of course, there are a number of potential problems, for example, considering that Amazon will track customers ' buying habits and offer shopping advice via email and web displays, and if you're struggling to control costs because of "rogue purchases" within the company (they usually have bad purchasing behavior), It is obviously more difficult to control the situation on Amazon.

The good news is that the industrial market can learn from the retail market, and here are a few things the company should consider when it comes to increasing electronic procurement:

1. Cultural change

Many companies still use fax or e-mail to send purchase orders, which many supply chain experts consider to be the only way to guarantee the company's own terms and conditions when buying goods. If you buy things from Amazon, you must also agree to their terms and conditions.

But when did people last read and sign the terms of a fax or email purchase order? These things don't stand up even in court, and if they are eventually sued, only those lawyers who pay hourly fees are the winners in the debate about which terms and conditions should be applied.

Of course, most companies are doing a certain proportion of online procurement, but to achieve full online procurement needs to change the current culture, I think this will happen within 5 years. Whether you like it or not, the rapid development of E-commerce is an indisputable fact, and online procurement efficiency is very high. What areas can be purchased online? What if the terms and conditions you want are not part of the deal? These issues need to be considered.

2. Loss of checks and balances

What are the hidden dangers of e-procurement? Major problems may include product quality and consistency, after-sales service and transportation costs. Will the end of your hand be as good as what you see on the screen? What kind of service relationship do you have with online distributors? Do you believe in courier companies?

Checks and balances may lose their effect. If you have compromised with a supplier larger than yourself, you should know what I mean. If you've been buying office supplies from one of the three big sales giants on the market, what will happen if Amazon or ebay buys the company? Will you negotiate with them on price? How to guarantee the fairness of the terms and conditions of the transaction? What impact will you have on your bottom line? These also apply to cleaning supplies and industrial fasteners, and if competition is reduced, how do you maintain your own interests?

3. Data manipulation

Although ERP software is very popular in industry and other enterprises, but it's still difficult to get the right data and present it in a meaningful way, but a lot of the big power companies have the ability to see the personalized emails and the targeted purchase advice that they offer. If the distribution companies are not able to access and use these consumer data, then it is difficult to ensure that users do not buy products from other companies.

If your organization does have a problem with rogue procurement, the problem will become more and more troublesome. How will it affect the budget if the electric giant keeps track of the user's buying habits and offers the company an unexpected solution? Enterprises should make full use of their own data resources.

Don't believe what I'm saying? 5 years ago, my friends were buying things on ebay, and I thought they were crazy, how to ensure product quality, financial information security and product transport safety? I think the stakes are too high. But now, during the Christmas season 80% of what I bought came from online sales and I enjoyed the process. The electric giants are fast entering the industrial wholesale market, should we be prepared?