It's behind it. Almost all of the big electric business platforms in China

This is a seemingly ordinary convenience store, but it is behind the domestic almost all of the large electric business platform. Such a pattern is now common, the most grounded gas community convenience stores are becoming the focus of the O2O platform for those who look tall.

March 17, Jingdong Group announced that with the country's 15 cities around 10,000 convenience stores to cooperate, this is after last year Jingdong and Shanxi Tang long group cooperation to the convenience store another wave of offensive; Alipay and Lakara are moving to different rhythms, helping convenience stores to offer easy online payments and purchases as their focus.

As the most hot industry in the current retail industry, convenience stores are indeed worth the hope of the platform. "China City Convenience Store Index" released by China Chain Management Association recently showed that in 2013, the average growth rate of 26 cities in the country was 30%, which was higher than that of traditional department stores and large supermarkets.

Convenience Store Scramble

Under the background of the mobile internet era, O2O became the focus of the retail industry. The electric business channel hopes to be able to become the upstream supplier of the traditional channel through its own flow and the data superiority, will unify the line and the line to the ecosystem system, but the traditional sales channel wants to be able to use the electricity merchant Enterprise's flow to expand the shop category, and lets the sales system run faster.

Now O2O is still in the stage of horse racing, whether Ali, Tencent or Jingdong, how to attract more users to use O2O is the urgent matter. Who is the electric business platform to enter the line of the perfect match? The big answer is: convenience stores.

Last March, Amazon China and the Shanghai Family Convenience store cooperation, the line of the receipt of goods from the business. Users in the Amazon after the purchase of goods, can go to the family convenience store, can be paid online to the offline shop, convenience stores also support cash, credit card and other goods to the payment method.

Alibaba into the convenience store way is paid, Alipay successively with the United States Ikea, Red flag chain, 7-11, such as convenience store cooperation, users in the convenience store consumption, can be paid by the payment treasure sweep code. The data show that at present, Alipay has supported 20,000 convenience stores.

Why do electric business platforms devote so much energy to convenience stores? Jingdong Chief Logistics Planner Hou Yi to NetEase technology, the convenience store is the most close to consumers in the local life, convenience store inventory is also the closest to consumers, services can be done at any time, this type of business for the electric business enterprises involved in the O2O is the most suitable for cooperation.

But with the channel since the construction of the electricity business (typical case suning gome), and now most of the cooperation is the Electronic Business platform to take the initiative to facilitate the store as a representative of the traditional retail channels. The electric business platform has never shown the desire for offline channels as it is now, what is it for?

There are not willing to disclose the name of the offline retailer said: "That year, the power of the platform can be a strong rise is because the offline retail links do not good enough, but now the electricity business platform to the user's excavation has entered the bottleneck, if you want to continue to develop, we must rely on the advantages of ”

For example, the cooperation between Jingdong and No. 1th stores and convenience stores electric business platform is obviously not satisfied with their own flow into the line, its greater ambition is to extend its own industrial chain to the line, will consumers from the line to the east of the line is the basic purpose.

From thousand to thousands of products

A natural question is, what can a convenience store get from a power provider platform?

When it comes to convenience stores, many people first think that 7-11, two numbers are meant to be out of business, but now it's customary to open 24 hours. Convenience stores rely on the advantages of time, place, and rapid commodity adjustment to survive. Convenience stores are able to build a "10-minute consumer circle", with a large or small convenience store at home or near the unit. It provides the convenience of food, beverage consumption and recharge services that other community retailers are temporarily unable to provide.

But the good days do not last forever, the two years on the "convenience store close the tide" of the report is frequently published in the newspaper, was swept among the well-known convenience store brand. The bigger worry for convenience stores is the electricity quotient, from 3 C, clothing, and then fresh, electric dealers are entering all the industries that can be sold, and the long tail effect of the electric quotient determines that it can display an infinite number of goods in theory, this and convenience store thousand products formed a strong contrast.

No one will be without a fight. Although the exhibition space cannot be increased, various service items are put into the convenience store world like Plug-ins, from payment to collection of parcels.

Is it a good idea to be incorporated directly into the Electronic business platform?

There is a chain of convenience store Mister to NetEase Technology, once with the cat and Beijing East talked many times but ultimately did not reach cooperation. The boss directly said commission too little: "Convenience stores can help the electronic business platform to solve the landing problem, but get back to not enough manpower costs." "In his view, the flow of access to the dealer is tantamount to thirst, and his response is to add more value-added services: a variety of fees, the sale of ticket tickets for train tickets, and even he would like in the near future to introduce their own breakfast service."

In its view, convenience stores and traditional supermarkets, department stores are not afraid of the impact of the electricity business, this is because of the demand for consumption time so that the convenience of retail to meet the needs of consumers emergency. In addition, the network retailing has its marginal limit to the cost and profit of the goods, and the network retailing cannot fully satisfy the consumer's convenience demand. More importantly, the convenience store owner of a sentence: "Hello, eat" greeting to make consumers more likely to feel cordial and trustworthy.

It is clear that convenience stores are looking for ways to counter their own value when they respond to the impact of electricity dealers.

The easiest way to do this is not to reject an olive branch from any of the electric-business platforms. According to NetEase Science and technology, a number of convenient shopkeepers have said that with a number of home appliances business platform are cooperating. In their view, these electronic business platform can become a convenience store natural warehouse and logistics distribution center.

Who are the benefit winners?

At present, the net buys the group mainly concentrates in the first, the first, the net buys the area mainly concentrates in the few front-line cities. But a new survey of the Internet industry shows that people in the elderly and underdeveloped areas also have the demand for online shopping, but the single channel restricts purchasing power. In China, many of the two or three-line cities do not have a perfect internet environment, mobile people in the outdoors is difficult to do online shopping, the elderly to buy inexpensive, but do not understand computer operations, and will not use the net Silver Alipay ——— They are blocked in the net shopping outside the door.

The cooperation with convenience stores has given these consumers more opportunities to reach out to the electricity business.

In the Beijing-East system, the convenience store into a commodity distribution node, services in the vicinity of the convenience store users, the ideal state is the user orders 15 minutes after delivery. Payment in the Alipay mode of payment, users pay the scene quickly and conveniently, eliminating the use of cash problems.

But for convenience stores, this model is tantamount to working for the electric business platform, the final consumer will remember or the electric business platform, convenience stores become electric platform advertising display shop or even distribution in a ring.

Perhaps in the future, there are many modes of cooperation between convenience stores and electric business platforms. Now more popular is the terminal mode, to Lakara as an example, for often in convenience stores with Lakara repayment of consumers, this is not unfamiliar terminal now has a network shopping function. Lakara Store through its community mall to provide community residents from the line to the offline community of O2O services. In addition to Lakara, there are some terminal manufacturers are trying to use this model to help upgrade traditional convenience stores, some people do not have access to the Internet or unfamiliar with the network of customers can be on the terminal to help the owner to choose the goods, the final goods can be shipped home or distribution to the store.

This innovative model has a precedent abroad, the UK's largest O2O electric Argos Argos integration of "catalog sales +B2C+O2O" three business models. That is to say, consumers can choose to purchase goods through the catalogue by the back of the warehouse direct shipment, or using mobile terminals to achieve online orders to shop from the Argos or paid shipments, at present, the United Kingdom has covered more than 2/3 of the family.

Wen/Sun Hongsu