The electric business platform meets the ceiling? Why instead of chasing the traditional channels?

"After the double 11, offline and online conflicts are not only a business or an industry, but the whole society." "The Bingshou CIO said to NetEase technology.

Coincidentally, a few days ago Jingdong O2O project leader Hou Yi claimed entity retailers must not build official website, the reason is "with the electricity business platform together cost is lower", then Anhui le City supermarket general manager Wei directly counterattack, "the electricity merchant cost below the entity shop is a lie", and said the traditional retail channel as long as can solve the purchase method, There is no electricity business.

Obviously, the traditional channel has found its own greater value from the close hand-to-hand combat of the electric business channel.

From Ali, Beijing-east menacing to high growth grab food line under the entity shop Cake, to the Mayun of gambling, and then to the beginning of this year, many home appliances business platform will gradually pull the physical retailer into the layout of its mobile internet, such changes in the end for what? Perhaps this means that the electric business platform is slowly coming down from the altar, Offline traditional retail channels are starting to fight back.

Shanxi case: Beautiful and Tangju

Nine to the ancient capital, Taiyuan, Shanxi, the two home appliances business + supermarkets are here to start hand-to-hand combat. April 17, store 1th and the Shanxi United States special supermarket joint launch of the 1th shop Mei Special good flagship store officially online, and Jingdong retail O2O Benchmarking Tangju Convenience store is also located in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

In the southwest corner of Labour Square in Taiyuan City Center, a Tangju convenience store with the Beijing-east logo is open, leaving just 200.1-meter blocks away from another Tangju convenience store that looks almost identical. If the Labour square as the starting point, within a kilometer range can find 9 tang long, just and 1th shop to reach a cooperation of the United States only a good 1.

This is a normal spring noon, the convenience store in and out of the work in the vicinity of the young white-collar workers, fast food, lunch boxes, corn are the focus of the purchase of the object. In the reporter's imagination, the store should have a special stacking express parcel corner, but it seems that whether the Tangju or the United States, and Beijing's common convenience stores are no different. According to the shop assistant, the concentration of the package was spent every morning and evening, not too much.

In and electric business platform hand before, the United States special good and Tangjiusheng dozen very happy, the United States special shout out "online buy more than 1 yuan merchandise, free door-to-door"; Tangju announced the launch of "open warehouse to put food" and "fresh to a yuan, although easy, fresh and not easy" promotion, to the common people necessary rice oil, directly to the standard beautiful "1 Yuan".

The two business giants represent Taiyuan's most important retail channel: In 1997, the company opened its first large storage supermarket. Up to now, there are more than 100 stores in Shanxi province, and 1 years later Tangju will introduce convenience stores to Shanxi, with more than 800 convenience stores in Shanxi and more than 3000 employees.

And at the electric quotient level competition Tangju already one step ahead, this benefited from the Tangju and the Beijing-East cooperation early, both sides of the system has been deep docking, Tang long more than 800 convenience stores are integrated into the online shopping malls, store inventory can be sold online, while building the General warehouse. If the user buys the goods in the store to have the stock, then the system according to the LBS localization will deliver the delivery to the nearest user's store, realizes 1 hours to reach (even can realize the payment 15 minutes service);

And just with the 1th shop to cooperate with the United States is completely different, at present all by the total warehouse for delivery, stores just logistics site, its inventory did not enter into the configuration system. In its O2O, the location of lbs is not introduced, and the optimization of store distribution is not realized. All of its distribution through the general warehouse by car, special personnel for distribution. This means that the electrical business and the integration between the store is very elementary, the entity shop only assume the logistics site, and did not realize the inventory and so on.

Electric Dealer's ceiling?

Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, is only a typical example of the cooperation between the electric business channel and the traditional channel, and more cooperation is in progress. In addition to just mentioned Tangju + Jing-dong and 1th stores + the United States special Good, micro-letter Hand Wangfujing Department store, Tianhong shopping malls, Ali Strategic investment in Yintai business, Beijing-east cooperation with the million convenience stores and Beijing Huaguan Shopping Center to reach a O2O.

More cooperation is still going on.

April 11 Bai Cargo chairman June publicly said that the 1th store chairman Gege has been pro to Wuhan and talks with O2O cooperation plan matters. The Beijing-east side also said that the O2O project will be from the convenience store to supermarkets, shopping malls, clothing stores, such as the overall push.

Chao, president of the neighboring Exchange (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., said that the occurrence of this situation is mainly related to the decline of traditional supermarket sales: "For the current traditional sales channels, in the development process does face some difficulties, sales by the impact of the electricity quotient." After the introduction of electric dealers, consumers in supermarkets can also carry out impulsive consumption. ”

But with the channel since the construction of the electricity business (typical case suning gome), and now most of the cooperation is the electric platform of the active hand of the traditional channels, electric business platform has never been the same as now, showing the desire for offline channels, this is for what?

If you look to the other side of the ocean, e-commerce in the United States accounted for only 7% of total retail sales. Moreover, in the top ten U.S. electric platform, Amazon is the only pure electricity business platform, the other nine are cable stores under the real store Wal-Mart, Macy's and other physical retailers. And such as Macy's online commodity prices are more expensive than offline physical stores, showing offline entity stores still control the pricing power. Coincidentally, data from the beginning of this year show that the total consumption of electricity business in the mainland has just risen to 7%.

In recent years, the sales of electric dealers have been rising, but the realization of the profit of the electric business platform is rare. This is because the electricity business mainly relies on the price war to occupy the market, even in order to enlarge the scale becomes many brand enterprises to clean up the inventory commodity "the sewer". But the "Prisoner's Dilemma" between the size and the profits is still confusing the way ahead for the electric business platform. In addition, the high cost of online marketing is making online cost convergence, online cost advantage dividend is gradually away.

According to the introduction, a mature Taobao shop, a year of marketing into nearly million, this and a shop under the store rental costs and related human costs, and so the difference is not much. Public data show, where the customer sincerity goods of new customers to obtain about 150 yuan, this number let NetEase technology contacts in several offline traditional retailers said unimaginable.

There are offline retailers who are reluctant to disclose their names to NetEase technology: "The reason why the electricity business platform can rise strongly because of the offline retail link does not good enough, but now the electric business platform to the user's excavation has entered the bottleneck, if you want to continue to develop, we must use the advantages of the offline retail floor. ”

This is the basic reason why the electric business platform seeks the offline retail channel.

Traditional channels Alert

In the end it is the traditional channel to hold the electric dealer's thick leg, or the electric business should reverse the traditional channel, this is a question of the beholder.

In the United States and 1th shop signing ceremony, the U.S. special good group chairman Shande on NetEase Technology, said: "Now the United States has set up a good logistics company, is dedicated to the 1th store beautiful official flagship store set up." Mei Special Good hope that their stores can bear the main delivery and customer door-to-door responsibility, the future will open more sites to serve Taiyuan customers. ”

This statement may prove that in this wave of electric business platform and traditional channels of the game, the dominant position is still the Internet enterprises, some traditional retail channels are becoming the Electronic Business platform pick-up point and logistics channel. This has been fuelled by public opinion, but until the end of last year, physical retail stores still occupy more than 93% per cent of the total retail sales of the country, and the role of the electricity dealers in the entire retail system remains "less important". NetEase Technology survey several different industries in the domestic well-known enterprises of the electric platform sales data, showing the following: a well-known domestic sports brand, less than 1%; a snack brand, less than One-tenth; a famous brand of foreign beverages, less than One-tenth in Beijing, North Garden, less than 20%.

Such a reality to the traditional channels of anxiety began to decline, a supermarket chain in Wuhan, the head of the marketing department to NetEase Technology said: "The core value of consumer behavior or products and services, channel is only the manifestation of the traditional channels of accumulation is not comparable to the electrical platform." ”

Ali, Beijing-east and other electric giants began to the offline retail stores "Scramble", this may explain, now the hottest O2O concept of the most core value or offline entity shop, whether it is the PC or mobile end of the entrance are many, but the entity store is holding the region's firm customers.

As an example of the great reverence for shop number 1th, the chain is doing a lot of work in shop 1th, an electric-business platform. In addition to the supermarket business, in KTV, tea restaurants and other business areas are involved, its own fried dough-sticks even been rated as the first in Shanxi assured dough sticks; the extra services in these supermarkets can bring in more traffic than shop 1th can bring.

Binshou achievement to NetEase Technology said: "For traditional retail channels, the electronic business platform to bring the model is not a problem, but the traditional retail channels must be clear to see who to dominate." Therefore, we emphasize that enterprises must first set up their own core advantages of the O2O system, so that the electric business platform to become part of their O2O system. ”

In the Internet field there is a very classic words: "Google only 5 grams of weight." "Jing Dong to do all the company's strength to create a huge logistics warehousing team, but compared with the traditional offline retailer's huge investment is still bucket."

Third Pole force

In addition to offline channels and online channels, manufacturers are beginning to find their own positioning.

When Gome's price war, let a group of home appliance manufacturers become the client of sales channels, in the era of electric business platform, this control is still in progress. Although there is an angry Haier Chong crown, in the east of the big push to leave, but a number of Jingdong, cat in the promotion of the manufacturers of the coerced and two to choose one of the manufacturers are still being sold channel control.

However, with the mobile Internet and social development, more manufacturers are more willing to face the consumer directly, in their view, whether it is online channels or offline channels or even their own distributor channels, direct shop are part of the sales, the ultimate goal is to better promote products. Binshou achievements on NetEase Technology said: "Whether the regional agents, traditional retailers or electric business platform, are only manufacturers of the shipping path." But in the past these channels are basically independent, the system, the consumer received is fragmented products, more reasonable mode is to integrate all the original channels together, but not to destroy the existence of the original individual. ”

In Bingshou's description, the O2O model for the future of the horse should be this: "Now in the PIP store, there are only a variety of yards to sell." But in the future, consumers will be able to see all the products in the path in any store or in any consumer channel. ”

And the North Garden market director Hou Dengliang also said to NetEase technology: "For fresh products, the sales channel is of course the more the better." However, the sales of fresh products are still very difficult to do, the vast majority of consumers are more likely to accept the offline purchase, the electricity quotient is a drainage channel. ”

At home, the retail industry has undergone a total of four major changes, from department stores, supermarkets, vertical chain to the current E-commerce, each change has made a strong impact on the retail business. One of the most typical industries is home appliances, from the first daily necessities to Carrefour Wal-Mart as the representative of the supermarket chain, and then to the Su Ning Gome vertical chain, and finally is Jingdong Mall. According to historical development, each big change of retail trade can let new entrants get short period of business model dividend, but finally each kind of retail business state still can find living space. This is because the essence of retail is to provide customers with valuable goods and services, the difference between the biggest weapon of competition is not the business model, but the development of goods.

In the past, the retail and electric businesses relied largely on the model of entry fees and financial transactions, most of which were paid by suppliers, a business model that hurt suppliers ' interests in China. Take Jingdong as an example, its prospectus shows inventory, return rate is not low, and the supplier's payment period of up to 45 days. In the future this misshapen business model will be difficult to survive at home, because most vendors will realize that multi-channel will allow them to have more choice of space, with the development of social technology, the supplier's ability of direct contact with consumers will become stronger, by the electric business platform, traditional channels of hostage will be less and more, in the future of retail business mode, will be the traditional channels, online channels and suppliers to build a three-party coexistence model.

O2O must be multi-channel parallel, large offline retailer, electric dealers are bound to have both online channels and cable channels, a classic analogy is the past offline retailer Hand weapon is broadsword, electric dealer hand weapon is machine gun, but in the future if both sides have a machine gun, to compete is shooting technology.