The traditional brand electronic commerce will be an important subject in the 2013 E-commerce industry

In view of the huge increase in E-commerce in 2012 years, traditional companies will be able to lay out the electricity business in 2013 with great fanfare. For traditional brands, the electric business is more than just a channel. Brand business to think about their brand positioning, from the original so-called offline brand slowly began to the transformation of the electronic business to close the line and the line of conflict and differences.

However, the traditional brand of electronic business road is difficult. On this road, many brands will encounter the question is: In the end is to make a big platform or only to do their own brand? is the line and the price of online product need to unify? How to solve the channel conflict? In the background management, how to establish a unified system with the various brand operators docking? Therefore, There are also many brands on the road Halberd.

As a famous brand chain operation company in China's mainland, Belle can be said to be a traditional brand which has been exploring for a long time in the electric business practice, his practice may be a reference path.

1 from brand to platform: Electric business strategy go left or right?

The use of a generation of shipping mode with other platform cooperation looks beautiful, but the system docking is difficult. Do brand business, is in the department store to open a counter, do the platform we are to open a shopping mall.

For traditional brands, involved in the electric dealer has two directions: a brand direction, the brand will be extended to the line, the other platform into their own sales channels, the other is the direction of the platform, that is, their own investment to do a channel, similar to the online establishment of a shopping mall. Belle initially to brand business strategy for E-commerce test water, and then soon began to go flat Taiwanese route-the establishment of the network of excellent shopping shoes (hereinafter referred to as "excellent purchase").

The time of Belle's involvement in E-commerce is relatively early. In the 2008, the hundred Li's high-level saw the development potential of the electronic commerce. But at that time, capital began to get together, and many companies that got venture capital started to burn money to scale. In this situation, as China's largest brand retailer, Belle has not rushed into.

"The vast majority of retail companies are doing so by exploring the rules of retailing and the competitive nature of business." Therefore, the traditional enterprises at that time do not understand the capital-fuelled e-commerce game rules. "Tesco COO Zhangxiaojun said. Belle's initial strategy is to test the water, set up a team of e-commerce, not to the electrical business team specific indicators and restrictions, but let it in an open environment to explore and grow.

The first test of water of course is the cat (then called Taobao Mall), Belle is earlier in the days of the cat opened the flagship store of traditional brand enterprises. At the same time, also opened its own independent business website Amoy Network (own brand footwear products, the company's website, the equivalent of the official E-commerce website brand). At that time, the hundred Li Electric business in the cat slowly accumulated internet sales experience, at the same time set up a hundred-Li E-commerce Warehouse, and step-by-Step into a number of channel platforms. First entered the Dangdang, Jingdong Mall, Fank v platform. Then consider such as Amoy Network Professional footwear vertical Web site. Basically followed the entry order from big to small.

At that time, the establishment of its own E-commerce warehouse of the Hundred-Li electric operators in the context of the rules of the platform does not open the purchase of goods. The so-called purchase of goods, is the business platform as a brand dealer, from the brand to buy, and then warehousing, sales, logistics by the platform to solve. At that time, Cheiyun, the head of hundred Li Electric power in the "China Business newspaper" reporter interviewed, said, hundred Li multi-channel operation of the early hope of the unified operation of multiple platforms. That is, the business platform is only hundred Li's order source, all the goods by the Hundred-Li E-commerce Warehouse unified issue.

This model is actually on behalf of the delivery mode, Taobao once prevailed. Theoretically, the generation of shipping is a very ideal model, for other sales platform, do not need to purchase goods warehousing. For the brand, it can also prevent the platform to promote sales, play price war and damage the brand price system, but also to ensure that the quality of goods delivered to the user.

However, in practice, the problem of this pattern is also exposed. Excellent Purchase network CEO Xuejun has been interviewed, said that the use of the mode of delivery and other business platform cooperation looks very beautiful, but the system docking is difficult. For example, each platform will be promoted, and the order brought by this promotion is impulsive. This is often the case: an order is not available one minute, 15 orders a minute later, but the warehouse may only have 10 pieces of goods. and each platform system and its own warehouse docking, background data can not timely reflect the front orders. This systematic error often leads to shortages.

The most important thing is that footwear products need to be ordered in advance, the industry is called Futures system. In other words, the goods have not started to sell have been prepared in the warehouse. and brand sales need to be stocked in advance. In lieu of shipping mode, each of the sales platform has not given Belle commitment to specific sales targets, there is no deposit. But for the hundred Li Electric business, each year needs advance order, stock, the estimate difficulty is very big.

So, Belle began to test the level table strategy. July 2011 Hundred Li started the excellent purchase, began to do platform. "Do brand business, is in the department store to open a counter, do the platform we are to open a shopping mall." "Xuejun a very vivid metaphor for the strategy of Tesco.

Choose in the second half of 2011 this time point to do platform, hundred Li also has its own in-depth thinking. "Brand business is the product, flat Taiwanese business is the customer." The platform is suitable for high hit marketing mode, so that customers can get more quickly. Many brands on the market take platform business play. Expensive to attract customers, but customer demand changes quickly, the brand can not meet the loss. Xuejun points out that when it comes to capital mania, business operations sometimes break away from commercial nature. Although it is the platform for the positioning of the business, in the category is to take the first to do depth, and then extend the width.

Organizational structure, excellent purchase integration of the original Amoy Show Network, and the Amoy Show Network members received. And the original hundred Li Electric business team is not fully integrated into the excellent purchase, they are responsible for the sale of Taobao, but also responsible for the organization and development of goods, as well as the expansion of the whole network channels, the best purchase for them is just one channel. According to Zhangxiaojun, at present, two teams have been very integrated.

2 from price differences to price convergence: How to solve the conflict under the line?

Do you want to use the same brand, whether you want the same product and whether you want the same price?

Traditional offline brands to enter E-commerce are difficult to avoid a problem: line online under the channel conflict. Because the price of online products below the line will often affect the interests of agents or franchisees. Therefore, brand operators in the opening up of electrical business channels often encounter the resistance from agents.

Xuejun in the interview blushes Hundred Li just opened the electricity business channel encountered by the resistance from the line under the channel, in fact, the survey results show that users compare the line after the price of a single case less, "if consumers spend so much time to parity, cheap 20% is also for granted." "Conflict is inevitable," Xuejun said.

"Prior to the establishment of the excellent purchase, we have been groping through 3 years, in the goods mainly to solve the ' three the same ' problem, that is, hundred Li online sales to use the same brand, whether to the same product, whether to the same price. Xuejun said that after 3 years of exploration, hundred Li online sales of products identified as the use of the same brand, because people are aware of the brand and rely on, online to take the same brand can be the line of the accumulated brand value to the line.

"Online can be the same product as offline, or it can be different products. "Xuejun points out. Product is the same means that the online price strategy, line with the same section of the same period of merchandise, the general line to maintain the price and the line is basically consistent, over the season of goods, online prices will be lower.

According to the Reporter Online shopping mall survey found that, in fact, the hundred-Li Line and the line is completely coincident with very little. An interesting phenomenon, in the newly-listed Belle shoes, there is a shoe root for the diamond-shaped cutting style. This model is used in the online and line shoes, the exact same last shape, but the color and shape of shoes are different.

Xuejun told the reporter, the shoes ' dress feeling mainly depends on its last type, the line and the line's shoe paragraph as long as the same, may do many modelling details the difference. The same material, the same last shape, different styles can naturally take different prices. In this way, the online style is generally cheaper than the offline 10%~20%. Solves the problem of channel conflict.

In addition, users online to see the product is different from the line, is based on one of the offline. According to the introduction, hundred Li Nationwide sales in the Belle Fair will be based on local users of the consumer preferences to order. And the opening of e-commerce channels, the hundred Li's electrical purchasing also as a party to participate in the purchase order. The purchase of electrical business will also be based on the consumer characteristics and needs of online users.

Belle can take the line and line with the same quality but different product strategy depends on the production capacity of the flexibility of hundred Li production line. Because of the hundred-Li production line itself can achieve a small number of production patterns, so this is adapting to the Internet requirements quickly on the new, fast changing characteristics. The reporter visited the hundred Li factory to see, hundred Li production line, a pair of shoes each link has already formed the specialized flowing water operation. In any one assembly line can achieve small batch production. This ensures the diversity of Belle shoes, and this diversity supports the difference between the channel and offline channels.

However, the line and line inscribed type difference is only the traditional enterprise originally "net" when the expedient. Zhangxiaojun pointed out that "network for the provision, in fact, means that the extra cost of pay, additional development costs, additional cost of stocking, which is actually detrimental to the efficiency of the supply chain, this is the early you can not see clearly, do not understand when the last resort to try, but when you return to the nature of the retail industry, we are in the direction of the purchase to try slowly convergence, That is, commodity convergence, price convergence, this is the United States, Japan's successful approach. ”

Zhangxiaojun said that the current strategy on the Belle line is to narrow the price difference, the line to gradually increase the price, so that with the line of prices slowly converging, and currently do not fully consistent, but will slowly converge.

For the belle of this brand, the first step of other people to test water e-commerce This action itself is both offensive and defensive role. When the electronic commerce becomes the important sale channel of the fashionable commodity, hundred Li in the same industry brand merchant, its electronic commerce ability is stronger, this with other industry brand competition will not fall behind. As a result, starting in 2008 is actually a hedging strategy for the potential risk of future changes in sales channels.

In a sense, the converging price strategy in line is also in response to the risk of mobile internet. With the popularization of intelligent mobile terminals and various barcode recognition software, the offline shopping malls are becoming more and more quickly become the fitting rooms for online channels. Users online only try not to buy, and through the mobile terminal site parity order. This is a dangerous symptom.

"Users were willing to spend 1000 yuan to buy your brand, but you moved the customer to the online market at a low price, and the customer spent 200 yuan." For brands, its brand premium ability weakens, this is the brand does not want to see. "Zhangxiaojun said.

3 from sales to service: How to position the channel of brand investment online?

Hundred Li Taobao shops and excellent shopping Network day Cat Shop by the hundred Li Electric business care. Hundred Li Electric Business is still responsible for the line hundred Li's brand strategy, while the best purchase is responsible for hundred Li in each major platform channel expansion, but also to help more other brands into the major electric platform.

Tesco's model is first from the Belle's brand and its agent of the footwear brand began to slowly expand to other footwear brands and more clothing brands. The reporter saw, in the excellent purchase on-line, has hundred Li Group's numerous own brand, but also has like Nike, Adi and so on some agent sports brand. Last August, the platform began large-scale investment to foreign merchants, some non-Belle group of footwear brands and clothing brand recruit come in. "At present, the hundred Li Department of Footwear products in the optimal purchase platform on the account is far below 50%." "Zhangxiaojun said.

"Although the excellent purchase is the hundred-Li wholly-owned, but you can not change the price of hundred Li's brand products." Tesco is only one of the channels of Belle brand, the price is controlled by the hundred-Li brand. "Zhangxiaojun points out," the capital of the electricity dealers play is a bloody price killer play, the price of the killer play in the standardized products can be, because the standardization of products, the supply chain is simple, channel business is the leader of the supply chain, non-standard products supply chain complex, Brand is the leader of the supply chain. ”

Excellent purchase and the original hundred Li Electric Corps team also clarified the Division of Labor and Cooperation. "Hundred Li Taobao shops and excellent shopping Network day Cat Shop by the hundred Li Electric business care." Hundred Li Electric Business is still responsible for the line hundred Li's brand strategy, while the best purchase is responsible for hundred Li in each major platform channel expansion, but also to help more other brands into the major electric platform. "Zhangxiaojun said that regardless of the excellent purchase of the hundred-Li goods or Taobao or other platform on the hundred-Li goods and the traditional hundred-Li shared design, production and quality inspection, other such as warehousing, logistics, etc. by the independent operation, at present, excellent purchase network in the country has established 3 logistics centers.

It is understood that many traditional brands in the warehousing strategy is to share the original offline warehouse. and excellent purchase did not do so, Zhangxiaojun explained, although all over the hundred Li has warehouses, but the warehouses around the main turnover-type, less storage functions, goods are basically in the store. Therefore, you must set up a professional E-commerce warehouse, their own stock, more difficult to share offline inventory. Excellent purchase of other brand suppliers can use the warehouse.

In the 2012, the vertical days of the day are not very good, the main platform into a trend. However, for the brand to buy, this is also in tune with their overall network marketing needs. Excellent purchase and Jingdong, when, a shop and so completed the system docking, however, in the whole network marketing process, excellent purchase also found a problem. Brand operators in each platform sales, technology docking, the platform at present there is no unified interface. Therefore, the price management or promotion management of the brand in each platform requires manual operation. In the most exaggerated, you recruit more than 10 interns, specializing in the various online backstage manually upload the SKU and the price adjustment.

In each platform can not SKU one-click Upload Unified Management, for the brand is very troublesome. Since then, Tesco began to develop a network of goods management system, "Hundred Li in doing the whole network marketing, the demand for such a system is very large, is the need for a very complex technology platform to support, in order to improve efficiency." We have to invest huge sums of money to develop this system, and when the system is developed, we hope that the system will serve more brands. "Zhangxiaojun said, excellent purchase for brands, in addition to as a sales channel, the future is similar to the role of service providers, through with other platform technology docking, logistics docking, inventory sharing, in the brand demand for in-depth understanding, and then the operation of fine." Through the hundred Li Practice, spread out. The future can not be a good purchase of value-added services and service costs of the source of profits.

Related reading:

Retail is the electric quotient gene

In the United States TOP10 E-commerce Enterprises, only Amazon is pure E-commerce Enterprises, the rest are traditional enterprises. This shows that in the United States, the distance between the retail business and the emerging technology and market is very short, the U.S. E-commerce inherited the traditional enterprise retail gene.

In China, for a long time, people always differentiate them into e-commerce and traditional enterprises when they refer to the main network sales. The reason is that Chinese traditional companies lag far behind pure Internet companies in the application of IT technology and internet marketing. In other words, there is a huge gap between traditional retail companies and emerging it technologies and internet marketing in China. As a result, China's traditional enterprises and e-commerce companies seem to be entirely separate.

The situation will slowly change as traditional companies are deeply involved in the sale of the Internet. And the change is going to be quicker and faster. To the traditional enterprises such as hundred Li, for example, the initial attempt to E-commerce, seems to have no achievements, compared to those who often several times the growth of the electric business enterprises, its more experience is groping, try, give up, rebuild. In this process, we need to straighten out the relationship between the enterprise and the Distributor, the relationship between the internal innovation department and the traditional department, etc. In the eyes of E-commerce enterprises, these traditional enterprises are wearing fetters in the electric tide of the merchants swimming.

In fact, both the electric business enterprise and the traditional enterprise, its essence is retail. And companies like Belle, the retail gene is innate. To get a slice of the big market for electricity. In its straighten out the relationship, clear the direction, as long as the Internet technology and marketing this lesson. It is not difficult to establish your position in the future.