Author: Tian Qiaoyun |Editor: Ge Weiwei.
"Chinese companies need to have a pair of 'clairvoyance' when going overseas. ”
Good essay 4260 words |7 min read.
Mr. Zhou, are you at home in the afternoon?"This year's Double 11,Mr. Zhou from Singapore bought a Changhong TV on the e-commerce platform。 received this call**, just two hours after he placed an order.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Xiao Wu, a delivery man of Best Group (hereinafter referred to as "Best"), delivered the TV to Mr. Zhou's home on time. Immediately, Xiao Wu unpacked the TV, took out the tools from the installation bag, and skillfully fixed the TV on the wall of the living room.
It only took half a day from the online order to the official use, and this logistics speed made Mr. Zhou very emotional: "I didn't expect it to be so convenient to buy such a major appliance online, not only the delivery is fast, but the installation is also very fast." ”
In China, the logistics speed of same-day delivery and next-day delivery has become the norm, and the integration of delivery and installation is not uncommon. In Southeast Asia, however, these are new shopping experiences that have only emerged in the last two years.
Of course, it is not only that it is very different from domestic logistics services. So, as a close neighbor of China, what kind of e-commerce consumption Xi habits does Southeast Asia have?When China's smart chain goes to Southeast Asia, what changes will it bring to the local area?From the story of Best International's five years of going to Southeast Asia, we may be able to find some answers.
Help enterprises go overseas
The smart ** chain allows the product to be "one-click direct".
In June 2023, the "2023 Report on Enterprises Going Overseas in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa" showed that "technology-driven" has gradually become the main logic for Chinese enterprises to go overseas. Taking advantage of the "Belt and Road", some advanced Chinese manufacturing enterprises are working together with the smart chain to nugget Southeast Asia. Chinese enterprises going overseas have gradually transformed from the era of low-end manufacturing and export to a new era of technological innovation.
Sichuan Changhong, a leading domestic home appliance enterprise, is one of them. In fact, as early as 1998, Changhong has entered the Indonesian market, and in 2020, it established a subsidiary in the Philippines. In 2021, based on the outbreak of the e-commerce market after the epidemic, Changhong Meiling International Zone decided to join hands to enter the four key markets of "Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam" in Southeast Asia.
At that time, Changhong's products and sales were not a problem, but how to establish a safe and efficient ** chain, so that overseas customers can quickly and safely receive the goods after placing orders, has become the top priority.
Compared with small goods, home appliances are very special, not only large in size, but also have high safety requirements. For example, the LCD screen of the LCD TV is fragile, the compressor in the refrigerator cannot be inverted, and so on.
* The chain not only includes domestic and overseas transportation, but also customs clearance, warehousing, on-site installation, return and exchange, etc. According to the conventional logistics method, the delivery of products from China to overseas consumers needs to be cut into several parts, which is not only costly, inefficient, but also has a poor customer experience.
It is very important to choose a reliable ** chain partner to go to sea. Pu Zonghui, general manager of Changhong Southeast Asia, said that the final choice of Best was because it has rich industry experience in China, and as a Chinese company, the two sides have better communication, and secondly, based on the layout of Best in the Southeast Asian market for many years, they also have a better understanding of the local market and consumers.
In the end, Best helped Changhong create a full-link cross-border **chain solution. When the two systems achieve rapid docking, customers in Southeast Asia only need to place an order for Changhong products, Best's unique "one order to the end" will start to start, from the domestic production base to the customs declaration, after the completion of overseas customs clearance to the overseas warehouse, and then the end of the delivery and even installation, return and exchange, etc., all links do not need Changhong to worry, all by Best is responsible.
The digital system management mode not only makes this first-class chain "visual", reduces the risk of traditional cross-border parcel loss, wrong delivery, etc., but also greatly saves the transit time of commodities and reduces the cost of the enterprise chain.
Since Changhong also chose Best's overseas warehouse stocking, consumers can generally receive the goods on the same day or the next day. In order to solve the installation problem of household appliances, Best also organized delivery staff to receive professional training in the home improvement industry and Changhong electrical appliances, and provided Changhong with the service of "delivery and installation integration".
In fact, since 2020, Best has gradually built a "highway" directly to Southeast Asia, integrating large-scale delivery, cross-border logistics, overseas warehousing and distribution and local express delivery in Southeast Asia, which can provide domestic customers with a full-link service from commodity collection, domestic collection, customs clearance, and then to terminal distribution.
This service has relieved our worries and saved us the cost of staffing installers. Pu Zonghui said that the integrated service of delivery and installation has made Changhong's reputation improve rapidly, and driven product sales to rank among the top five sales on e-commerce platforms for a long time.
Technological innovation
Achieve resilient growth in market segments
When the curtain of the era of smart logistics is slowly opened, the high efficiency brought by technology has become the key factor in whether you can win in business competitionFor the first chain enterprises, it is not only necessary to maintain technological innovation, but also to have a keen sense of business, so that it is possible to find market segments and achieve resilient growth.
Southeast Asia is home to more than 600 million people, and countries in the region have very different economic policies and consumption levels. In Singapore, in addition to the well-known cross-border e-commerce platforms Lazada and Shopee, which have brought consumers a fresh shopping experience, many local Chinese also like to go shopping on some domestic e-commerce platforms.
However, Sun Yuefei, general manager of Best Singapore, who has lived in Singapore for 20 years, found that it is easy to place an order on a domestic e-commerce platform, but it is extremely inconvenient to return goods if the size is not suitable or the quality is problematic. Therefore, this has become one of the important factors that many people dare not place orders easily.
Later, Best decided to use its technical advantages and warehousing and distribution network for many years to innovate the business model with the joint platformDesign "overseas local return" products for merchants to solve this pain point。When overseas consumers choose to open the service on the platform to place an order, when they need to return or exchange the goods, they can be picked up by Best couriers with one click.
When it comes to returns, Chen Peng, vice president of Best Group and general manager of Best Software, said that this is indeed a challenge encountered by many enterprises when selling cross-border. Recognizing these needs, Best is in Southeast AsiaIt is a Chinese enterprise that crosses borders to the seaIt provides "reverse logistics services" to solve the worries of enterprises
It is necessary to consider not only the setting of reverse logistics, but also the establishment of financial data and financial models, so we will carry out customized product transformation according to the needs of customers on the basis of general software. Chen Peng introduced.
At present, by providing standardized industry software services, Best Software has improved its digital management capabilities for two groups overseas: one is e-commerce sellers, who preferUse BEST's Qianyi ERP system to realize the digital and refined management of the whole process of cross-border, the other is the local third-party logistics companies, theyThrough the Qianyi WMS system, the efficiency of warehousing operations can be improved, and various operating costs can be reduced.
In addition, Best has also opened up interfaces with mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee, AliExpress, Amazon, and eBay, and its Qianyi series software can not only provide cross-border sellers with full-process multi-platform services, but also multi-language, multi-scene, multi-environment, multi-time zone management warehouse management services.
In addition to front-end business flow and back-end logistics, we also use AI technology and big data to develop some modular optional functions to better serve e-commerce sellers. Chen Peng said that for example, through the analysis of some inventory data, it can provide merchants with safety stocks and suggestions for stocking up on big promotions.
In Malaysia, due to infrastructure and other reasons, there is still a need for some special **chain products, such as "cash on delivery (COD)" payment methods. In other words, the delivery person is also responsible for recovering the payment while delivering the goods to the door, compared with the traditional delivery, the biggest risk of this method is that sometimes the other party says that there is no money after the goods are delivered, or the money is forgotten after the goods are delivered.
It is not practical to prevent or mitigate these risks manually. As a result, Best not only built a COD module in the system, but also moved the work forward, allowing the delivery person to confirm the delivery time and payment amount with the customer before delivery, and added the "payment reminder" function on the APP, so that the delivery person must confirm whether the payment has been received before signing for the system. These small measures have greatly improved the success rate of distribution and the security of funds.
At present, we are also trying to cooperate with local banks, hoping to promote the construction of the banking system and match local banks to provide consumers with financial services such as scanning codes. Sun Yuefei said that in the future, Best can even promote local financial institutions to provide consumers with new experiences such as digital credit while meeting the requirements of local data security.
Last year, Best's express business in Malaysia officially started online, which means that it is possible for consumers to buy furniture, auto parts and other large and special-shaped goods. "This is not only the market demand in Malaysia, but also a new trend in the cross-border logistics industry. Sun Yuefei believed.
Rely on two-way running
The level of the industry is spiraling in localization
Enterprises go overseas to pan for gold, and localized operation is the ultimate goal. In BEST's view, localized operation is not a one-way replication of domestic successful experience, but a "two-way rush" of interoperability, and finally through technology to continuously localize and iterate locally, and continue to improve customer experience. So,The first task of Best to go overseas is system localization, business process localization, and organization construction localization.
Chen Peng still remembers that when Best first entered the Vietnamese market, most of the employees were locals, and it was difficult to quickly get started with the domestic style systems and tools.
Therefore, the first principle of Best when designing products is to respect the local cultural environment, optimize product functions according to local work Xi, lower the threshold for use, and finally let employees slowly accept new tools and methods. Front-line employees are familiar with the actual operation and can continue to drive product iterations.
Therefore, in 2022, Best Vietnam was selected as one of the top 10 "Golden Dragon Awards" held by Vietnam and was awarded the title of "Leading Enterprise in Automation Technology Application".
Southeast Asia has different economic levels, and the level of information technology varies greatly among countries. Sun Yuefei is deeply touched by the "slowness" of localization: "We can only use the way of seed employees to drive other employees to 'pass on the help', slow is really slow, but some things are not in a hurry." "At present, Best has basically localized its finance, human resources, and legal departments in Southeast Asia, and more than 85% of the quality control department are local employees.
As the end of the logistics distribution, the localization of the site helps Best better understand the needs of local customers. To this end, in Southeast Asia, Best has adopted the method of self-built distribution center and local site franchise for network layout.
Some sites were built in the first place. Due to the inability of manual sending and receiving to monitor the inside of the package, the site has received many ridiculous items, such as bamboo stools in simple packaging, cats and dogs, and even snakes. Later, Best equipped the distribution center with X-ray machines and monitoring systems, which not only greatly improved the compliance rate of item delivery, but also provided operational suggestions for the site through data analysis to help the site control costs.
In order to guide the development of the site in the direction of standardization, Best has also formulated standards for sending and receiving parts, quality control, packaging, etc., and cooperated with insurance companies to launch value preservation services, which not only formed Best's own competitiveness in the local area, but also promoted the further development of the local logistics industry.
In some remote areas of Malaysia, many consumers are unable to stay at home to receive express delivery, so Best has launched "self-pickup points", which can not only pick up the parcels delivered by Best Express, but also provide storage services for other logistics companies, which greatly promotes the further popularization and penetration of e-commerce in these areas.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, and not long ago, the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held in Beijing, and put forward "eight actions". This not only means that Chinese enterprises will usher in a new period of opportunities to go overseas, but also puts forward new standards and requirements for their localization, refinement, and intelligence capabilities.
In January 2024, Best will officially open its 10th self-built distribution center in Malaysia, which will become the largest distribution center in Southeast Asia.
It is understood that the distribution center is a four-sided warehouse, which is not only connected to BEST's advanced M9, T9, V9 and other information systems, but also equipped with BEST's self-developed storm sorting system, DWS and multiple intelligent equipment such as five-sided scanning, which can support warehousing, logistics, express transportation and other businesses to operate and operate at the same time, and redefine the efficiency of the distribution center.
BEST's growth in Southeast Asia started with express delivery services, and gradually superimposed warehousing networks and large-scale express networks as the coverage of express delivery networks continued to expand.
In the future, Best Group will continue to explore how to efficiently coordinate the internal express, chain and international network to create a comprehensive logistics ecosystem formed by the three major businesses of chain cloud warehouse, cloud distribution network + express large-scale network + international Southeast Asian local logistics network and North American overseas warehouse, and link China, Southeast Asia and North America into a "triangle" , build a B2B2C and cross-border business network, realize the interconnection between overseas countries, and provide global first-chain solutions for Chinese brands going overseas and local customers in Southeast Asia.