February** Dynamic Incentive Program
Founded in 1992, "HC Network" is the first e-commerce platform recognized by flower growers. Although it has long fallen in the fierce competition in shopping malls, e-commerce giants such as Ali and JD.com, the successors of HC, have completely defeated Suning and Gome. In 2023, China's online retail sales will exceed the 15 trillion mark, making it the world's largest e-commerce country.
Although there are many well-known e-commerce platforms in Japan, they have not "killed" their physical counterparts like their Chinese counterparts. So, how is Japan's e-commerce industry developing, and why can Japan's traditional brick-and-mortar stores withstand the impact of the Internet economy?
If you think that Japanese e-commerce has not "killed" physical stores because these e-commerce platforms are too weak, you are very wrong. According to statistics, online retail sales in Japan will reach 1,539 in 20238.4 billion US dollars, equivalent to 1 yuan1 trillion yuan, ranking third in the world after China and the United States. In the e-commerce rivers and lakes of the island country, Amazon has the highest industry status.
Amazon has been in the island market as early as 2000, and now it has as many as 5 monthly visits9.7 billion people. As we all know, the island nation has a well-developed video game industryAmazon's contribution to the growth of digital product consumption is an important force in promoting the development of the video game industry in the island country.
The reason why Japan's brick-and-mortar stores have not collapsed in the Internet wave is mainly related to three factors.
First, relatively low shop rents. Anyone who has opened a store must know the importance of rent cost for the survival of physical stores, and many stores that have been in business for many years are unable to operate because they are forced by landlords to increase rent.
Under the influence of long-term negative population growth, the rent cost of Japanese shops has maintained a downward trend for a long time, and landlords even need to beg shop owners to renew their leases in order to be able to pay property taxes. And similar to "Sushi Immortal", "Cooking Rice Immortal" and other time-honored restaurants in island countries,Most of their houses are inherited from their ancestors, so they don't have to worry about the cost of rent.
Second, inefficient courier services. The reason why China can become the world's largest "e-commerce country" must be thanks to the express delivery network covering the whole country. Why is Singles' Day not as slow to receive as it used to be? The root cause is that the couriers work overtime day and night.
An island nation with a severe shortage of laborIt is simply impossible to arrange a large demographic dividend for the express delivery industry, coupled with the poor transportation lines of the island country, online shoppers often have to wait for more than a week. It is particularly worth mentioning that the super speed of China's express delivery is not only the envy of the island people, but most developed countries in the world do not have the efficiency of China's express delivery.
Third, strict legal supervision. Among the secrets of China's e-commerce "killing" peers, many of them are "gray methods" that cannot be discussed on the table, such as many brands will launch "physical models" and "e-commerce models" at the same time, but the quality is far from the same.
In island countries, if a company engages in the operation of "selling dog meat on the head of a sheep" on an e-commerce platform, not only will consumers have the right to claim compensation, but the competent authorities will also fine the enterprise as bankrupt. In the case of similar cost performance, it is difficult for the e-commerce platform of the island country to completely beat its brick-and-mortar counterparts.
In order to get out of the sluggish economic environment, China has launched a series of stimulus policies, among which encouraging "mass entrepreneurship" is related to the interests of most brick-and-mortar store owners. Referring to the successful experience of physical stores in island countries, China should increase support for physical stores from three aspects.
First of all, it is urgent to reduce the burden on physical stores. "The scale of tax and fee reductions in 2023 will exceed 22 trillion, do physical stores still need to reduce the burden? Friends who have this view obviously don't know that the tax burden is not the main pressure on brick-and-mortar stores in China.
Take the matter of "creating a city" as an example, many brick-and-mortar store owners are deeply touched. Everyone wants to make the city they live in more civilized, but the "formality" that used to focus on the urban environment has increased the operating costs of the shops along the street. For example, in order to beautify the city environment, many cities have forced brick-and-mortar store owners to replace the official and unified door plaque.
Secondly, it is also very important to strengthen the supervision of product quality. With the efforts of relevant departments and "professional anti-counterfeiters", the phenomenon of physical stores selling fake goods has become less and less, but the black capital that makes and sells counterfeits has found loopholes in the e-commerce platform. Even those well-known Internet celebrity anchors have been reduced to "fake promoters".
If we want to completely eradicate the breeding ground for counterfeit goods, we must crack down on the platforms that provide sales channels for counterfeit goods. In order to encourage the development of large-scale Internet enterprises, we should not turn a blind eye to the regulatory faults of certain platforms.
Finally, it is necessary to intensify the fight against the "black sheep". If it weren't for the "deception" behavior of some merchants, I am afraid that people would not have chosen e-commerce with a better service attitude.
The boss similar to the "Changzhou Qianli Xiang Wonton Beating Incident" is a proper black sheep. Only by completely eliminating such owners who infringe on the rights and interests of customers can we ensure the "god-like service" of physical stores. Assuming that our physical store can be as considerate as e-commerce customer service, then the boss still has to worry about not making money?
Having said that, China's brick-and-mortar stores have not been "killed" by e-commerce, and those who are not convinced need to understand the successful experience of Fat Donglai.
When Henan entrepreneur Yu Donglai first started his business, his industry only had a cigarette hotel called "Fat Shop". However, today in 2024, Fat Donglai has become a holy place for Xuchang's cultural tourism industry, and even Xuchang Railway Station has to remind passengers not to take the wrong shopping bag from Fat Donglai. Why didn't Fat Donglai fall in the era of the rise of e-commerce like Suning and Gome?
Fat Donglai's successful experience can be summed up in only one point: all-round honest business.
In terms of treating customers, Fat Donglai is undoubtedly the most honest physical store in the country. Fat Donglai, who has a clear price, has never had a scandal of "cutting leeks".Even those customers who deliberately find fault can enjoy the thoughtful service of "refund if you are not satisfied" in Fat Donglai.
Consumers who have been accustomed to other physical stores have changed their faces and served badly when they watch people put down dishes and pay money, and they are easily moved by Fat Donglai's kindness. Although many of Fat Donglai's products do not have the best advantages, in order to enjoy a high-quality consumption experience, people will still rush to this supermarket from all over the country to consume.
In terms of treating employees, Fat Donglai is a rare kind capital in private enterprises. There are many private enterprises that are larger than Fat Donglai, but few companies can provide employees with paid annual leave, retirement packages and "grievance awards" and other welfare protection.
What's even more enviable is that Fat Donglai's salary level is still very high. According to Yu Donglai, the company's current minimum wage has exceeded 6,500 yuan, and most middle-level cadres have enjoyed the treatment of car allocation. High salaries and high benefits can be exchanged for a loyal team of employees, and those companies that even have to calculate the basic salary are obviously not comparable to Fat Donglai.
Did you find any? Some online copywriters always like to oppose e-commerce and physical stores, and some bloggers even call for "closing e-commerce and restoring fireworks". If we really use a piece of paper to completely shut down e-commerce in order to protect the interests of physical stores, it will be difficult to avoid three serious chain reactions.
First, it is even more difficult to stimulate consumption. Many people think that brick-and-mortar stores can contribute to consumption growth even without e-commerce, but this is not the case. For example, those farmers who have just joined the online shopping army, the reason why they buy chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep, agricultural machinery and other treasures online is because e-commerce provides free shipping to home services.
Most small brick-and-mortar stores don't have a dedicated delivery service, and even those large chains struggle to reach the vast rural market. The core of stimulating consumption is to reduce the difficulty of people's shopping, and the cancellation of e-commerce will only make people give up consumption because of concerns about delivery.
Second, unemployment is exacerbated. Although brick-and-mortar stores do seem to be able to feed more workers, they still can't replace the employment driving role of e-commerce, such as the express delivery industry, which needs the order support provided by e-commerce.
According to statistics, by the end of 2023, the number of flexible employment personnel related to the Internet industry in China has exceeded 80 million, and as the problem of college students' employment difficulties continues to ferment, more labor will pour into express delivery, takeaway and other industries in the future. With just the few jobs available in physical stores, it's hard for us to cope with the increasingly tough job market.
Third, the pressure of industrial upgrading is huge. With the rise of live streaming, China's physical stores are integrating with the e-commerce industry, for example, the live broadcast room of Gree Electric has brought more than 25% of the company's sales performance.
A blanket closure of e-commerce will not only increase the marketing cost of enterprises, but also hinder the industrial upgrading of physical stores. Reducing costs and increasing efficiency should be the most basic development direction of China's economy, and it is what we should encourage more enterprises to transform and upgrade through e-commerce channels.
In fact, there is no question of "who kills whom" in Japan's e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores, because they are only one part of the retail industry, and as long as there is enough consumer demand, e-commerce and offline brick-and-mortar stores can develop together. As long as our brick-and-mortar store owners can learn from Fat Donglai with an open mind, the Chinese consumer market can make them a lot of money.
So, who do you think is the future of China's consumer market? If you have any unique views from readers in front of the screen, please leave a message in the comment area below to share and express your views.