Recently, the plight of the real economy has become the focus of public attention. Here, the author will present you with the following convincing figures for your reference. First of all, according to official statistics, there are a staggering 90 million individual businesses in China, but unfortunately, between 2020 and 2021, more than 13 million brick-and-mortar stores across the country had to declare bankruptcy or cease operations.
In addition, according to the incomplete information monitored by One View Commerce, in 2022, the number of stores closed in the physical retail industry has approached 7,000, and these once popular shops have chosen to retreat and disappear into the first ray of sunshine. These include the high-profile Gome Retail, which has nearly 600 stores closed; The well-known supermarket chain Lianhua Supermarket closed its stores to break 100; The number of closed stores of Hongqi chain reached 79; The number of stores closed by Carrefour, the traditional market leader, has approached 54; Wal-Mart has also shown no weakness, closing as many as 21 stores and so on.
According to the data provided by Qichacha, in 2022 alone, the number of domestic catering and retail-related enterprises has reached a staggering number of revocations or cancellations - 4960,000 and 1.9 million. What's even more amazing is that, according to incomplete statistics, although it is only the first half of 2023, more than 4,000 retail companies have declared bankruptcy or closure, and a total of 2.25 million retail enterprises have entered the deregistration process, and even worse, 14 large shopping malls have also suffered the same fate.
Perhaps the statistics just mentioned do not cover all the facts, and perhaps the real situation is more serious. So, what is the reason for the physical store to fall into such a predicament?
On this issue, the public has turned their attention to the field of e-commerce. Some people argue that e-commerce is the "disruptor" of the real economy, and if e-commerce platforms can be shut down, it will not only improve the situation of the real economy, but also increase jobs. Others believe that the closure of e-commerce platforms is not conducive to the development of the real economy, and may even lead to economic recession and job losses.
However, the statement of CCTV radio is just the opposite, they firmly support the development of e-commerce, why is this? If we really shut down e-commerce, what can we gain?
Let's look at this from two different perspectives.
First of all, if we think that e-commerce is a "cancer", will it be possible to promote the sustained growth of the economy, thereby increasing the visibility of goods, as the highly correlated binary image theory suggests? For example, a toy produced in Yiwu, Zhejiang, even if it is not displayed in the physical store, as long as it is through the e-commerce platform, it can be noticed by consumers in Northeast China and generate purchase intentions. On the contrary, if there is no e-commerce, although goods can still circulate, the speed and breadth of circulation will be limited, which will eventually lead to the shrinkage of consumer groups.
Second, there is the view that without e-commerce, consumers would have invested all their money in local brick-and-mortar stores, and store owners would often make a lot of money. When the boss has money, he will inevitably choose to spend aggressively, so that the consumer's income will increase, which in turn will stimulate consumption and promote the prosperity and development of the local economy.
For many ordinary consumers, if they are forced to shut down e-commerce platforms, it means that they will lose a convenient and efficient way to buy their favorite products, increasing the financial burden.
For brick-and-mortar merchants and landlords, many people have this consideration: if e-commerce is completely banned, brick-and-mortar stores will no longer have to face fierce competition, so they will have a reason to disclose ** better * * products. At the same time, landlords can also take the opportunity to increase rents**, so that consumers will end up paying more than before to buy what they need.
However, many people ignore the deeper issues. Whether it is a physical store or an online trading platform, it is essentially a part of the real economy. When evaluating them, we should not be limited to the immediate gains and losses, but should focus on the rapid development of the real economy and the improvement of the people's living standards. Only when the real economy truly becomes stronger, can our quality of life be substantially improved, and at the same time, the overall economic development will surely reach a new level, and social contradictions can also be greatly alleviated.
If we understand it more comprehensively, the real economy is actually regarded as the cornerstone of employment, and like the vast ocean, it attracts countless workers to join it. However, more than that, the real economy also plays a role in creating a high-quality living environment for people, effectively alleviating the pressure on social employment, and thus greatly reducing potential social conflicts.
In life, the manufacturing, construction, transportation and other industries that we come into contact with on a daily basis are all real physical production and service industries, which not only give birth to a large number of jobs, but also promote the employment transfer of urban and rural residents and the improvement of the vocational skills of workers.
More deeply, the key to the continuous growth of the real economy lies in consumption. The impetus for consumption, on the other hand, is derived from the growth of incomes, which ultimately comes down to the successful solution of the employment problem. You see, as long as people find the right jobs and have a stable income**, they can spend better, which further promotes the prosperity of the real economy, which is a series of closely linked processes.
Because of this, the famous American economist Peter F. DruckerDrucker has profoundly expounded the essence of the real economy: that is, the flow of goods and services. His views reveal in a highly generalized way the central role of the real economy in the operation of the entire economy. This interpretation is significantly different from many of our common sense belief that the real economy belongs to objects that we can actually touch, such as mobile phones and computers.
It should be noted that if the real economy is simply defined as the offline or online sales of a certain commodity, then there is obviously not much difference between ** on or offline**, and the concerns arising from this no longer exist, so it cannot be proved that e-commerce has had a negative impact on the real economy.
However, if we set aside the stereotypes and look at the real economy as a way to solve the long-term problems of economic development by moving goods, the situation will change significantly.
Recently, CCTV's support for e-commerce has also been recognized by the majority of audiences. For example, in an article titled "The New Cross-border E-commerce" and "Vietnam" released on December 7 last year, the current import and export volume of China's cross-border e-commerce has been as high as 17 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14A staggering 4% of the data. The emerging model of cross-border e-commerce alone has contributed such a huge boost to China's economy, which has made many people start to think about new logical problems: although e-commerce may have suppressed the profit margin of some production enterprises in the short term, it has also greatly improved the popularity of goods. For example, in the traditional trading model, a company can only sell 10 commodities per day, and each commodity can make a profit of 10,000 yuan; With the rise of e-commerce, enterprises can easily sell 1,000 items a day, and each item can get a profit of 500,000 yuan. As a factory operator, how would you decide?
However, we must be clear: e-commerce is only an emerging way for the development of the real economy, and it is by no means a complete replacement for the latter. At present, hundreds of teams composed of dozens of employees have emerged in the live streaming enterprises, and their daily sales can reach more than 25 billion yuan, greatly benefiting thousands of ordinary people.
Before that, such a turnover was enough to support a complete and huge industrial chain and sales chain, thereby creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, solving the livelihood problems of hundreds of thousands of people, and then promoting tens of thousands of families to gradually move towards a happy life.
The real economy is not a small interest group that only cares about individual profits and ignores the needs of the public, and its most fundamental mission should be to increase the effective quantity, improve production efficiency, expand the field of employment, and actively improve and protect the basic living ...... of citizens
From a deep point of view, the real economy is actually the lifeline of the country's economy, and its importance is like a solid foundation that supports the country's strength.
The real economy should become a key force to promote sustainable economic development, and it should also be the core link in building a modern economic system. Vigorously developing the real economy and expanding the international market share will undoubtedly help enhance China's international competitiveness.
With the help of investment, scientific and technological innovation, expansion of production capacity and other means, the real economy will effectively promote the growth of China's economy and make a significant contribution to the improvement of gross domestic product (GDP). In particular, it is worth mentioning that at a time when the pressure of global competition is intensifying and the open world economy brings us economies of scale, the qualitative advantages of the real economy can be better and faster under the pressure of continuity and the scale benefits brought by the open world economy, and form a strong driving force for development, so as to achieve a good economic cycle.
Finally, I would like to ask everyone: what do you think about whether e-commerce should be shut down across the board?