Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Business
    Home / Business / Technology

    Retailers must learn to coexist with tech giants

    By He Wei in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2018-07-12 09:14
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    WeChat payment is recommended at a vegetable market in Nantong, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Xu Congjun/For China Daily]

    Independent supermarkets and shops in China will find the retail environment hard as online-to-offline becomes the norm for grocery business that is increasingly influenced by two major technology blocs, according to a recent research report.

    The country's grocery landscape has entered "the age of empires", represented by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and an alliance between Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba's primary e-commerce rival JD.com Inc, according to findings released by consultancy Oliver Wyman in May.

    After training their sights on physical retail, the pair have thus far acquired stakes in six of China's top 10 hypermarkets, the country's biggest electronics retailer, one of the largest department stores and the largest commercial property and entertainment conglomerate, the study said.

    An important foundation of the tech giants' retail innovations is their dominance in mobile payments, of which 97 percent are processed by either Alibaba or Tencent, data from Analysys showed.

    Meanwhile, mobile payments are already used for 35 percent of grocery purchases, and even when customers shop outside the big e-commerce platforms, they can still be a valuable source of data.

    "Through the payments systems, the 'empires' learn where, when, and what customers are buying, and complement it with the rest of their digital ecosystem to see which websites they like to visit, the apps they use, and whom they follow on social media," said Chan Wai-chan, global consumer goods practice leader at Oliver Wyman.

    While big-box retailers have tried their own O2O services in the past, such as RT-Mart's feiniu.com and a similar offering by Carrefour China, delivery became a major drag. Fresh food typically requires 30-minute delivery, which is only possible with a logistics operation that is complex, sophisticated, and large-scale.

    On the other side of the equation is the inability to naturally generate O2O traffic. Internet and e-commerce companies have an edge through their contact at multiple touch points in customers' daily lives, such as payment services, social media, and e-commerce purchases.

    Technology has also reached the country's mom-and-pop stores, which were largely run by intuition. Alibaba's LST and JD's XLT are both initiatives to help small shops circumvent a network of multilayered distributors and wholesalers in order to trim costs and improve margins.

    In both cases, goods arrive from centralized warehouses in less than three days and often on the day the order is placed - rather than delays of weeks from traditional wholesalers.

    At the same time, an intelligent monitoring system will automatically issue inventory alerts and properly adjust portfolios based on sales history. The scale of the alliances gives them leverage over the product brands, resulting in better margins both for the stores and for JD and Alibaba.

    "Incumbent stores typically operate under franchise models that are ineffective due to a lack of centralized control over store operations and products," said Richard McKenzie, a partner at Oliver Wyman.

    "Survival will call for drastic change, but we believe this is unlikely under their current setup. To survive and thrive, incumbent retailers need to find ways to partner or coexist with tech giants," he said.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    CLOSE
     
    夜夜添无码试看一区二区三区| 日韩中文字幕在线| 亚洲精品97久久中文字幕无码 | 亚洲色中文字幕无码AV| 国产在线拍揄自揄拍无码| 人妻少妇看A偷人无码电影| 人妻无码人妻有码中文字幕| 久久ZYZ资源站无码中文动漫| 无码AV动漫精品一区二区免费| 国产精品中文字幕在线观看| 亚洲AV无码不卡在线观看下载 | 国产AV无码专区亚洲AVJULIA| 中文字幕无码日韩专区免费| 中文字幕亚洲综合久久| 中文字幕AV一区中文字幕天堂| 无码毛片一区二区三区视频免费播放| 少妇人妻偷人精品无码视频| 亚洲一日韩欧美中文字幕欧美日韩在线精品一区二 | 中文字幕久久精品| 最近中文字幕高清免费中文字幕mv| 亚洲一区无码精品色| 国产精品午夜无码AV天美传媒| 无码成人一区二区| 无码国内精品人妻少妇蜜桃视频| 亚洲一区二区三区AV无码| 久久亚洲精品成人无码网站| 亚洲中文字幕无码爆乳av中文| 无码av中文一二三区| 日韩亚洲欧美中文高清在线| 中文字幕亚洲精品资源网| 日韩中文字幕电影| 亚洲中文字幕丝袜制服一区| 日韩人妻无码一区二区三区综合部| 日韩免费码中文在线观看| 亚洲中文字幕无码爆乳av中文| 免费无码国产在线观国内自拍中文字幕| 日本乱中文字幕系列| 合区精品久久久中文字幕一区| 中文字幕日本精品一区二区三区 | 午夜不卡无码中文字幕影院| 亚洲AV无码专区在线播放中文|