The network economy with the Internet as the platform is the core of the "new economy". Online information transmission and information management, Online transactions, online settlement, etc. are all based on the new economic operation methods of the Internet and are also important contents of the network economy.
The distribution method is also a core content of modern logistics. It can be said to be a comprehensive product of the modern market economic system, modern science and technology and systematic logistics thinking. It is essentially the same as the "delivery" that people are generally familiar with. difference. From the perspective of the new economy, the "zero inventory production method" considered to be a new production method in the new economy and the typical new economic forms mentioned repeatedly in this article: e-commerce, etc., distribution is an important part of it, so Distribution should also be included in the new economic system. Of course, the significance of distribution to economic development is not limited to an important component of e-commerce, but more importantly, it is a strategic means for enterprise development. It has only taken the past ten or twenty years to develop from the general delivery used in history to the delivery supported by high technology as a strategic means for corporate development. Many countries did not realize this until the 1980s. A foreign article mentioned, "In the past ten years, this attitude and understanding have changed dramatically. The business community generally recognizes that distribution is a major component of corporate business activities, and it can create more profits for the company. means for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness."
It can be seen that the new economic form of e-commerce is created simultaneously by the network economy and modern logistics, and is the product of the integration of the two. If we express the connotation of e-commerce, we can put forward the following formula:
E-commerce = online information transfer + online transaction settlement and distribution
A complete business activity must pass through information flow, It is organically composed of four flow processes including business flow, currency flow, and logistics. The particularity of e-commerce is that information flow, business flow, and currency flow can mainly be realized on the Internet. This is what people call the "mouse". The other half of e-commerce cannot be realized online (at most, it can be realized using the Internet). Optimization) is what people call the "wheel", that is, distribution. Therefore, e-commerce is equivalent to a mouse plus a wheel, which is a popular explanation of the above formula.
Of course, physical movement in conjunction with online transactions does not rule out the possibility of picking up goods and traditional delivery methods during a certain period, especially in the start-up and early stages of the new economy. Applicable economic means and management methods are an inevitable process. This is not only for physical movement, but also includes supplementary or dominant off-net information transmission, off-net settlement, etc. The above formula should be understood as an ideal or theoretical e-commerce formula.
The choice of logistics methods for e-commerce
The author pointed out in another paper: The economic circle has not yet segmented the understanding of e-commerce, and e-commerce is still a comprehensive concept. According to the principles of market science, e-commerce can be divided into three types according to the different status and leading role of both buyers and sellers:
The first type is the seller doing e-commerce, which is a sales-type e-commerce, called the first party e-commerce.
Under the premise of a buyer's market, the fundamental purpose of sellers doing e-commerce is to achieve product sales. Through e-commerce, win buyers, expand sales, and occupy the market. E-commerce is a marketing method and competition method for sellers.
The second type is e-commerce conducted by the buyer, which is procurement-type e-commerce and is called second-party e-commerce.
Under the premise of the buyer's market, the fundamental purpose of the buyer's e-commerce is to achieve supply through procurement, optimize the company's supply, and at the same time significantly reduce supply costs, stabilize supply channels, and establish a supply chain.
The third type is e-commerce conducted by intermediaries, which is service-based e-commerce and is called third-party e-commerce.
This kind of e-commerce can be operated by intermediaries, intermediaries, people's organizations and even governments that communicate with buyers and sellers in the market, or it can also be operated by professional e-commerce companies. The main purpose of this kind of e-commerce is to establish an e-commerce platform where buyers and sellers operate equally, effectively communicate with buyers and sellers through social forces, reduce total social transaction costs, and benefit both buyers and sellers and society.
Obviously, in first-party e-commerce, under the premise of a buyer's market, the seller must use delivery or distribution as a service method, so that it can win over users and occupy the market. For B2B e-commerce, due to the relatively large sales volume, it is feasible and common to adopt traditional delivery methods. However, for B2C e-commerce, if traditional delivery methods are adopted, delivery costs will reach an unbearable level. In this case, it is necessary to adopt delivery methods to scale up logistics to reduce costs.
The situation with second-party e-commerce is different. Under the premise of a buyer's market, the buyer's dominant position enables him not only to request the service of door-to-door delivery of goods, but also to obtain this service at a low price. For sellers, this is a very cruel reality. No matter how large the buyer’s purchase volume is, they must use this service form to win over buyers. Although they try to use large-scale delivery methods, to achieve this is Very difficult, in this case traditional delivery is essential. Especially in C2B e-commerce, traditional delivery is often used.
Third-party e-commerce is the easiest type of e-commerce to closely integrate with distribution. Because it can coordinate the logistics of multiple users and multiple suppliers, it can easily be aggregated into a larger circulation scale and achieve economies of scale, thereby creating conditions for the adoption of distribution methods. This is the advantage of "third-party logistics" that is highly respected in modern society.
It can be seen that for the three types of e-commerce, it is almost impossible to adopt the traditional purchase and sale method of picking up goods, and distribution is the ideal logistics method.
The "logistics bottleneck" of e-commerce
The bottleneck of e-commerce is a much talked about issue nowadays. In fact, although many people call network security issues and online settlement issues As a "bottleneck", but in fact, current science, technology, management and practice have proven that these problems do not constitute a bottleneck. China's more than a thousand listed companies, with tens of billions of yuan in online transactions and settlements every day, have been successfully operating for many years, which has proven that these problems are not the so-called bottlenecks. It should be said that the only thing that cannot be avoided is the logistics bottleneck. The current main manifestation of the logistics bottleneck of e-commerce in my country is that after the realization of business flow activities online, there is no effective social logistics distribution system to provide low-cost, timely and appropriate transfer services for the transfer of physical objects. The high cost and slow speed of delivery are the most dissatisfied problems among buyers who occasionally get involved in e-commerce.
In short, the logistics bottleneck problem can be understood from the following two aspects:
First, the Internet cannot solve logistics problems. The Internet can be relied on to solve business flow and related problems, but it cannot solve the main problems of logistics. In this case, most of the future circulation time and cost will be occupied by logistics. Therefore, logistics will play a very important role in determining and restricting future economic development. We can say that the level of modern economy depends to a large extent on the level of logistics. However, the particularity of logistics determines that it cannot rely on the Internet to solve logistics problems in the same way as solving business flow problems. The Internet as a platform network economy can transform and optimize logistics, but it cannot fundamentally solve logistics problems. The solution to logistics problems, especially the construction of logistics platforms, requires large-scale infrastructure construction.
Second, the development of logistics itself lags behind. Compared with the development of e-commerce, even in developed countries, the development speed of logistics is difficult to keep pace with the development speed of e-commerce.
In our country, logistics is a backward part of the economy. An advanced e-commerce and a backward logistics form a very sharp contrast in our country. The rapid development of the Internet economy and e-commerce will intensify the role of logistics bottlenecks. On the surface, this problem is a problem with my country's logistics services. The reason behind it is that the logistics platform operated by my country for logistics services cannot meet the requirements of development. Therefore, while paying attention to e-commerce, we should put more effort into building a basic logistics platform system and a distribution service system supporting e-commerce, gradually improve our country's logistics platform, and establish a logistics industry. This should attract the attention of decision-makers and the economic community. question.
Coordination and synchronization are one of the laws of economic development. The main reason is to minimize the emergence of constraints and bottlenecks and to minimize the cost of economic development. Although the improvement of a country's logistics and environment and the construction of a logistics system can "leap-forward development", it is a basic thing after all and requires construction and accumulation bit by bit. Therefore, the bottleneck effect of logistics is not short-term or easy. It can be solved.