Dell is the second largest supplier of commercial desktop PC market, and its sales increase by 40% every year, which is twice the average growth rate of the industry. The annual income is $654.38+00 billion, ranking fifth after Compaq, IBM, Apple and NEC. Every day, Dell sells more than $654.38 million worth of computer systems through the Internet. In the face of impressive performance, President michael dell simply said that this is due to the clever use of logistics e-commerce.
The Role of E-commerce Logistics in Dell Company
Dell's daily sales exceed120,000 USD, but all sales are made through the Internet and Intranet. In daily operation, Dell only keeps inventory for two weeks (the industry standard is more than 60 days), and the inventory turns over more than 30 times a year. According to these figures, Dell's gross profit margin and return on capital are 265,438+0% and 65,438+006% respectively. After Dell implemented e-commerce logistics, the logistics effect was (1) 1998, and the inventory of finished products was zero. (2) Spare parts inventory is only $250 million (its profit is $65.438+$0.68 billion); (3) The annual inventory turnover rate is 50 times; (4) The average inventory cycle is 7 days; (5) The growth rate is four times that of the market; (6) The growth rate is twice that of competitors.
In the operation of real enterprises, the realization of e-commerce can really make the intermediate links in the sales process redundant, and a shortest circulation channel can be constructed, which is operated by professional circulation enterprises, professional manufacturing enterprises and information network service providers. It is common for manufacturers to engage in e-commerce.
Eight steps of Dell's e-commerce logistics
On Dell's direct selling website (), an interface is provided to track and query the ordering status of consumers, so that consumers can query the whole ordering process from ordering to delivery to consumers. Dell treats any consumer (individual, company or unit) in a customized way, and its logistics services are also implemented in accordance with this sales policy. Dell's e-commerce sales have eight steps.
1. Order processing. In this step, Dell will accept the customer's order. Consumers can dial 800 toll-free number to call Dell's online store to order online, or browse Dell's online store for preliminary inspection. First, check whether the goods are complete, then check the payment terms of the order, and classify the order according to the payment terms. Orders paid by credit card will be given priority, and other payment methods will take longer to confirm. Only the order with confirmed payment will be automatically issued and immediately transmitted to the production database, and the order will also be immediately transmitted to the production department for further operation. After placing an order, users can track the production process, delivery date and even the delivery status of the transportation company. According to the number of orders issued by users, users need to fill in a single order or multiple order status query tables. Each form should be filled with two data, one is Dell's order number, and the other is verification data. After submission, Dell will send the query results to users through the Internet.
2. Pre-production. There is a period of time from the receipt of the order to the official start of production, such as the arrival of special parts, which is called pre-production. Pre-production time varies with the system ordered by consumers, mainly depending on whether there are ready-made parts in the supplier's warehouse. Usually, Dell needs to determine the lead time of an order, that is, the time to wait for parts and deliver the order to consumers. When Dell confirms that the order is valid, it will inform the consumer of the delivery time. There are two ways to confirm the order, namely telephone or email.
3. Spare parts preparation. When the order is transferred to the production department, the required parts list will be automatically generated, and the relevant personnel will prepare the parts and send them to the assembly line.
4. configuration. The assembler assembles the parts on the assembly line into the computer and then enters the testing process.
5. test. The testing department uses special testing software to test the assembled computers, and the machines that pass the test are sent to the packaging room.
Step 6 pack. After the test, put the computer into the packing box, and at the same time load the mouse, keyboard, power cord, manual and other documents into the corresponding truck and transport them to the customer.
7. Prepare for delivery. Generally speaking, the preparation for delivery is completed on the second day after the end of the production process, but for large orders and orders requiring special transportation operations, the preparation for delivery may take longer.
8. transportation. Send the goods ordered by customers to the designated place according to the date on the order. Dell has designed several different delivery methods for customers to choose from when ordering. Under normal circumstances, the order will be delivered to the designated place on the order within 2 ~ 5 working days, that is, delivered to the door, and free installation and testing services will be provided.
Dell's logistics starts with confirming the order. The confirmation of the order is marked by the receipt of payment. The logistics process did not start before receiving the payment from the user. After receiving the payment, it takes 2 days to prepare for production, production, testing, packaging and delivery. Dell set up a factory in Xiamen, Fujian, China, and entrusted a domestic freight company to be responsible for product sales and logistics. Due to the wide distribution of users, the delivery notice sent by Dell to the freight company may be scattered, but Dell promises to deliver the goods to the door 2 ~ 5 days after the payment is received. At the same time, in China, users in some remote areas will be charged 200 ~ 300 yuan for each computer.
Advantages and hidden dangers of e-commerce logistics to Dell company
E-commerce logistics enables Dell to get the user's advance payment first, and then settle the freight after the freight reaches the freight company. (the freight should be paid by the user himself. ) Dell not only occupies the working capital of users, but also the working capital of logistics companies, and produces according to orders, without inventory risk. Dell's competitors usually keep inventory for several months, while Dell's inventory is only a few days. These factors make Dell's annual profit margin exceed 50%. Of course, no matter what sales method, it must be beneficial to users first. The value of Dell's e-commerce direct sales method to users includes: first, the needs of users can be met no matter how personalized; Second, Dell's streamlined production, sales and logistics processes can save some intermediate costs, so Dell's price is lower; Third, users can enjoy perfect after-sales services, including logistics, distribution services and other after-sales services.
A key to the success of Dell's direct selling system is to establish a logistics network and system with large coverage, quick response and low cost. If Dell delivers all orders directly from the factory as promised, it will bring two problems:
1. The logistics cost is too high. If users are widely distributed and orders are small, the inventory cost reduced by this system can't make up for the increase of transportation and other related costs caused by uneconomical delivery. It may be necessary to set up regional distribution centers in some important sales markets, which may increase inventory costs but shorten delivery time.
2. The delivery time is too long. The traditional sales channel is that consumers face the spot; Under Dell's sales method, users are facing the future. At this time, consumers value famous brand enterprises, so they may wait, but this is not what consumers expect. Therefore, it is not easy to organize production and distribution by relying on accurate demand forecast, telephone ordering or online ordering. In fact, there are great market, production and logistics risks.
E-commerce logistics service
It is wrong to understand the logistics demand of e-commerce only as door-to-door, free delivery or ensuring that all the ordered goods are delivered. Because e-commerce needs not ordinary transportation and warehousing services, it needs logistics services. However, there is a big difference between logistics and warehousing and transportation. It is precisely because the traditional storage and transportation services can not fully serve e-commerce, e-commerce operators feel that logistics services are not in place and are too backward. So what services do e-commerce operators need? The answer is that in addition to traditional logistics services, e-commerce also needs value-added logistics services.
Value-added logistics services include the following contents.
1. Increase the convenience of service, even if people become lazy. All services that can simplify procedures and operations are value-added services. Simplification is relative to consumers, not the simplification of the content of services, but some things that consumers used to do in order to obtain a certain service. Now, commodity or service providers do it instead of consumers in various ways, thus making it easier for consumers to obtain this service. Consumers' access to services or goods is as simple as using a camera, which is not only simple but also easier to use, and of course increases the value of goods or services. When providing e-commerce logistics services, one-stop door-to-door service, complete operation or operation tips, labor-saving design or installation, agency business, a face to receive customers, 24-hour business, automatic ordering, information transmission and transmission (using EOS, EDI, EFT) and logistics tracking are all useful value-added services for e-commerce sales.
2. Services that speed up response, even if the circulation process becomes faster. Rapid response has become one of the driving forces of logistics development. The traditional viewpoint and practice have turned speeding up the response speed into a simple requirement for fast transportation, while modern logistics thinks that this process can be accelerated in two ways. One is to improve the efficiency of transportation infrastructure and equipment, such as building expressways, speeding up railways, and formulating new traffic management methods to improve the running speed of automobiles themselves. This is the guarantee of speed, but it has also become a restrictive factor when the demand side demands higher and higher speed, so we must think of other ways to improve the speed. Therefore, the second method, which is also a value-added logistics service scheme, should be to optimize the circulation channels of e-commerce, so as to feed back the logistics links, simplify the logistics process and improve the rapid response performance of the logistics system.
3. Services reduce costs, that is, services explore the third profit source. In the early stage of e-commerce, logistics cost is high. Naturally, some enterprises may quit the field of e-commerce because they simply can't afford this high cost, or selectively outsource the logistics services of e-commerce. To develop e-commerce, we should look for a logistics scheme that can reduce the logistics cost at the beginning. The schemes that enterprises can consider include: adopting third-party logistics; E-commerce operators or e-commerce operators and ordinary business operators jointly adopt logistics assimilation scheme; At the same time, for e-commerce enterprises with a certain sales volume, logistics efficiency and benefit can be improved and logistics cost can be reduced by adopting suitable logistics technologies and facilities with less investment or popularizing logistics management technologies, such as management technology in operational research, single item management technology, bar code technology and information technology.
4. Extended services. Integrate supply chain services. Upward can be extended to market research and forecasting, procurement and order processing; Downward, it can be extended to distribution, logistics consultation, logistics scheme selection and planning, inventory control decision suggestion, payment recovery and settlement, education and training, logistics system design and standard scheme formulation, etc.
Dell provides us with a precedent of e-commerce logistics. How to realize e-commerce logistics is a problem faced by enterprises at present, and whether it can provide value-added services of e-commerce logistics has now become a standard to measure whether an enterprise logistics is truly competitive.