Over the past two years, the trend of new retail and digital has become a widely recognized consensus in the retail industry, but most people’s understanding of new retail is still at the level of “online and offline integration”, just considering new retail as a new one. The combination of technology and traditional retail does not recognize the true meaning of new retail.
It is precisely because of this that the glamorous new retail models of Box Ma Fresh and Yonghui Super Species are mostly playthings in the hands of giants. For most physical retail enterprises, the new business created and the new business launched are still stuck. Some branches on the end of the new retail.
From the financial reports of 127 listed retail companies in China, we can see that in the first half of the fiscal year of 2018, the revenue of these listed retail companies increased by 21.63%, but if they excluded Ali, Jingdong, Suning and Yong Hui and other 15 head enterprises, the remaining companies increased by only 1.75%. This is enough to show that in the 2018, when the new retail sales look triumphant, the overall growth rate of the retail industry is still at a very low level, and the development of the industry still depends on external promotion.
New retailers want to really blossom in the industry, there is still a long way to go.
Difficult to land! What’s the problem?
Throughout the two years of the retail market, the most successful in the construction of new retail is still the head of the technology giant, represented by AT, while continuing to reach various strategic cooperation with traditional retailers, but also deepening blessing New technologies related to new retail, new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are constantly linked to the retail industry.
Traditional retailers can’t say that they don’t work hard. Some of them stand for Tencent or Ali, while others are willing to make a big move in the transformation and upgrading at any cost. However, “the two years have invested a lot in new retail, and the most difficult thing to find is the two words – landing.” A person in charge of the retail company said to the Lightning Purchase New Retail Research Institute.
Why traditional retail companies are pushing new retail is always difficult, and an industry insider who is pushing the digitalization of physical retailing has given a very straightforward answer, “backward”. Compared with technology giants, traditional retail enterprises may have some empirical advantages in the operation of traditional formats. In terms of enterprise structure, talent introduction, management mechanism, and capital introduction, the gap is comprehensive.
In fact, even if there is no new retail outlet, the retail industry has already faced the dilemma of years of sluggish growth and falling profits. In the final analysis, this is the retail business’s own business model, management model lags behind the development of the times, and thus can not cope with new challenges. What we call “traditional” retailing often means that management and operations are non-data-oriented, supply chain links are lengthy, and response to user experience is not timely.
The layout of traditional stores, the management of personnel and almost no change ten years ago. The aging of internal processes and the aging of equipment are hard to change without the promotion of strong external forces. In the face of the changes that technology can bring, some traditional retail practitioners show more expectation, wait and see, and nothing to do.
Within the enterprise, from the construction of IT architecture to the implementation of the implementation, traditional retailers are not only lacking in people, but also lacking effective management systems. There is no core IT team in the company structure. In the performance appraisal system, there is no reasonable model for the “online and offline” two-line combination. These problems are not solved, and the new retail model is bound to be difficult in traditional retail.
What is the focus of retail transformation?
We all recognize that new retail is the future trend, and it is the strategic goal and direction of a retail enterprise. Then it must be able to take on the important task of future development. However, if you do not find the focus of embracing new retail, even if there is the determination and motivation to change, you will face the risk of losing focus. The new retail will eventually become a slogan and a concept within the enterprise.
Not long ago, there was a voice in the industry, which was not optimistic about the enterprises that were transforming into new retail. The conclusions were mainly from the disclosure of financial reports of listed retail companies such as Gaoxin Retail, Yonghui, Xinhuadu and Sanjiang. These companies involved in the new retail transformation have seen a decline in profits. So when it comes to this, do retail companies want to make profits the focus of the new retail transformation? As an indicator of the entire innovation business assessment?
Past experience tells us that data does not lie, but only looking at the data will also mislead us. Judging by the decline in profits, the new retail transformation has failed, and we will go further and further on this road. Citing the words of Peng Jianzhen, secretary general of the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, the inefficiency of the new retail reform is mainly due to the fact that China’s retail digitalization level is still in the 1.0 stage, and this retail reform in China has just started. Considering the business rules of the investment return cycle, it is impossible for any retail enterprise in the transition to do so in the short term.
Compared with profit, in this revolution, enterprises complete the iteration of their own thinking, organizational restructuring and capacity building, which is far more important. In the view of Lightning’s new retail research institute, this is the focus of the retail enterprise’s transition to new retail.
In this regard, Ms. Zhang Huiqin, the chairman of Hangzhou Lianhua Huashang Group, was deeply touched. At a recent industry conference, Zhang Huiqin mentioned that the transformation of physical retail enterprises into new retail is not only a technological reform, but also a conceptual revolution and a cultural revolution. Retail enterprises must vigorously cultivate digital concepts and digital culture, learn to use Internet thinking to examine digital business models and operating models, and rethink various businesses with the concepts of interconnection, sharing, fineness, and intelligence, making them the core elements of corporate culture.
Based on the exploration of new retail in Lianhua Chinese business in the past two years, Zhang Huiqin concluded that to promote the transformation of new retail and build a digital retail enterprise, it is necessary to form an organizational system that is appropriate to achieve organizational flattening, company platform, and employee mobility. Enterprise virtualization, forming a new model based on data-driven management. This is a revolutionary change in organizational form and management model, and an important guarantee for realizing new retail transformation. At the same time, it is a major test for physical retail enterprises to promote digital transformation as soon as possible to improve the digital capabilities of the cadre workforce. This problem is not solved. It is impossible to achieve digital transformation and build a digital enterprise.
It is understood that Lianhua Huashang Group established the Whale Selection Business Unit in 2017 to drive the innovation business of the entire group, and cooperated with Lightning Purchase to quickly establish an all-channel business, access to hungry, US group take-out, Jingdong home, Wechat applet and other online channels. At the same time, thanks to the online operation plan of Lightning Purchase, the online operation capability of Lianhua Huashang team has been improved. The online marketing activities have not only improved the efficiency, but also more and more highlights. The current monthly transaction volume has exceeded 20 million. .
Conclusion
In any industry, there are companies that transcend the times. Similarly, in any industry, there will be enterprises that have been eliminated by the times. Aside from the aura of new retail, the essence of this change is the process of a good company to eliminate backward enterprises. Internet technology has broken the asymmetry of information in the past, and the exchanges between enterprises have become more and more close. There is no “exclusive secret” in retail enterprises in the future.
The phenomenon of new retail in the past two years is that when a certain enterprise explores a more successful model, many peers learn from it, learn and even copy it. The final result is that everyone’s model is very similar. Of course, this phenomenon has promoted the development of the entire domestic retail industry in a certain sense.
In the wave of the retail revolution, how do traditional retail companies complete the transformation and achieve breakthrough? Well-known media person, retail expert Zhao Xiangyang said that in the future, retail enterprises basically no longer have the situation of “one trick, eat all over the sky”, and there can be no short board. There is no inconsistency in the competition in the retail industry, that is, if you have some of them, the difference in the products and models is not very big. The overall ability and overall efficiency of the company is determined.