O2O heat fried domestic retail O2O how far

"Two-line" barriers are a waste of resources and weaken the experience of online orders, offline physical store pickup, inappropriate return on the spot; or courier delivery home, after the sale can go to a nearby store or counter return. For many consumers, this is a very tempting "dream" consumption model.

But the reality is that there is an insurmountable gap between online and offline stores. The e-commerce platform's online brand only needs to be said. However, even the large-scale brands in which the physical retail stores are located in all major shopping areas of the city are not able to achieve this kind of shopping. The usual practice is that the orders generated by online platforms, from payment, delivery to return, must go online processes including online payment, express delivery, etc.; the same, offline purchase is completely independent. In this regard, the explanation of the business salesperson is often: online and shop is not a system, there is no connection between.

This kind of online and offline business model is a relatively simple and easy way for many domestic companies or retailers who are eager to catch up with the Internet. Although this “fast-printing” e-commerce company has also achieved a good sales performance, it cannot hide its weakness in resource allocation and consumer experience.

First of all, the waste of resources caused by returns is most obvious. The online shopping line returned and used extra shipping time, money, and various transportation resources of the logistics company. At a deeper level, independent online and offline merchandise management, resulting in a more reasonable distribution of inventory between the two can not be achieved. For example, a certain product is already out of stock in a physical store, but it cannot be transferred from an online channel where inventory is still abundant.

Without the circulation of goods, consumers cannot purchase more efficiently. If they look at a garment in a physical store but do not have a size that suits them, they must search the Internet and buy it online instead of using the clerk to help with the online transfer or purchase in the store. This virtually eliminates the final purchase. Set a new obstacle. This creates a bad consumer experience for consumers and also affects the establishment of a brand customer base.

Zheng Bo Consulting Co., Ltd. founder Lu Bowang once talked about the “brand online and offline integration trend” forum, for the brand with low consumer loyalty, when people go shopping, the clothing of a shop is not the right size. It is likely to be purchased at the next shop. However, if there are computers in the store at this time to provide more online options, there is a chance to retain customers instead of sending them to competitors.

Channels and platforms, domestic and foreign roles of “online” roles are at home, and this fragmentation phenomenon is very common and related to domestic companies’ understanding of online e-commerce platforms. In recent years, under the tide of the Internet economy, building B2C malls and opening online flagship stores have become the first step for many companies to embrace the Internet. However, in subsequent operations, we found that "online" was only seen as a new sales channel brought about by Internet technology. Online stores are also just being used as a tool to seize market share online. In addition to some of the same online and offline products with the same price, the online is more of a network with a relatively favorable price or a brand new sub-brand, and a part of it is the off-season offline merchandise with discounted sales. They do this for the simple reason that online channels increase sales while not impacting offline brand sales. Therefore, online and offline are mutually independent, exactly what some companies want.

In foreign countries, the situation is completely different. Similar to domestic O2O, "omni-channel retailing" has become popular abroad due to the development of the Internet, especially mobile Internet. The omni-channel retailing means that the company focuses on consumers, integrates entities, e-commerce, mobile e-commerce and other channels to sell goods or services to provide consumers with an indiscriminate shopping experience. Its essence lies in that the network and online are only one platform that helps enterprises to achieve seamless integration of various channels, and the ultimate goal is to serve consumers through integration.

Macy's Department Store in the United States is considered to be a more successful case. Some people even attributed it to the low crisis of the financial crisis due to its "omni-channel" strategy. It is not complicated for Messier to adopt an "all-channel" approach. It includes the delivery of the most basic goods between different channels, as well as the promotion of relevant information such as product details, promotional offers, and ratings based on location services and personal preferences. There are also some smart applications based on mobile internet. Its philosophy is that it does not matter which channel to choose. It is important to choose the Messi brand.

If Messi Department Store is far away from us, you can look at the Spanish well-known fast fashion brand ZARA that has already entered China. In ZARA's official online shopping mall in China, regardless of picking up or returning goods, physical stores and courier services can be selected. Since its stores are very new and shipping, the Internet platform can effectively meet the needs of consumers who cannot keep up with the speed of store updates.

The problem that O2O integration urgently needs to crack is that as early as last year's “Double 11”, there was news that Tmall’s executives stated that their O2O must achieve the same online and offline inventory, and online shopping can be used for offline store pickup and replacement. Consumers can go to the promotional brand shops to try on clothing, and then follow the scans and other ways to pay attention to the goods. This year, the "double 11" curtain has fallen. Except for a few brands, the realization of similar visions still seems to be far behind.

The embarrassment faced by the integration of online and offline retail sales at home and abroad is inextricably linked to the retail model that domestic companies generally adopt.

In foreign countries, the "omni-channel" model can prevail because self-supporting models account for a high percentage of foreign department stores, and management of goods and supply chains can be faster, more direct, and more effective. However, in China, the joint venture model or pure site leasing adopted by the department store industry has led to a loose relationship between the products and the merchandise. Co-ordination across channels is difficult to achieve. Most domestic retail companies have started to engage in e-commerce from supermarkets, and this has been confirmed from the side. Because most supermarkets are self-employed parts of retail companies.

The same applies to production companies. As mentioned above, ZARA's retail outlets are all direct sales stores, so it is easy to control. However, in China, production companies will cooperate with different agents or distributors in different regions, while physical stores have both direct sales and franchise stores, and e-commerce services may be outsourced to another professional operator. If you want to open up all channels, it will inevitably involve issues such as collaborative cooperation among all parties and distribution of benefits.

Given that domestic O2O integration is still in its infancy, it may be helpful to deal with it in a simplified manner. The head of the clothing brand Mark Huafei had mentioned in the forum “The trend of brand online and offline integration” that a city does not need all stores to support online and offline integration services. Just select several well-equipped shops and then radiate more. Wide area can be. This approach may have some reference significance.

In addition, the consumption habits of domestic consumers are another obstacle to integration. Online e-commerce is seen more as a choice for discounted merchandise than as a way to more easily obtain merchandise. It is a precondition for O2O integration that the online and offline same price is the same, but at this stage, if there is no obvious price advantage on the line, its ability to attract consumers will be greatly reduced.