Helping small and micro businesses get out of difficulties is becoming the focus of the continuous efforts of the whole society.
On August 16, the National Development and Reform Commission released data: In the first half of this year, more than 960,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in the service industry received rent reductions of 38.3 billion yuan.
On the same day, Alipay also released data: in the past year or so, it has reduced operating costs for small and micro merchants by nearly 8 billion yuan, and more than 22 million merchants and small and micro operators have benefited from the national fee reduction policy.
Various measures have alleviated the operational pressure of small and micro enterprises, but in the trend of "digital-real integration", how to help them accelerate digital transformation and gain longer vitality is more critical.
On August 22, the China International Intelligent Industry Expo held in Chongqing comprehensively demonstrated the exploration of platforms such as Alipay and Dayan System to help small and micro merchants.
At the Chongqing Wisdom Expo, Ant Group demonstrated the progress of small and micro entities
At the Global Digital Conference a month ago, Meituan showcased 24 small smart pharmacies, Baichuan retail management system and other tools to help small shops increase revenue and efficiency.
As the "capillaries" of China's economy, small and micro businesses in the service industry should not be left behind. Since the epidemic, countless small shops have struggled to survive through digital tools, which has also made the city more pyrotechnic.
Small and micro fight, but should not go alone, how to accompany them to fight this "digital breakthrough war" is the responsibility of the whole society, especially the Internet platform.
1. Digital return to the entity, in order to better help small and micro
In July this year, Li Gang, the owner of a soup noodle shop in Shenzhen, announced a bill online: Since the epidemic, his own small shop has opened and closed, closed and opened, and lost more than 100,000 yuan in more than 2 years.
The business is difficult, but the couple does not want to give up: "This is a family craft, we want to pass on the craft to the next generation."
In Chengdu, in July, Chenghua District strengthened social control and suspended dine-in at all dining venues. Adal, a baking brand with 12 stores in Chenghua District, is facing an urgent problem: as a people's livelihood security unit, how to better send goods out?
Shanghai's Awakening Elephant Coffee, although the problem to be solved is small, but it is also heart-wrenching: after the resumption of business in June, because customers are wearing masks, the two deaf and dumb baristas in the store can not see the lips, and it is difficult to communicate with customers.
The "silent barista" of Shanghai Awakening Elephant Coffee
Hebei Shijiazhuang Fourth Hospital, the old Xu who is responsible for operating the canteen also made a mistake: during the epidemic control period, the hospital was closed and managed, the canteen could not be opened, and the takeaway could not be delivered, what should the patient do?
What they are facing is the difficult situation of countless small and micro.
According to statistics, the main body of the mainland market has reached 150 million households, of which 103 million are individual industrial and commercial households, 90% of which are concentrated in the service industry, mainly in catering and accommodation, wholesale and retail, and resident services.
These small shops hidden in the private sector constitute the chassis of China's economy. The impact of the epidemic and the downturn in consumption have made them falter.
However, these small shops refuse to "lie flat", and strive to sell more bowls of flour and do more business every day, like inexhaustible weeds, highlighting the resilience and vitality of China's grassroots economy.
Digitalization has become a necessary way for small and micro enterprises to break through the transformation.
Li Gang entrusted people to help and learned how to use takeaway software. After fiddling for more than half an hour, connecting the mobile phone APP to the printer and printing out the receipt, the couple was very happy.
During the epidemic prevention and control period in Chengdu, Adal has launched a mini program takeaway on Alipay and WeChat platforms, and the city delivery is free. Its person in charge said that the advantages of doing self-operated takeaway are: low commissions, users precipitated in small programs, and higher repurchase rates.
In Shanghai, Awakening Elephant Coffee also received custom IoT devices from Alipay. The device has a voice translation function that can convert the customer's voice into text. In this way, the "silent barista" in the store can chat with customers again.
Sometimes when guests leave, they will deliberately say on the IoT device: "Thank you, the coffee is delicious." ”
Alipay "Blue Wind Chimes Accessibility Program"
Provide voice translation IoT devices for small shops for the employment of the deaf
In the Fourth Hospital of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, Lao Xu also tested the water of the scanning code ordering business, providing services for patients with 360 beds.
Most of the patients are pregnant women, and the analysis data provided by Alipay's background can also make Lao Xu more aware of the needs of women, and has launched more categories of meals such as "fat-reducing meals" and "stress-reducing meals", which are welcomed by customers.
The epidemic has accelerated the entry of small and micro enterprises into digitalization. Wang Youyun, founder of SaaS service provider Qimai Technology, recalled that since the beginning of 2020, the offline merchants they served have grown at a rate of 250% almost every year.
But in his view, digitalization is not omnipotent, but should "return to the entity" - in the past, small shops did digitalization, all went online, and were anxious to do takeaway; But the epidemic has made everyone understand that it is even more important to use digitalization to help small shops make a bowl of dine-in.
"For example, a better scan code ordering system can increase the unit price of small shops by a few dollars, and the turnover rate is higher; Through the mini program membership, the nearby 3 km crowd has become a repeat customer of the small shop. ”
Wang Youyun said that helping physical stores do a good job is the "small thing" that digitalization should do well.
2. Digital tools should not be exclusive to large enterprises
In February 2020, just after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Qimai launched a free use service for mini program takeaway, and promised to quickly launch it in one day.
Over the past two years, they have positioned themselves as "digital ferrymen", in order to help offline stores tide over the difficulties, they have continuously launched various new products and new features .
Launch contactless ordering and pick-up to ensure the safety of dining; The epidemic safety card is launched, and the store's daily health punch card record is automatically synchronized to the order page, so that customers can be more assured.
Since then, with offline operations becoming a protracted battle, Qimai has shifted the focus of development to providing more diversified scenario solutions: card and coupon platforms, data analysis, membership marketing, customer management systems...
More and more offline catering merchants use the scan code to order small programs
In recent years, relying on the continuous opening up of Internet platforms and the development of digital technologies such as low code, the wave of digitalization is advancing from large enterprises to small and micro enterprises.
Taking the Mini Program as an example, through the template provided by the SaaS service provider, the small shop owner can quickly complete the construction of the "digital store" by "dragging and dropping".
In March this year, during the suspension of dine-in in Shanghai due to the epidemic, It took only 3 days for Qimai to urgently develop group purchase mini programs for some catering businesses.
This means that the threshold for digital transformation of small and micro businesses is greatly reduced, and they only need to bear a lower cost to catch the digital express.
Take another SaaS service provider, Xi'an Hebi Information Technology, for example, which helps customers open a "digital yoga shop" on Alipay with a mini program, with prices as low as 300 yuan.
According to a report released by the China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, 79% of small and medium-sized enterprises are still in the initial exploration stage of digital transformation. Digital tools should not be exclusive to large enterprises, but should be affordable and well used by small and micro enterprises.
Undoubtedly, to speed up this process, we need the joint efforts of the whole society, and we need the active commitment and practical actions of many Internet technology enterprises.
Today, Alipay has opened more than 1,300 technical interfaces and plug-ins, and united 11,000 digital service providers on the platform to help small and micro enterprises do a good job in digital operations; at the partner conference in July, it was announced that it will invest 10 billion yuan in financial resources to support merchants and service providers.
Tencent also takes the digital upgrading of SMALL and medium-sized enterprises as a strategic focus - announcing that it will invest 10 billion resources to create 100 exclusive SaaS products and solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises; Build 10 county-level Yunqi bases across the country, and support the digital transformation of local small and medium-sized enterprises by setting up low-code industrial service centers...
Behind the various actions, a clearer consensus is reflected: in the past, it was precisely because of the "small" connection that the "big" of the platform was achieved.
Facing the future, Internet companies should devote themselves to deep cultivation and create greater social value by continuously serving small and micro enterprises.
3. Technology helps small and micro enterprises, and the Internet is born to reality
When the traffic dividend gradually disappears and the Development of the Internet enters a new stage, it is not an easy task to reiterate the service to small and micro enterprises.
Especially when going deep into the industry and the real economy has become the key goal of the Internet after entering the long-distance running track, how to make digital technology benefit the small and micro enterprises at the end of the industrial chain is a difficult and long journey.
It is worth affirming that in some small stories, we can glimpse the new direction that Internet companies are actively seeking:
Peng Qingqing, a fruit farmer in Xinyu, Jiangxi, always faced the dilemma of capital turnover when the citrus harvest was harvested in the past.
Now, through the "Big" satellite remote sensing risk control system of the MYbank, she circled her own orchard on her mobile phone, analyzed the satellite pictures through technology, predicted the output, and quickly obtained a loan of 220,000 yuan.
Jiangxi fruit farmer Peng Qingqing
Copyright protection on the Internet has also always been a difficult problem, and digital evidence is difficult to obtain and easy to tamper with.
Ant Chain, a subsidiary of Ant Group, chooses to help small and medium-sized content creators through technology - through the integration of blockchain + AI technology, so that every original can gain respect and value, and 1 yuan can also protect copyright.
Alibaba is also building the future orchard of Zhongshan pear in Anhui through the Internet of Things, remote sensing AI and other technologies, and 300 mu of pear orchards have been basically digitized.
Tencent is trying to use artificial intelligence to help industrial production be intelligent - in the past, factory quality inspection was difficult and time-consuming, and with the help of AI, the quality inspection that took 1 minute to complete manually could be compressed to a few seconds.
It is undeniable that the "integration of numbers and realities" is changing from a single choice of answers to a mandatory question that the whole society needs to face directly.
Many Internet companies need to move towards a development path that resonates with the needs of the times - to be born of reality, rooted in fields, factories and streets, and never forget to serve those tiny individuals.
Because only in this way can China's Internet grow into a towering tree with a more stable foundation.