In 1994, a 64kbit/s international dedicated line allowed China to fully access the Internet. After 30 years of changes, the mainland has grown into an important participant and practitioner of the global Internet, and the rare opportunity of the times has also made it a thriving "Internet hot land".
The development of the Internet has given birth to the Internet economy represented by e-commerce, which has ushered in unprecedented challenges and tests for the real economy. In such a situation, can physical stores and e-commerce work in harmony?
Internet & Real Economy
Do you want to do it or do it together?
Some people say that the rise of Internet e-commerce has provided consumers with a lot of convenience and is the pride of the development of the times, while others say that at the moment when the Internet economy is becoming more and more prosperous, it is becoming more and more difficult to do business in offline physical stores.
But is this really the case? First of all, the conclusion is that the e-commerce industry and the real economy are not antagonistic relations, but mutually promote and integrate with each other.
Taking live e-commerce as an example, in recent years, many live broadcast rooms have chosen to cooperate with offline merchants to attract consumers to offline shopping malls, stores and other physical scenarios for consumption and use, so as to realize the transformation of online and offline consumption, so as to promote the development and innovation of offline commerce.
图源:Pexels
If we look back a few years ago, perhaps we will see a frantic competition for traffic and capital between Internet companies and brick-and-mortar companies. But at the moment, internet companies are looking for every possible opportunity to shake hands with the real economy. This seems to tell us a truth that is easily ignored and misunderstood: e-commerce and physical stores are not a substitute relationship, and the Internet can only find a future development path by combining with the real economy, and this development path does not refer to one of the two, but a win-win situation for both parties.
Why
Is the integration of the real economy with the Internet a necessary way?
All feasible and sustainable development models are based on the interests of both parties.
For example, for the sales of some agricultural products, with the help of e-commerce platforms, direct sales from the origin to consumers can be realized, which has led to the development of rural agriculture, which is a demonstration of the integration and win-win situation of e-commerce and the real economy.
Nowadays, the mainland is shifting to the stage of high-quality economic development, which is reflected in the fact that the economic equilibrium should be close to Pareto optimal, and the actual output should be as close as possible to the potential production capacity, so as to maintain a high production efficiency. When the network technology is applied by both the supply and demand sides of resources, both sides will have the opportunity to have cross-space connections, and they can carry out efficient docking according to their own needs, which will also greatly improve the efficiency of resource allocation and improve the quality of economic development.
In this context, the introduction of relevant policies has also greatly helped e-commerce and the real economy to practice the new development model of "symbiosis and co-prosperity". Recently, the first implementation regulations of the Consumer Rights Protection Law were released, which will be implemented on July 1. The "Regulations" have targeted and regulated the key and hot issues presented in the current online transactions, such as live streaming, big data killing, swiping orders and speculation, forced tie-in sales, etc., and prohibit all kinds of online consumption infringements.
From Tongfu
Look at the practical logic of the real economy grafting the Internet
Whether from the perspective of the law of economic development, or from the perspective of production factors and evolution paths, the integration of the Internet and the real economy must follow a certain practical logic. Rationalizing the practical logic of the integration of the Internet and the real economy is the basis for examining the challenges faced by the integration and development of the Internet and the real economy, and it is also the premise for putting forward action strategies.
In this regard, we may be able to analyze this practical strategy and logic from behind the successful example of grafting the real economy and the Internet created by Tongfu Group.
At 00:00 on March 30, 2024, the "Retail Pass" platform, a well-known domestic FMCG B2B platform and carrying the major strategic mission of Alibaba's new retail, was officially closed. In the field of fast-moving consumer goods, Alibaba's "Retail Pass" is a well-known existence. Since its establishment in 2016, RetailTong has covered 1 million small stores, and is the No. 1 in the domestic FMCG B2B field.
It is precisely because of this that many distributors and terminal merchants who have been accustomed to obtaining information, traffic and goods through RetailPass have to focus on other leading FMCG B2B platforms.
At this time, Tongfu, which has been low-key and deeply cultivated in the sinking market for many years, has a channel network all over the country, and has established a large sharing system, has come to the forefront.
Founded in 1993, Tongfu Group is a modern enterprise group integrating three major business sectors: Tongfu sharing platform, big health food industry, and primary, secondary and tertiary industries and rural revitalization industry. Now that it has "taken over" Ali Retail and staged a grafting and integration of the real economy and the Internet, how did Tongfu do it?
1. Technology: technology empowerment and substance-driven
If Internet technology is regarded as a general term for a new generation of information technology, then the big data technology, cloud computing technology, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence technology based on Internet technology will provide a strong impetus for the development of the real economy, and even provide a supporting role for the better development of the real economy.
In order to allow the advantages of Internet technology to plug in the "wings" for the development of the real economy, in recent years, Tongfu has also gradually built a large sharing system for the integrated development of online and offline, and the combination of physical and industrial Internet, that is, the "Tongfu Sharing Platform".
The platform develops the real economy with Internet thinking, uses technology and finance as the engine, helps the real economy in an all-round way, creates a digital intelligence industry platform with the participation of dealers, terminal merchants, consumers, manufacturers (agricultural businesses) and other parties, and smooths the ecological cycle of the entire platform through business strategies such as tethering merchants, sticking stores, locking customers, and joint factories, so as to realize information sharing and all-round empowerment of all links in the industrial chain.
Relying on technology-driven and financial empowerment, Tongfu Sharing Platform has established three R&D centers in Beijing, Shijiazhuang and Changsha, with a strong R&D team of more than 300 people. Through the six major technology products of Tongfu self-operated supply chain platform, Fushangtong, Fubaotong, Tongfu Yunshang, Tongfu explosive store, and shared payment, it provides scientific and technological sharing support for the information exchange and interconnection of the entire sharing platform;
2. Industry: demand-oriented and reverse penetration
The integration of the Internet industry and the real economy follows the principle of mutual penetration between different industries. If the real economy is to meet individual needs to face the market and consumers directly, is "goods looking for people", then after the integration with the Internet, you can through the transfer of advantages between the two different industries or the use of production concepts and organizational forms to reverse penetrate, is "goods looking for people + people looking for goods".
Tongfu's approach is to achieve efficient online and offline linkage through online "Tongfu Cloud Business" and offline "Tongfu Explosive Product Warehouse" and "Tongfu Explosive Product Store".
It is expected to have 2,000 operators, 1,000 explosive warehouses, and 2 million terminal outlets by the end of 2024, connecting 500 million consumers, including 100,000 Tongfu explosive stores (member stores), 100 million members, and thousands of manufacturers will be united.
Offline, through the Tongfu explosive warehouse, Tongfu explosive product store will be associated with manufacturers (agricultural business), distributors, and terminal merchants to achieve platform co-construction and sharing, with the Fubang product warehouse, unified warehouse distribution logistics center, and explosive product store, so that each dealer has 1 explosive product warehouse, 1 unified warehouse unified distribution logistics center, 100 chain member stores and 50,000 member consumers, while empowering dealers and terminal stores, it will also transform the massive resources of the platform, reverse penetrate into consumer demand, and also open up new incremental space for dealers.
3. Thinking: Concept change and innovative spirit
For individuals, establishing an Internet mindset is a conceptual change, and for organizations, establishing an Internet mindset is a cultural innovation. Specifically, in terms of integration with the real economy, Internet thinking requires the basic factors in the real economy ecosystem to guide the behaviors and activities engaged in production and life with Internet thinking, and internalize Internet thinking into daily action logic in the reciprocating contact with the external environment.
In the "reciprocating contact" with the external environment, Tongfu Group is based on the difficulties and pain points faced by all aspects of the real economy in the current environment, and takes the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to cooperate and virtuous cycle as the thinking orientation, and the Tongfu sharing platform will take commodities as the pillar, focusing on building the two core business sectors of Tongfu Cloud Business and Tongfu Shared Warehouse, promote the Tongfu sharing platform to become bigger and stronger, create a successful model of the real economy grafting the Internet, and further promote the high-quality development of the industry.
Of course, if an enterprise's Internet thinking is to be effective, the ultimate focus is on specific people, as well as teams and organizations composed of individuals. To this end, Tongfu Group has also conducted extensive and in-depth market visits, and combined with the feedback from dealers and stores in various regions, the innovation and practice of corresponding actions have been implemented.
epilogue
Finally, back to the original question: can the Internet economy develop harmoniously with the real economy?
The answer is yes.
It is precisely this affirmative answer that we have seen a new way of shaking hands between the real economy and the Internet created by Tongfu Group, and the real economy is changing itself with new technologies and the advantages of the Internet economy, and the dualistic state constructed by the Internet era will also be replaced by a one-dimensional state of deep integration.
In this two-way online and offline rush of "virtual and real integration", how should we better graft the real economy to the Internet?