In "The Fourth Retail Revolution," I once shared my judgment about the future of retail: In the next 10 to 20 years, the retail industry will usher in the fourth retail revolution.
Like the three revolutions in history (department stores, chain stores, supermarkets), the fundamental drivers of the fourth retail revolution are changes in consumption and technological updates, but unlike the previous three revolutions, consumers demanded more than just Is 'low price' and 'convenient', but shows the trend of demand individuation, scene diversification and value participation, and the increasingly powerful technology of perception, interconnection and intelligence respond to new changes in a timely manner.
Stranded retail and technology infrastructure bring the retail infrastructure changes, triggering the fourth retail revolution, will bring us into the era of unbounded retail. Unbounded retail is our ultimate judge of retail.
Unbounded retail is not a special format.As the emergence of chain stores is not replaced by department stores, supermarkets appear not to replace the same as chain stores, unbounded retail will never replace today's most classic retail formats. So the retail revolution has changed not retail (format) but actually the retail infrastructure behind it - infrastructure needs specialization.
Retail sales are not just offline + online, but retail activities themselves are immersed in life and sneak into every corner of life in a 'silent' way, not just fragmented transaction scenes, but more It is to redefine the boundaries of industry and to redefine the relationship between people and businesses.
The reason why we put forward the concept of "unbounded retail" is not to create concepts and attract people's attention. Instead, we can see that in the near future, the commercial paradigm of the retail industry will be completely changed. It is not a simple way of thinking about past practices and thinking But instead redefines the way we create and capture value, and the changes it brings are not limited to a single enterprise, but rather have a profound impact on the role, boundaries and landscape of the entire industry.
How do we view unbounded retail? I would like to share with you the following three aspects: the meaning and meaning of unbounded retail (the meaning of unbounded retail), the logic of commercial linking of unbounded retail (unbound), the value behind unbounded retail Transition and Ecological Reconstruction (Unbounded Environment).
Unbounded meaning
Unbounded retail mean? With 12 words to sum up, is 'unlimited scene, the goods boundless, between people and enterprises.'
Unlimited scenes
Unlimited scenes means that future retail scenes will gradually eliminate the boundaries of time and space.
In the past, 'channel is king,' one said that its essence is to emphasize the importance of crowd flow (traffic and traffic) .Online, the retail giants are the hub of traffic; online, e-commerce leaders are the central platform for traffic. Consumers are relatively single-minded consumers, online and offline, and consumers shop regularly at regular times and from fixed sources, creating 'mismatches' in both space and time.
The mismatch in space is manifested by the unmet variety of needs, the limited channels and the display of goods, and the inability to match the increasingly diverse needs of consumers. Time mismatch is the lack of immediate demand, for example, Weekends to buy ingredients for a few days to buy a one-time home, but usually life's "whimsy" often can only be shelved.
'Infinite scene' is the first to eliminate the boundaries of space, the future of the retail scene is ubiquitous, all-encompassing. Retail scene and the scene between the life line becomes blurred, the future we are not going to a specific store or on Shopping at specific sites. The Internet of Things connects everything together and shopping can happen anywhere: eCommerce platforms, online media, offline stores, community centers, unmanned vehicles, smart hardware, two-dimensional Yards, retail scene will become ubiquitous.Million convenience store plans, Dingbian speakers and smart refrigerators have been introduced, are the future of unlimited scenarios to explore.
'Scenario Unlimited' also means to eliminate the boundaries of time, the future of the retail scene is always and seamlessly switch in the past, shopping is often a time-consuming and laborious thing, we have to set aside a dedicated time to search, select , Bargaining and a series of actions, but in the future, shopping will not take the lead in the crowd, but the daily life of 'all time': retail + content, retail + AR / VR, retail + entertainment, retail + smart consumer electronics ... Everyday life bit by bit, a voice command, a readily photographed photos, or even a casual smile, are likely to trigger orders to meet people with the needs of the same sex.By Beijing X program and Tencent, Baidu, today's headlines, IQiyi, 360 and other cooperation, so that consumers in the social entertainment, information retrieval process to complete the shopping, shopping from time to time, seamless switching possible. In the future, cooperation and exploration in this area will Keep going.
The scenario represents a decentralized trend, with the role of the future passenger / traffic center to be diluted and replaced by a fragmented retail scenario, which eventually becomes less stereotypical, but "sneaks into the night with the wind, Moisten things quietly into all aspects of consumer life.
Boundless goods
The boundlessness of goods means that future goods will not be confined to their inherent form, and the infiltration of goods, contents, data and services into each other, namely, the content of goods, the content of data and the data as a service. Accordingly, the boundary of industries will also be gradually blurred .
'Boundless goods' first refers to the elimination of the fixed boundaries of the product, the future of the product will go from a single product + service + data + content combination. Retail retailers in the past focused on the transaction value of the product, thinking more about how to sell things Go out, sell a good price, after the completion of the product delivery is not much involved in the future, more and more products will be given its own meaning .For example: Buzz smart speakers both tangible goods, but also connected with rich Music, radio, programs and other content, voice interaction records can settle down to become data, but also carries the function of buying, placing orders and follow-up series of services.It essentially becomes a complex of goods + services + data + content The "Companion Program" launched by JD.com is a combination of goods + services for children with exclusive products and services covering shopping, information, wealth management and public welfare. 'Size Assistants' measures and binds users' footwork data once tied up Given multiple intelligent matching, is the combination of goods + data.Clothing costumes with the recommendation to provide users with inspiration, is the combination of goods + content ... With the rich connotation of the product, the price Value shift from the transaction to the interactive link, to the retail service has opened up a whole new space.
'Boundless goods' also means to eliminate the boundaries of industries, the future of the industry will go from independence to deep integration, thus creating a value of the transition.Commodity product mix behind the fact that the industry is mutual penetration. Retail, logistics, technology, the Internet , Content, finance, Internet of things ... In the future, the interaction between these fields will certainly be more frequent and deeper and deeper, in which not only simple cooperation such as division of labor, traffic transmission and resource sharing, Creating chemical reactions and creating new business models and value spaces In our collaboration with Wal-Mart we can sell more than just our own goods, but Wal-Mart, through our inventory and SKU data. So important, the efficiency of the entire supply chain can be greatly enhanced by the nearest delivery, this is not the value of the transfer, but the value of the transition.Our cooperation with Wal-Mart is only the beginning of a need in this area, different partners Common exploration and verification.
People between enterprises
The interdependence of human enterprises is that the relationship between human beings and the enterprise is redefined: In the past, there was a clear boundary between production and consumption: producer value creation and consumer use value, the dialogue between the two was very limited and existed A large amount of information asymmetry.Unemic retail era, there is no longer a clear distinction between production and consumption of the role and interests of the division, so as to narrow the distance and form a more temperature, mutual trust.
'People-to-business' is the first to eliminate the segregation of roles and create a relationship of supply and demand, collaboration and co-creation. With new platforms and tools, future consumers will be able to participate in all aspects of production activities - For example, through the passive authorization of personal data, consumers' behavioral preferences can be transmitted to the enterprise to produce more products that meet the demand. Through the active comments and suggestions And interaction, consumers can participate in the design and development process of the enterprise; and through direct time investment, consumers can even provide the original products and services delivered by the enterprise, the line of production and consumption is completely broken. Is a simple information synchronization, but to redefine the relationship between supply and demand, in which the retail business plays an important role in the connection. JD established in 2016 Y Division devoted to the consumer end of the data precipitation analysis , Optimize the supply side of the product design, production planning, supply chain activities, etc. Through the integration of AI algorithms and big data, we provide to suppliers L 'Hui brand', 'Hui merchants', 'Hui supply' modules to support its user research, product selection, sales forecasting, replenishment and a series of intelligent activity.
The second layer of 'people-to-business' is the elimination of spiritual divides, through the transmission of temperature and trust through transparent information and precise services, through a series of technological applications in the unbounded retail era (for example, the use of regional chains for quality Traceability), the asymmetry of information is continuously reduced, which can greatly enhance consumers' trust in products and platforms.At the same time, services such as personalized recommendation and customization based on data and algorithms will bring more warmth than knowing you In this way, the temperature and trust can be gradually strengthened, for example, the fresh blockchain traceability service realizes the entire production process of high-quality supplier quality products The show to consumers, enhance consumer brand trust.
Therefore, 'unbounded retail' represents both breadth and breadth (infinite scene, boundless goods), depth and temperature (between people and enterprises), it is not only a change in the retail format, but also a logical transformation of the entire industry.
Unbounded
'Unbounded Retail' is our ultimate judgment on the industry and is a picture of the staging of the entire retail and related industry collaborators 10 years from now. In this shared vision we can easily see one Borderless business ecosystem, industry and industry at once without a distance, emerged numerous areas worth to set foot in and explore.
More important (and more easily overlooked) is this: the other side of 'unbounded' must be 'boundless.' The shape of retail in the future can be varied and linked with everything ('unbounded') However, the business must follow certain rules and guidelines ('bounded industries'), otherwise the business will lose its focus and the business will lose its connection with each other and form an isolated island and it will be hard to survive alone.
Behind a seemingly borderless retail activity is a series of three main lines, and to establish an intensified relationship between different businesses under unbounded retail, one must constantly ponder how these three lines can be used to string together all the scattered businesses and to work together. This is what we mean by "doing good".
Scene Unicom
The first main line is 'Scenario Unicom.' Scenario Unicom means increasing the overall appeal of the scene by establishing connections between the scenes to enhance the correlation between the different scenarios. The scenes of the unbounded retail era are ubiquitous, Both brands and retailers are not satisfied with limited to a particular scenario, the pursuit of full-channel, global reach, but to improve touch rate is only the most obvious advantages of multi-scene operation. More important Yes, through the linkage between the scenes, can form a huge magnetic field.
The first method of scenario Unicom is 'Seamless Switch' .It can be used to establish different scenes (such as physical and virtual scenes, moving and fixed scenes) through geographical location, message push, QR code, The second method of scenario Unicom is 'functional interaction', such as 'online orders, offline pickup'; 'mobile vouchers, store consumption', so that different scenes play a complementary function to form a synergy Scenario Unicom's third approach is 'co-branding.' For example, different terminals use a similar design, connecting the same content, the same virtual assistant, etc. to give consumers a sense of familiarity and closeness.
For example, the "Cloud CRM" project jointly developed by Tencent and our company helps brands to achieve the linkage between online and offline users through platforms such as system, marketing and data, and enhance their digitalization and marketing scene.
In this way, although different scenes seem scattered, but through the invisible link to form a linkage, the consumer locked in these different scenes constitute a cluster.
Data through
The second main line is 'data through'. 'Data through' refers to the aggregation of the data precipitated from different scenarios, analysis, and further distribution to other needs of the object.
Each retail scene contains a wealth of data - not just the scene itself, but also the people (consumers) and goods (brands) involved in the scenario. Therefore, through the accumulation and interpretation of the scene data, it is possible to gradually realize 'knowing people , Know the goods, know the market ': understand each individual's preferences, understand the characteristics of each product, understand the different properties of different scenes, so as to accurately match.
Here, 'fine' represents the granularity of market segmentation, while 'quasi' represents the realization of user value.As the intermediary link between the brand end and the consumer end, retailers have the responsibility to share the data and reduce the information asymmetry For example: For brand owners, through data analysis can be very accurately predict a certain area of Beijing at what time, how much you need Double, what kind of sports shoes.In addition to the front and rear of the industrial chain, in the adjacent business (such as retail, finance, technology, content and other industries) through the data can also greatly enhance the people, goods, rich field data Degree and completeness, so that the cost of the whole supply system is reduced, the efficiency of the supply chain is improved, and the customer on the consumer side can also instantly obtain the goods and services that meet the requirements and the service experience is greatly enhanced.
For example: With years of accumulated data, we used up to 15 forecasting models to create a variety of business forecasting system architectures to predict how many warehouses should be stocked by suppliers in each day in the next 28 days. · 18 'big promotion and' double 11 'period, and Nestle both joint forecast, to avoid over the bargain in the past there will be too much supply, too little or unbalanced positions matching the situation.Once the project is carried out, the order fulfillment rate From 60% to 87%, the platform product stock rate increased from 73% to 95%, of which, just consider the spot rate of an indicator, each year can make Nestle to promote more than 30 million yuan online sales.
With the continuous accumulation of data, the accuracy of prediction is constantly improving, and a benign cycle of ecology is formed between different scenarios, which can continuously strengthen itself as the business grows.
Value exchange
The third main line is 'value interoperability.' 'Value interoperability' is the integration of user relationships and assets under different scenarios, for example, through the membership system, users are allowed to enjoy similar status and rights and interests in different scenarios. The opening up of the system is equivalent to binding the rights and interests of different scenarios and can greatly enhance the user's loyalty to the entire value system.
For example, Amazon connects its suite of businesses - eCommerce, streaming services, eBooks, logistics, AWS, etc. through the Prime Affiliate System - the more Prime offers, the more reluctant users are to renew fees and continue to be Amazon affiliates, Buy more. Our PLUS membership system also brings together in-house and business partners' scenarios into the same ecosystem through a series of collaborations: PLUS and Logistics Services (Coupons), PLUS and Financial Services (Financial Members) , PLUS and offline stores (eg Sam's Club), PLUS and video sites (eg Ikki), PLUS and cycling services (eg motorbikes).
Through the exchange of members' values, different scenarios can be interdependent and mutually reinforcing, because for each new interest in a new scenario, the marginal revenue of other scenarios in the system will be increased and a synergy effect of 1 + 1> 2 will be formed between different scenarios , The user's viscosity will naturally increase.
'Scene Unicom', 'data penetration' and 'value interoperability' are not mutually reinforcing, but rather reinforce each other (Figure 1). The form of unbounded retail can be ever-changing, not stereotyped, but these three principles are each Enterprises must firmly grasp the future of their own business and partners can be diversified, but behind the whole can not lose the logic and the main line: What is the connection between business and cooperation? 'Boundary' that 'sector' What is it? The more comprehensive and thorough we implement in the three dimensions of "Scene Unicom", "Data Linkage" and "Value Interoperability", the more solid we are in the era of unbounded retail.
This principle applies to all companies that operate in the era of unbounded retail, and ultimately, together with our partners, we are redefining costs, efficiencies and experiences based on knowing, knowing and knowing.
Unbounded
Lastly, I would like to talk about the topic of 'borderless', which is the mindset and realm that businesses need in the era of unbounded retail.
First of all, talking about the industry integration of unbounded retail .In the past, when the industry boundary is relatively fixed, the value of the retail space is relatively fixed .In this context, the relationship between the upstream and downstream industries is often opposed - because the total The same, the value of the industry can only be transferred between upstream and downstream, the result must be 'you and I am less', everyone in a zero-sum game to gain a greater share.
Unbounded retail brings the biggest difference is: This is no longer a zero-sum game because the product of the complex product, service, data, content and other elements, industry and industry integration also generated additional value through the back-end data Addition, algorithmic iteration and front-end scene linkage, seamless connectivity, consumers can meet their casual needs anywhere, anytime - accurate, real-time. For consumers, eliminating the cost of a large number of search and selection, access to The product is more in line with the mind, saving a lot of marketing and trial and error costs and delivering more efficiently to suppliers, all because of cross-border value, from retail value to unbounded retail value It is not a transfer of value, but a transition of value (Figure 2).
Obviously, unbounded retail is not a zero-sum game, if we are still holding the mentality of 'you win me lose,' it is undoubtedly the future disappointment.
For the future judgment, we see a very clear point: 'decentralization' is almost a trend of the times, passenger and traffic giant will cease to exist. Behind the flow of decentralization is actually a step in the process of commercial democratization Step Forward - Businesses must become more open and integrate harmoniously with the larger business environment.
Opening up here means more than just 'opening up your home and inviting others to meet you', but instead actively 'step out of your home to help your neighbor's partner group your dinner together.' In other words, there are two types of traffic decentralization Choice: First, the diversion will continue to attract new traffic entrance to attract their own platform for their own platform to flourish; Second, empowerment, to open their own capabilities, not for the purpose of traffic to help the new end of the flow do There is no doubt that the latter is more in line with the trend of commercial development, contribute to the sustainable development of the retail industry's choice.
Over the past dozen years, Jingdong has been able to maximize the service experience by building B2C-owned e-commerce and establishing its own logistics system, during which time we have accumulated the foundation of a large number of retail operations and services - the most dynamic Membership management system, the most extensive marketing touch network, the most complex SKU management system, the most efficient logistics service capability, the most complete, the longest value chain retail data, etc. In the future, we will move from 'integration' to ' Integration and openness. "These capabilities are shared with external brands, retailers, information / content service providers, service providers, micro businesses and more to serve a wider range of unbounded retail partners.
In the era of unbounded retail, respected companies are not giants who import traffic and consolidate their position, but rather are leaders who lean forward and help the ubiquitous retail scene. With partners to create a win-win situation.
'The beauty of all its beauty, beauty of the United States, the United States and the United States, the world Datong'. This will be the next unbounded retail era in the main theme of business relations.