Abstract topic e-commerce
Keywords: e-commerce/logistics management/relationship and strategy
With the advent of the new economic era, Zheng Wen, as a brand-new business transaction activity, can solve trade negotiations online without leaving home, which has brought earth-shaking changes to the traditional economy. However, the final realization of the transaction depends on the backstage logistics industry, and the traditional transportation and storage methods are undergoing qualitative changes under the new economic model. It is the general trend to explore the modern logistics industry and promote the development of e-commerce. The general trend of re-integration of traditional transportation and storage means and modern information technology has arrived. However, the development of China's logistics management industry is not optimistic. Establishing modern logistics industry and promoting the development of e-commerce are important conditions for promoting market economy.
First, the relationship between logistics management and e-commerce
In the relationship between e-commerce and logistics management, does e-commerce change logistics or logistics affect the development of e-commerce? In this regard, the author believes that logistics will affect the development of e-commerce, but it will eventually change logistics, and the improvement of logistics management system will further promote the development of e-commerce.
(A) Logistics management plays an increasingly important role in the whole process of e-commerce.
E-commerce is the product of informationization and networking in the 20th century. Because of its own characteristics, it has attracted people's attention, but people have no unified and standardized understanding of the scope of e-commerce. Like the traditional business process, any transaction in e-commerce contains four basic "flows": information flow, business flow, capital flow and logistics. Under the condition of e-commerce, the management process of the first three "flows" can be realized by computers and network communication equipment. As the most special of the four "flows", logistics refers to the flow process of material entities (goods or services), including transportation, warehousing, distribution, loading and unloading, storage, logistics information management and other activities, and the process of entity flow must involve the logistics management of channels.
In the past, people's understanding of e-commerce process was often limited to the electronization and networking of information flow, business flow and capital flow, while ignoring the electronization of logistics, which can still be completed through traditional distribution channels. However, with the further promotion and application of e-commerce, the importance of logistics has more and more obvious influence on e-commerce activities. Imagine that consumers shop online, but the goods they buy cannot be delivered. As a result, it is conceivable that consumers are bound to give up e-commerce and choose safer and more reliable traditional shopping methods.
Because the service object of e-commerce is not limited by geographical area, how to deliver goods to customers with the fastest speed and the lowest cost is a very important condition for enterprises to attract customers. Therefore, in the era of e-commerce, building an efficient and low-cost logistics management system is not only an urgent need for the development of e-commerce under the network economy, but also a practical problem faced by all kinds of enterprises. With the increasingly important position of logistics management in e-commerce activities, logistics management is an indispensable part of e-commerce activities.
(B) Modern logistics is the fundamental guarantee for the implementation of e-commerce.
For a long time, the biggest obstacle to China's e-commerce is fundamentally the serious disconnection between logistics and information flow, business flow and capital flow. At present, e-commerce can only rely on online ordering and logistics system distribution. The timely delivery of goods to users and the completion of the spatial transfer of goods (logistics) mark the end of the e-commerce process. Therefore, the lowest efficiency of logistics system is the key to the success of e-commerce. In China, the logistics facilities are backward and the distribution system is not perfect. To develop e-commerce, we must first transform logistics facilities and establish a distribution system that is connected with e-commerce. Otherwise, logistics will become the biggest bottleneck of e-commerce. Therefore, the establishment of modern logistics is the fundamental guarantee for the implementation of e-commerce.
First of all, logistics ensures production. Whether under the traditional trade mode or e-commerce, production is the basis of commodity circulation, and the smooth progress of production needs the support of various logistics activities. The whole process of production begins with the purchase of raw materials, so we need corresponding supply logistics activities, and the purchased materials should be in place in time, otherwise production will be difficult; In the production process, the logistics process of raw materials and semi-finished products, the so-called production logistics, is also needed to realize the liquidity of production; The recovery of some surplus materials and reusable materials requires so-called recovery logistics; Waste disposal requires waste logistics. It can be seen that the whole production process is actually a series of logistics activities. Rationalized and modern logistics can reduce costs, optimize inventory structure, reduce capital occupation and shorten production cycle by reducing costs, thus ensuring the efficient implementation of modern production. On the other hand, the development of modern logistics lags behind, the whole process of modern production will be difficult to proceed smoothly, and e-commerce, a convenient form of trade, will also be without rice.
Second, logistics is the fundamental guarantee to realize the concept of "customer-centric". The emergence of e-commerce has facilitated the ultimate consumers to the greatest extent. In the e-commerce environment, customers can search, view and select online as long as they sit at home, and complete the shopping process. Logistics is the ultimate guarantee to realize the concept of "customer-centered" in e-commerce. Without modern logistics technology, the goods purchased by consumers cannot be delivered for a long time, or the delivered goods are not purchased by themselves. Consumers will inevitably return to the traditional shopping methods, and online shopping will be difficult to develop.
Third, logistics serves business flow. In business flow activities, the ownership of goods is transferred from the supplier to the buyer from the moment the purchase and sale contract is signed, but the commodity entity has not moved because of this. In the traditional trading process, except for futures trading without physical delivery, the general business process must be accompanied by corresponding logistics activities, that is, commodity entities are transferred from suppliers (sellers) to buyers (buyers) in an appropriate way and way according to the needs of buyers (buyers). In e-commerce, consumers complete the delivery process of commodity ownership through on-the-job shopping, that is, business flow process. However, the activities of e-commerce are not over. Only when goods and services are truly transferred to consumers will business activities end. In the whole transaction process of e-commerce, logistics actually appears as the successor and service provider of business flow. Without modern logistics, business flow activities will still be the traditional way of buying and selling.
To sum up, logistics is an important part and fundamental guarantee of e-commerce. We must vigorously develop modern logistics and further promote e-commerce.
(C) E-commerce to promote the great development of logistics technology
The so-called logistics technology refers to the most effective ways and means that must be adopted to complete the logistics task. The traditional concept mainly refers to material transportation technology or material circulation technology, that is to say, logistics technology is the hardware environment of materials, machinery, facilities and software technologies, such as planning, application and evaluation, which are needed to realize the pause and flow function of various circulation forms when various circulating materials are transferred from producers to consumers.
With the huge commercial risks brought by the overstock of commodity inventory, zero-inventory logistics technology came into being. The implementation of zero-inventory commercial system must depend on the following three conditions: first, there must be an information system that can accurately and quickly reflect market demand; Secondly, there must be a fast and flexible production system, which can adjust production or procurement according to the obtained market information. In addition, there must be a fast cargo transportation system. The concept of zero inventory seems to make the development of logistics technology encounter a difficult contradiction. But the emergence of e-commerce has been solved, and logistics technology has entered a brand-new era.
E-commerce is a new form of business activity based on Internet technology. E-commerce has realized the electronic exchange of goods and services on a global scale through Internet technology. The function of e-commerce is not only ordering and payment, in fact, e-commerce extends the whole business process from production to consumption. E-commerce includes intranet, enterprise intranet and internet connection application system. E-commerce application system is the entrance for customers to visit. Through the Internet, users can view the product catalogue and browse the product information on this system, and they can also place orders through the electronic order system and settle accounts through the electronic payment system.
With the development of e-commerce, enterprises don't have to spend huge sums of money to collect product information. The decision-makers of enterprises can adjust the production plan according to this information, and produce marketable products in time, so that customers can place orders through e-commerce system, which will be immediately fed back to enterprises, which will immediately organize production and finally deliver them to users through distribution system. In this way, enterprises can realize the zero-inventory production process of products with less investment.
With the continuous popularization of computer technology and the continuous improvement of network technology, e-commerce is bound to make great progress and application, and logistics management will also achieve a real "smooth flow of goods."
(D) E-commerce to promote enterprises to re-understand the logistics process, clear logistics management objectives, and further form the supply chain management.
With the improvement of network technology and the rapid development of e-commerce, the key for enterprises to establish competitive advantage has changed from the "first profit source" of saving raw materials and the "second profit source" of improving labor productivity to the "third profit source" of efficient logistics integration. At this time, logistics management should be a systematic and integrated logistics process starting from production enterprises and running through the whole supply chain of logistics enterprises, sales enterprises and consumers. Its management goal is to deliver products timely and properly through close cooperation of all links, and realize the combination of the best customer service and the lowest distribution cost. Therefore, the connotation of logistics management has been extended.
A complete e-commerce process includes the whole logistics process that manufacturers produce products and send them to users (consumers) through transportation, warehousing, processing and distribution. The management of this process is called supply chain logistics management. The supply chain logistics system connects many production enterprises, transportation industries, distribution industries and users, and changes with the changes of demand and supply. Therefore, it is required that the system management must have enough flexibility and variability. Supply chain logistics system from production, distribution, sales to users is not an isolated behavior, but a link, which restricts and complements each other. Therefore, it must be coordinated to play its maximum economic and social benefits. In the era of e-commerce, the cooperation between logistics and information flow is becoming more and more important, and more and more modern logistics technologies will inevitably be applied to supply chain management.
Second, the development environment and strategy of logistics modernization
(A) the current problems in China's logistics management industry
In recent years, China's logistics industry has reached a considerable scale, but as a whole, it can not meet the needs of economic development in the era of e-commerce, and the logistics efficiency is not high, which still lags far behind the international advanced level. Compared with other industries in the tertiary industry, especially in the secondary industry, the development relationship of logistics industry is still very uncoordinated, and the socialized logistics service system required by the law of socialized production division and cooperation needs to be strengthened urgently. The reform and management of the tertiary industry are relatively backward, the market competition mechanism and market management laws and regulations are not perfect, the market circulation order is chaotic after most commodities are liberalized, and the economic benefits of logistics enterprises are not good. State-owned logistics enterprises do not adapt to the requirements of e-commerce era in terms of operating mechanism, degree of organization and mode of operation, and their market share declines, and their position as the main channel is shaken.
1. Insufficient infrastructure capacity. The transportation capacity still can't meet the transportation demand, and the contradiction between supply and demand of the main transportation channels is still outstanding. Storage facilities are backward, and a large number of warehouses are old buildings in the fifties and sixties.
2. Backward technology and equipment. The development of modern container and bulk cargo transportation is not fast; There are few efficient special transport vehicles, and the level of loading and unloading mechanization is low.
3. Decentralized management and low-level social services. Due to the division of departments and the lack of unified planning, redundant construction has intensified. The national logistics enterprises are small, numerous, scattered and weak, so it is difficult to form an effective socialized service network.
4. Personnel training and logistics information work in the logistics industry need to be strengthened. Logistics talents and informatization are the fundamental conditions for realizing logistics modernization. At present, there is no department in charge of this work. For the cultivation of logistics talents and the promotion of informatization, this is still a problem for the whole logistics industry.
5. There is no unified planning for the development of logistics management system, and the management system still needs to be further deepened. The long-term planned economy system makes the development of logistics industry in China lag behind. In the process of transition from planned economy to market economy, due to the influence of traditional ideas, the reform of management system lags behind the reform of economic system. Up to now, the logistics industry in China is still a decentralized or diversified management mode. Because the system is not straightened out and the division of labor among departments overlaps, there are various problems in the management of logistics industry, such as compartmentalization, departmental division and redundant construction. In addition, the formed social logistics system and enterprise logistics system can not be effectively combined and developed in a coordinated way due to different management purposes and means, which also has a negative impact on logistics rationalization. As the logistics industry is a service industry of the whole society, covering all industries of the national economy, we should pay more attention to its overall development planning. Logistics management should be regarded as an important subsystem in the national economic system, and specific development goals should be formulated and implemented by all departments, so that all departments of the logistics industry can develop harmoniously.
6. Insufficient understanding of the importance of logistics. For a long time, the idea of "emphasizing production over logistics" has not got rid of the shackles of the old system. With the high development of market economy, circulation is no longer just a reaction to production. In a sense, circulation plays a decisive role in production. We must understand the importance of doing a good job in circulation and building a good logistics management system from the strategic height of establishing a socialist market economy.
(B) the trend of logistics management in e-commerce era
1. From customer service to relationship management. In the past, logistics management focused on the integration of internal operations and organizations, and communication with downstream customers still focused on service quality. Therefore, the evaluation of management performance is mostly the speed of order cycle time, supply rate and so on. However, with the development of e-commerce supply chain management mode, enterprises gradually turn to emphasize the integration across enterprise boundaries, which makes the maintenance and management of customer relationship more and more important. With the emergence of the concept of customer relationship management in e-commerce era, logistics management has been upgraded from material handling to value-added scheme management.
2. Turn from opposition to unity. In the traditional commercial channels, enterprises are mostly self-centered and pursue self-interest, which often leads to the opposition between enterprises. However, driven by the pursuit of greater competitiveness, many enterprises began to integrate their commercial circulation skills, and formed a highly integrated e-commerce supply chain channel system through joint planning and operation, which greatly improved the overall performance of the channel.
3. From prediction to final test. The traditional circulation mode carries out various logistics activities by predicting the resources of downstream channels, but the accuracy of prediction is not high and commercial resources are wasted. The emerging trend of logistics management is to emphasize the joint mechanism of channel members, who are willing to exchange operational and strategic information, especially the information of internal demand and production, so that upstream enterprises do not need to predict, and the circulation mode gradually changes from the prediction basis to the final measurement basis.
4. From functional integration to program integration. In the increasingly fierce channel competition environment, enterprises must respond to the needs of upstream and downstream customers more quickly, so they must effectively integrate the operations of various departments and operate with a streamlined operation system. Logistics operation and activities have the characteristics of cross-functional and cross-enterprise, so process integration is a necessary condition for the success of logistics management.
5. From vertical integration to virtual integration. In traditional channels, some large enterprises will vertically integrate channels in order to grasp greater power of channels. Facts have proved that this is not successful, but it has dispersed the resources of enterprises and weakened the main business. In the future, enterprises must entrust non-core business to professional management companies to form a virtual enterprise integrated system to provide better products and services for the main enterprises. Under the trend of virtual integration, the supply chain system has been successfully developed and the logistics industry has been greatly supported. It has been able to continuously develop new value-added services to meet the needs of the main enterprises, form more professional third-party logistics, and provide better, more and more valuable services for the market.
6. From information confidentiality to information sharing. Under the structure of supply chain management, related enterprises in the supply chain must share the information needed for supply chain integration with other enterprises, otherwise an effective supply chain system cannot be formed.
7. Strengthen the research of logistics science. Logistics science is a comprehensive science that combines technical science and economic science, with a wide range of contents, including system science, management science, environmental science, circulation science, transportation science, warehousing science, marketing science, regeneration science, machinery, electronics and other professional technologies. Logistics science is the inevitable product of modern large-scale production and circulation. With the needs of economic development in the era of e-commerce, higher requirements will be put forward for China's logistics industry, and the research of logistics science and theory will play a more active role.
(C) China logistics modernization development strategy
In the era of e-commerce, we should accelerate the development of modern logistics industry according to the supply and demand analysis of China's logistics market.
1. Define the government departments that manage the logistics industry. From the experience of developed countries, the right to operate the logistics industry should also be unified. After years of construction, the logistics industry in China has developed to a considerable scale. However, due to the lag of management system reform, the logistics industry is in a state of "small, numerous, scattered and weak", with low degree of socialization and specialization and poor overall benefits of social logistics. In the past, the management and policies of China logistics industry lacked unity and cohesion. It is time to set up a special working organization with unified coordination function to organize all relevant departments, which creates conditions for the unified and centralized management of the logistics industry. The government should strengthen the leadership of logistics work, establish authoritative organization and coordination institutions, unify the national logistics development work, and make China's logistics industry develop at a faster speed.
2. Strengthen relevant policy research. In the process of transition to market economy, it is very important to formulate correct policies to promote the development of logistics industry under the environment of coexistence of old and new systems. Studying and formulating operable policies to promote the modernization of logistics management will further mobilize the enthusiasm of all sectors of society to develop logistics, broaden the sources of funds and accelerate the development of logistics industry.
3. Formulate national storage regulations and transportation regulations. Many developed countries in the world have special warehouse laws. In the past, China's various circulation departments have also formulated regulations on warehousing management, but they only apply to this system. The storage and transportation enterprises of non-circulation departments and non-state-owned storage and transportation enterprises have no rules to follow, which is not conducive to the development of modern logistics distribution and directly affects the development of national networked transportation.
4. The development of logistics industry should accelerate the pace of reform and adhere to the road of specialization and socialization. The premise of logistics modernization is specialization and socialization, and the relevant state departments should support the development of professional logistics enterprises from all aspects. First, support the technological transformation of existing logistics facilities financially; Second, in terms of tax policy, support professional logistics enterprises to develop distribution outlets nationwide and implement unified management, unified accounting and unified tax payment; Third, in urban traffic management, support professional logistics enterprises to assimilate socialized distribution for production and retail enterprises, and form a large number of new circulation industrial clusters with socialized service, specialized management and combination of domestic and foreign trade.
5. All regions should seize the opportunity to establish and develop distribution centers suitable for local characteristics in time to seize the opportunities.
6. Combine the reorganization of old wholesale enterprises with traditional storage and transportation enterprises, focus on building a modern wholesale network, improve the function of commodity distribution center, and integrate the service functions of goods, distribution, warehousing, transportation, packaging and consulting.
7. Improve the network layout of logistics distribution center. In municipal planning, the government should take logistics as an integral part of the overall planning and make unified planning. According to China's national conditions, the development of modern distribution centers should be based on the existing logistics enterprises, and gradually develop the combination of large-scale logistics centers and regional distribution centers to establish a multi-functional, information-based and high-quality service distribution center.
8. Introduce foreign capital and advanced technology. China's logistics industry should actively introduce foreign capital and technology through multiple channels, speed up the development of logistics management in China, and pay special attention to the introduction of environmental protection technologies and facilities.
9. Pay attention to the cultivation of logistics management talents. Due to the lack of practical experience in logistics management and distribution center operation in China, the cultivation of talents is even more important. Only by improving the quality of logistics practitioners can we continuously enhance our competitiveness. In addition to the training of talents in schools, logistics directors must intensify their efforts to transform the original skills training for individuals into systematic training for knowledge bases, and establish a "registered logistics manager" system.
10. Pay attention to the research of logistics science and technology. At present, many departments and universities in China have set up specialized logistics research institutions or scientific research projects, but most of these tasks are scattered and independent. The logistics industry is a systematic project, and only relevant departments can coordinate and plan scientifically. Carry out special research according to the development requirements to make China's logistics industry develop healthily.
Third, adapt to the modern logistics management mode and vigorously promote the development of e-commerce in China.
As a developing country, China's research and application of logistics started late and its level was relatively low. When developing e-commerce, we should not only consider the characteristics of e-commerce, but also pay attention to modern logistics mode, so as to successfully complete the whole process of e-commerce.
E-commerce should include the whole process of business activities, from the management of internal business processes, the establishment of business relationships between enterprises and between enterprises and consumers, the conclusion and performance of contracts, and the maintenance of customer relationships. Therefore, e-commerce should be understood in a broad sense, that is, e-commerce refers to the production, marketing, sales and circulation activities conducted through telecommunications networks, not only refers to Internet-based transactions, but also refers to all business activities that use electronic information technology (it) to solve problems, reduce costs, increase value and create business opportunities, from inquiry, procurement, product display and ordering to production, distribution, storage, transportation and electronic payment.
Therefore, how to adopt a convenient and efficient modern logistics system has become the fundamental guarantee for the success or failure of e-commerce. At present, China's social public logistics system (such as postal express 185 and many other express delivery companies) meets the needs of some specific goods distribution (mainly b2c online shopping), but due to its fragmented business, the business volume is relatively small, the operating cost of logistics system is high, and the logistics cost of e-commerce is also high, which hinders the further development of e-commerce. At present, China's distribution system and logistics facilities are still relatively backward, and the traditional storage and transportation modes are basically used, that is, manual account book inventory management, direct stacking of goods or ordinary shelf storage, manual or mechanical handling or loading and unloading of materials. This mode of logistics management and operation is far from meeting the needs of multi-variety and small-batch market economy users, let alone the requirements of e-commerce for logistics systems. This backward logistics system has become the biggest obstacle to the development of e-commerce in China. Therefore, in order to develop e-commerce rapidly in China, we must first develop an efficient logistics and distribution system. On the one hand, large and medium-sized enterprises can make full use of idle existing resources in society to transform and integrate and establish their own logistics distribution system; On the other hand, we should vigorously support and support third-party integrated logistics enterprises, promote the establishment of a nationwide, cross-regional and cross-industry logistics distribution system, and provide timely and accurate logistics services for e-commerce.
E-commerce includes all business processes upstream and downstream of the supply chain. Logistics will affect the development of e-commerce, which will eventually have an impact on traditional logistics, and the improvement of logistics management system will further promote the development of e-commerce. Enterprises should not only attach importance to the front-end network platform, but also attach importance to the back-end logistics distribution management system, and must be equipped with professionals with logistics distribution.