Keywords Wal-Mart Logistics Management Retail Industry
Wal-Mart was founded in the 1960s and became the largest retailer in the United States in the 1990s. In just a few decades, Wal-Mart's chain stores are almost all over the world, and it is famous for its high-quality and fast service, amazing sales profits and advanced management system. The rapid growth of Wal-Mart is closely related to its excellent logistics management thought and practice.
First, the secret of Wal-Mart's success.
1. Perfect distribution system
Wal-Mart has long realized that the only way for the company to obtain reliable supply guarantee and improve efficiency is to establish its own distribution organization, including distribution fleet and warehouse. The advantage of the distribution center is that it not only allows the company to purchase goods in large quantities, but also requires suppliers to send the goods to the distribution center, and then the company will receive, inspect, distribute and deliver the goods in a unified way, which is more economical than letting suppliers distribute the goods to branches. David Glass, the former president of Wal-Mart, once said, "If we do better than others, it is the distribution center." Wal-Mart's distribution centers are generally located in the centers of more than 65,438+000 chain stores. Basically, a distribution center is set up in a business circle of 320 kilometers, so that a distribution center can meet the needs of more than 0/00 sales outlets in nearby surrounding cities, and the transportation radius is relatively short and unified.
In addition to efficient distribution centers, Wal-Mart has also set up its own fleet to transport goods. In the whole logistics process, the cost of Wal-Mart's transportation department is the highest, which means that the more expenses saved by the fleet, the more money saved by the whole supply chain and the more profits for consumers. Therefore, Wal-Mart is very strict in transportation management, and every time it delivers goods, the trucks are full. Wal-Mart also uses GPS to control vehicles. The dispatching center can always know where these vehicles are, how far they are from the store and how long they will arrive.
2. Rapid introduction of high and new technologies
Wal-Mart's exploration and understanding of technology is the most prominent among retail chain enterprises. The rapid introduction of high technology not only greatly improved the work efficiency of Wal-Mart, but also became a part of the company's core competitiveness.
As early as 1977, sam walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to install Wal-Mart's first real computer network system. Since then, the improvement has never stopped. 1983 Wal-Mart uses POS machines, and the establishment of the sales starting point data system realizes the synchronous sharing of logistics information among various departments; 1985 established EDI (electronic data interchange) system, which is paperless and all information is operated on the computer. 1986 established QR quick response mechanism, whose main function is to place an order and notify payment. Wal-Mart also transferred the purchase and inventory management functions of retail stores to suppliers, and manufacturers managed and controlled Wal-Mart's circulation inventory, namely VMI. By 1988, Wal-Mart has the largest private satellite communication network in China. In addition, Wal-Mart is also ahead of the times in the use of credit cards and bar code equipment.
In the Internet age, in order to meet the needs of the digital age, Wal-Mart applied digital tools and introduced a new economic management model, thus gaining new competitiveness. At present, Wal-Mart's new interactive website is still under construction. According to the analysis of network experts of Businessweek, a well-known American economic authoritative magazine, this move will make Wal-Mart equivalent to building 25 new shopping centers, and at the same time expand the online shopping options of consumers by nearly two times.
3. Strong production and marketing alliance
In the general supply chain, manufacturers occupy a dominant position, but Wal-Mart's supply chain management creatively establishes a retailer-led supply chain model. In the competition between the brand power of manufacturers and the channel power of retailers, Wal-Mart proved the correctness of the fact that channels are king. Procter & Gamble is the first company to join this cooperative relationship, so this cooperative model is generally called "Procter & Gamble-Wal-Mart Model". Wal-Mart's low-price policy was strongly resisted by Procter & Gamble when it was first implemented. Because they have great brand power, they don't agree with Wal-Mart's low price requirements. But in the end, Wal-Mart threatened to refuse to sell, forcing its competitors to compromise. Now, Procter & Gamble can keep abreast of the sales of its products through the network system, and even set up a special department to contact Wal-Mart. At the same time, P&G marketing staff stationed in Wal-Mart headquarters are responsible for handling the order demand at any time, and realizing ETF transfer settlement in the settlement between the two parties, thus avoiding the time lag and errors in verification. Now, Wal-Mart has become the largest distributor of P&G. In this way, Wal-Mart has saved a lot of money and improved efficiency. Secondly, Wal-Mart's logistics management thought has positive reference significance for the development of retail logistics in China.
1. The concept of logistics needs to be changed urgently.
Concept dominates action, and backward logistics concept is the fundamental reason for the backward development of retail logistics. The backward logistics concept of China's retail industry is mainly manifested in the following aspects.
The first is the application of high-tech logistics. There are two extreme mentalities in the construction and application of modern logistics facilities. Many retailers think that their logistics activities are running well, and they don't have to spend huge sums of money to buy more advanced logistics facilities, instruments and technologies. But in the long run, for the huge retail industry with many kinds and large quantities of goods, the huge investment in the early stage can reduce the total cost after operating for a period of time. Another part of retailers are lovers of new technology, and they often copy things blindly without combining with reality.
The second is the relationship with suppliers. Many retailers hold the mentality of opposing interests instead of interests and cooperation. In terms of interests, retailers often pursue the maximization of their unilateral interests endlessly, without paying attention to forming a partnership with suppliers and striving for "win-win". On the one hand, we try our best to reduce the purchase price. On the other hand, we ask suppliers for various channel fees, including entrance fees, consumption promotion, advertising fees and so on. Moreover, it also delays payment, suppresses the operation of goods and occupies the circulating funds of suppliers. In terms of information, many retailers regard their own information as private property and do not share it with suppliers, which leads to suppliers' failure to obtain the inventory and sales information of retailers. As a result, the cost of commodities increases and the competitiveness of retail commodities decreases.
When constructing the logistics system, the retail industry in China should be flexible and pay attention to the supporting construction of the logistics system and retail industry. On the other hand, we should constantly absorb new theories and put them into practice, and strengthen the close relationship with suppliers and customers at both ends of the supply chain.
2. Infrastructure and equipment need to be strengthened.
"If you want to do a good job, you must sharpen your tools first." Only with the necessary basic equipment and facilities can you get twice the result with half the effort. The logistics of many chain enterprises in China lacks standardization and various codes lack standards. The distribution center is basically supplemented by manual forklift and pallet operation, with a low degree of loading and unloading unit. The use of pallets is limited to the interior of the enterprise, and there is no electronic scanning equipment for operation. The decision-making of semi-programmed problem in distribution center has not been established, which makes the MIS system of chain enterprises incomplete, and then makes the distribution function low.
3. Suggestions for retail enterprises that have not established distribution centers
For chain enterprises that reach a certain scale, self-built distribution centers can be considered. There is a proportional relationship between the distribution center and the store area. From the practice of chain industry development in the world, when a convenience chain company has 20 stores with a total area of 4,000 square meters, it can consider building a distribution center. When a supermarket chain company has 10 stores with a total area of 5000 square meters, it is necessary to establish a distribution center. With the development of retail chain, logistics distribution center is becoming more and more important, and distribution center is one of the important sources for enterprises to reduce operating costs.
However, some small and medium-sized supermarket companies often encounter many problems in capital, facilities and talents, and there are also many problems in carrying out distribution business, which directly affects the service level of enterprises. With the development of enterprises in the direction of specialization and localization, the high-efficiency and low-cost distribution services required by chain operations are suitable for the nature of third-party logistics services, and the introduction of third-party logistics will be an ideal choice for some chain enterprises.