The name change of Facebook sparked a heated debate around the Metaverse . The Berlin Wall between virtual and reality may collapse completely in the near future, and the most important factor of production to break down this wall is the power of digitalization. In the wave of digitalization, what you see is what you get, what you think is realized, and the service scene is seamlessly switched. The impact and immersion brought by this efficient experience are causing essential changes in the perception field of this society. Changes in the perception field will invisibly affect the business evolution path of all walks of life. Today we take the retail industry as an example to describe the industrial changes brought about by the acceleration of digitalization.
Digitalization promotes unbounded consumption and rejuvenates the retail industry
"Currently, new digital technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and blockchain are profoundly reshaping the 'people-goods-field' of the retail industry, and continue to drive the evolution of business models, operating rules, and competition. With the China is rushing to the forefront of the digital economy at full speed. A new round of technological revolution and industry transformation is reshaping the innovation landscape of the retail industry. We are facing an opportunity for change driven by technological leaps and business transformation, and we are also facing the inevitable bottleneck of transformation and upgrading. and labor pains." At the Boao Forum for Chinese Entrepreneurs in 2021, Zhao Liming, vice president of Gome's retail strategy, also expressed the driving role of digitalization in retail industry innovation under the background of the new business economic cycle.
From the perspective of the macro environment, my country is currently in a period of great transformation in the industrial Internet. The digital transformation of society brought about by cutting-edge science and technology is in full swing, as is the retail industry, which is related to people's livelihood and consumption. So how does digital power transform the retail industry?
I think it is driven by these factors. First, it is driven by multi-dimensional big data resources accumulated in multi-consumption scenarios; second, it is the linkage of mature supply chain resources; third, it is the service ecological guarantee of sustainable evolution; fourth, it is self The organizational thinking of closed-loop business ecology has the ability to evolve with the times.
And anyone who pays attention to the retail industry knows that in the track of unbounded consumption, its manifestations are constantly expanding along with the continuous innovation of cutting-edge technologies, from the era of pure online unbounded marketing to online and offline big data and AI. From the era of full retail driven by integration to the era of new consumption in the metaverse that we have been discussing recently.
Because the metaverse consumption era is still far away from us, after all, this consumption scenario requires high computing power, complex algorithms, and supporting mature auxiliary terminal high-performance equipment and so on. Why don't we first talk about the era of full retail.
According to my understanding, the era of full retail is not only reflected in the "fullness" of basic levels such as categories, online and offline coverage of consumption paths, and logistics performance radius, but also in the "fullness" of perfect consumer experience. The combination of virtual and real "both complete" is the best interpretation of the whole retail era.
Many retail platforms are often limited to their own traffic and brand tonality thinking. In the era of full retail, what they do is not open, and resources are not flowing, resulting in a state of fragmentation in the domestic retail industry. This is very important for practicing the high-quality development advocated by the country. hindered.
Looking at the entire retail industry, we noticed that Gome has built a full retail ecological sharing platform. Through cross-domain diversified cooperation, online and offline dual-platform operations, big data platform openness and empowerment, and building a shared retail platform, etc., it uses its own advantages to expand the market. In terms of upstream and downstream cooperation, it breaks the barriers of retail separatism, evolves its own platform into a basic platform for the development of the social retail industry, and promotes the sustainable development of the industry.
Zhao Liming believes, "In the era of digital economy, looking forward to the embryonic vision of metaverse, the integration of offline and online, the confusion of virtual and reality, and the integration of material and spiritual are continuously reshaping the retail format and ecology. Mind and experience will also usher in a new round of leaps and fusions. As more and more e-commerce companies encounter marketing bottlenecks, retailers urgently need to break out of the marketing cycle of traffic-only theory, and fully explore the full-scenario and in-depth interaction of retail in the digital context. Features, build a seamless integration of scenarios, provide intelligent and precise full retail business model."
Full retail platform makes Gome's "home life" strategy full of imagination
Once the production resources flow, it will create more market possibilities, especially the full retail platform model built by cross-domain open cooperation like Gome.
Since the launch of the "Full Retail Ecological Sharing Platform" this year, Gome has also made frequent moves internally. Not only in terms of product form, it is closer to young people, but also in terms of business channels, consumption scenarios, technological innovation, and consolidated services. Especially in the application of digital technology, it has given its whole retail a new commercial imagination.
For example, the “True Happiness” app has been upgraded in an all-round way. Zhao Liming pointed out that the revised “True Happiness” pays more attention to the core needs of consumers, especially Generation Z consumers, and mainly includes two sections: “Happiness” and “Shopping”. "Le" features competitions and rankings to build a social platform for entertaining content; "purchase" includes "true": real selection of products and carefully selected merchants as operating characteristics; "fast": punctual delivery and flash store delivery as unique features Operating ability; "Happiness": selling entertainment, buying entertainment, and sharing entertainment is an entertainment-oriented marketing model. The two sectors of music and shopping interact, help each other and complement each other, creating a new entertainment marketing model of "merchants sell for entertainment, users buy for entertainment, and share happiness together", realizing a full-link, multi-dimensional, super-circle " Really happy”; on the other hand, it also uses the combination of live broadcast technology, virtual reality technology and professional shopping guide to output temperature shopping guide and realize the seamless switching between online and offline shopping for consumers; using big data, artificial intelligence technology and other empowerment Scenario service capabilities, improve contract performance timeliness and family butler service capabilities, etc.
Through the continuous adjustment and optimization of digital operations, Gome can be said to have mastered a complete set of retail solutions. In the context of the Internet of Things business economy gradually kicking off, this capability can be said to have considerable market development potential.
First of all, the essence of the Internet of Things economy is open connection. Gome's full retail solution created through open connection in the early stage echoes the business call given by this era.
Secondly, Gome's "Home·Living" strategy already carries the genes of the retail industry and the service industry. In the era of the Internet of Things, all terminals can be connected, especially in the big consumption scenario of the family. Gome can connect the family, a relatively sticky market consumer subject, through retail and services. Through the form of a full retail platform, it is completely possible to build a new The internal circulation business model shapes market competitiveness for itself.
Finally, the unbounded integration brought about by open connections can help Gome bring more upstream and downstream loyal and reliable business partners. The market is more flexible, and behind the integration is a symbiotic and win-win business cycle.
Gome's original intention: people-oriented and user-first
At the just-concluded 2021 Boao Forum for Chinese Entrepreneurs, Zhao Liming talked about Gome's thinking and achievements in promoting digital retailing, from which we can deeply feel that Gome Retailing has always put the concept of "people-oriented" throughout. For example, she mentioned that "we have been deeply involved in the retail industry for 35 years. We always believe that no matter how the technology is updated and iterated, the core of retail marketing is always 'people', which must be people-oriented and shared with people. In fact, even the concept of 'digitalization' itself , also has its own genes shared by everyone, and contains the purpose of serving people."
In fact, anyone who understands China's retail history knows that Gome's biggest advantage in being able to actively respond to the continuous impact of the new economic cycle in the past 35 years is that it innovates and actively embraces change, rather than sticking to tradition and waiting to die. In this historical journey of innovation, being close to consumers and customers and partners is its eternal background.
Even in the Internet age, Gome has risen in response to the competition. Facing the impact of competition from many rising star giants, it has actively reformed and changed its way of thinking in retailing. Commodity + service model.
Behind every step of change is the moment when Gome resonates with consumers, and this also proves that as long as the commercial market is "people-oriented", it will always be recognized and supported by users.
To sum up, the acceleration of Gome’s digitalization has revitalized the upstream and downstream production resources brought about by open connections, thus providing its full retail ecological sharing platform with market competitiveness across the business cycle, and this will also help Gome’s “Home· Life" strategy continues to develop steadily and healthily.