JD.com's Chief Strategy Officer and 5 retail experts: The 4th Retail Revolution in our eyes and its 5 distinctive signs

JD Group Chief Strategy Officer Liao Jianwen summarized the characteristics of the fourth retail revolution.

The retail industry has evolved from small shops to department stores, chain stores, and then to supermarkets. After the first three retail revolutions, the fourth retail revolution, which is essentially a return to consumer-centricity, is triggering industry changes.

" Standing point, focus, business paradigm, cost experience logic, production relationship These five points have become the distinctive mark of the fourth retail revolution that distinguishes it from other retail theories, and also make it have excellent foresight and guidance,"

Regarding the motivation for the fourth retail revolution, with the development of the Internet, including cloud computing technology, the improvement of computing power and algorithm improvements represented by artificial intelligence, the infrastructure preparation for the fourth retail revolution has been provided. The retail industry is moving from consumer Internet to industrial Internet.

New consumption that emphasizes diversity, participation and personalization, and new technologies that focus on perception, interconnection and intelligence will become the main driving force of the fourth retail revolution.

Five distinctive features of the retail revolution

The specific meaning of the retail revolution is different from other judgments about the future. The retail revolution can be highlighted by the following five distinctive features:

• First of all, there is the difference between the perspective of "present" and "future".

Theories such as the new retail look at the future from the present, setting the future as a continuation of the present; while the fourth retail revolution is a judgment of the current industry from the future. The fourth retail revolution is not a simple expansion and integration of e-commerce platforms to offline, but a transformation of platforms from providing 2C retail to 2B+2C retail, and from providing retail products to providing retail services.

• Secondly, there is the difference between "consumption" and "industry".

In the past, e-commerce focused on the consumer side, which can be called the consumer Internet stage. The next stage of retail transformation will move from consumer Internet to industrial Internet. The fourth retail revolution is not only about thinking about the transaction side and consumer side, but more importantly, how to move from the transaction side to the industrial side and supplier side to help supply increase value, which is very important for the future of smart manufacturing in China.

• The third is the difference between the “old business” paradigm and the “new business” paradigm.

The e-commerce era emphasized traffic management, while the next era will focus on scene management. The focus on traffic is because traffic is not accurate. With the advent of smart business and the accurate understanding of each consumer individual, the traffic management that lasted for 20 years in the e-commerce era will shift to scene management.

• The fourth is the difference between "catering" and "integration".

In the logic of traditional e-commerce cost, efficiency and experience, there is a clear trade-off relationship. Improving experience means increasing costs, and reducing costs means sacrificing experience to a large extent. The era of smart business has rebuilt the cost-effectiveness curve, realizing the organic integration of mass production and personalization, satisfying the need to reduce costs while improving experience.

Technology-driven retail infrastructure drives upgrades in both experience and cost efficiency

• The fifth level is the difference between the "Empire" and the "Allies" in terms of production relations.

Currently, some companies are building an empire ecological model, which is not a healthy symbiotic ecology. JD.com believes that retail platforms will shift from pursuing the maximization of platform interests to a symbiotic, mutualistic and regenerative relationship of mutual dependence, common prosperity and joint value creation.

The Fourth Retail Revolution in the Eyes of Experts

Zhang Li, deputy director of the E-commerce Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute:

For the fourth retail revolution, the development of consumer demand is its fundamental driving force. In the process of retail revolution, how to balance the interests of large and small enterprises and achieve common development; how to strengthen the driving effect of business model transformation on product quality and solve the stubborn problems of e-commerce such as counterfeit goods; how to integrate e-commerce development into the process of globalization and let the retail revolution originated in China "go global" are all issues that policymakers and entrepreneurs need to think about.

Li Mingtao, Vice President of China International Electronic Commerce Center Research Institute:

The general trend of consumption upgrading is upgrading from material to spiritual level. Specifically, there will be four major trends: intelligent products, platform-based enterprises, personalized consumption and diversified retail. Among them, the development of Internet technology plays a vital role.

Jing Linbo, Director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Evaluation Institute:

From a macro perspective, new consumption formats represented by the rise of service consumption have a new role and new positioning in economic development; at a meso level, the retail revolution has brought about a change in the industrial development model; at a micro level, the retail industry that has returned to being consumer-centric is undergoing fission.

Zhao Ping, Director of International Trade Research Department of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Research Institute:

What determines the future? Consumption determines the future of the retail industry. Future retail innovation should focus on the "four qualities": brand consumption, quality consumption, taste consumption, and character consumption. E-commerce needs to explore the experience that consumers think is "value for money" from aspects such as product lines, services, and prices.

Chen Xinnian, Director of the Circulation and Consumption Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission’s Institute of Economics:

Supply-side structural reform is actually about how to improve production and adapt to changes in consumption upgrades from the supply side. E-commerce has played an indispensable role in improving the quality of consumer goods, vigorously promoting brand strategies, and promoting consumption structure upgrades.

Source of this article: JD Blackboard Newspaper. Leifeng.com edited and modified it without changing the original meaning.