Affected by the repeated epidemics, this year's "618" e-commerce promotion festival may become the "hardest 618" in history.
A consumer revealed to a reporter from Securities Daily that the products that had been ordered a month before the opening of "618" have not yet been received.There are also consumers who shared their personal experience with reporters: after placing an order for the product, it still displayed "delivered" in the morning, and in the afternoon, they were told that "the courier was asked to stay at home, so it could not be delivered normally".
When "618" encounters epidemic prevention and control, both logistics companies and major merchants are faced with supply chain management problems.On the one hand, the upgrade of epidemic prevention and control in some areas has added new uncertainty to the normal operation of logistics companies; on the other hand, the sorting management of merchants’ warehouses faces the problem of “difficulty in recruiting workers”, which also poses a great challenge to the circulation in the logistics field. .
However, with the advent of the digital economy era, digital technology is changing the production methods of production companies and the circulation links of logistics companies, enabling many companies to improve quality and efficiency.Many industry insiders interviewed believe that whether to adopt a digital strategy will become one of the important factors affecting the future competitiveness of enterprises.
The competition in the logistics industry enters the second half
The relevant person in charge of the logistics park operator GLP told the "Securities Daily" reporter that in previous years, during the e-commerce festival when orders were concentrated, there would always be a phenomenon of "difficulty recruiting workers and expensive workers" for businesses in the logistics park.During this year's "618", this problem was even more prominent.
"The upgrade of epidemic prevention and control in many places across the country this year has brought more uncertainty to e-commerce operations." The person in charge said that traditional warehouse equipment and manual sorting modes can neither match the high-efficiency requirements of massive orders, but also Due to factors such as the difficulty of recruiting workers in the short-term during the peak sales season, it will bring about unnecessary high labor costs and increased management difficulties.
The relevant person in charge of Megvii Technology told the "Securities Daily" reporter that due to the impact of the epidemic in the first half of the year, the overall transportation capacity of the logistics supply chain dropped sharply, resulting in shortage of raw material supply, production interruption of downstream enterprises, and rising raw material prices. To improve the competitiveness of the supply chain, we began to pay more attention to the warehousing and logistics links.
Supply chain transmission also brings new pressure to logistics companies.As an enterprise whose main business covers vehicle transportation, a relevant person from Changchun Logistics told the "Securities Daily" reporter that traditional logistics enterprises have been greatly affected by the upstream, and their performance has been particularly obvious in recent years.Taking the vehicle transportation logistics industry as an example, since 2018, the sales of automobiles have continued to decline sharply, and the automobile market has entered a period of adjustment, which has caused a certain negative impact on logistics companies that use automobiles as the main transportation materials.
"Now the volume of goods in the Yangtze River Delta is recovering rapidly, but it has not recovered to before the epidemic. For logistics companies, this will be a process of changing hands, and the turnover rate may reach 30%." NavInfo, a listed company The relevant person in charge of the subsidiary Zhonghuan Satellite Navigation and Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhonghuan Satellite") told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the current volume of goods in the Yangtze River Delta region is about a quarter of the usual amount. It can quickly return to normal levels within a week.Logistics companies that can survive this crisis need to have three capabilities: First, they have the ability to understand the market and the trend of cargo volume; second, they have the ability to agile organizations and can quickly adapt to new customers; Master a series of digital management technologies from cargo dispatching system to fleet management system.It can be said that the outbreak of the epidemic has become a catalyst for accelerating the digital development of related industries.
Long-term logistics also said that it is particularly important to reduce costs and increase efficiency at present.After a logistics enterprise undergoes digital transformation, it can conduct a comprehensive analysis of system data, conduct refined management of business processes, and achieve flexible production.
"In the competition in the logistics industry, the competition in the first half is about scale and capital, which needs to be accomplished by 'burning money' in exchange for price for volume; the second half is about efficiency, and the degree of digitalization will determine the degree to which logistics companies can improve quality and efficiency." A relevant person in charge of an express company believes that digital transformation has become an important weapon for logistics companies to compete in the second half.If a logistics enterprise has an average daily cargo volume of more than 10,000 tons, but has not carried out quality improvement, efficiency improvement and structural optimization, once the scale of cargo transportation is expanded, it is likely to lead to increased losses."
Digital transformation is the trend
With the advent of the digital age, enterprises in the logistics industry chain have also begun to take active actions.On the logistics and transportation side, digitalization is deeply infiltrating many links in the traditional logistics industry.
"The digitalization of the logistics industry mainly includes two parts: one is digital software; the other is digital hardware." The relevant person in charge of the aforementioned express company said that in terms of software, every important node in the logistics and transportation process can be optimized by digital means; In terms of hardware, the company can cooperate with external companies to allow cutting-edge technologies to be implemented in actual logistics operation scenarios. The application of cutting-edge technologies such as driverless cars, unmanned forklifts, and intelligent measuring rooms is helping different companies to improve operational efficiency.
The aforementioned Zhonghuan Satellite person believes that for logistics companies, digital transformation is a systematic project, and the number of logistics companies that have fully established this system may be less than 20%.This requires a gradual development process.
"For the direction of digital transformation, the current logistics companies have the same opinion, which is to empower traditional logistics companies, help logistics companies improve operational efficiency and save costs in the process of business development, and be more efficient and intelligent in data management. Better experience, improve the competitiveness of logistics enterprises." Long-term logistics said that it will refine management of each logistics link, vigorously develop modern logistics, improve customer service levels, further optimize processes, reduce logistics costs, and increase corporate profits.
It is true that digital empowerment can solve many practical problems for enterprises in the logistics industry chain, but the digital transformation of the logistics industry still has a long way to go.
"Small and medium-sized enterprises lack the systematic construction of logistics management, the logistics process is mechanized, the level of automation is low, the labor consumption is high, the efficiency is low, the loss is large, and the customer satisfaction and experience are poor. Most managers work with personal management experience, lack of professional logistics management technology and capabilities, lack of direction for optimization and improvement of the existing logistics system and business process, and lack of capital investment." Li Lianfeng, research director of IDC China, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that logistics management is scattered in different departments and business processes. Among them, if order management, warehousing, transportation, handling, packaging, distribution, etc. lack integrated management, it is only the digital improvement of a single link, and the expected effect cannot be obtained.
Li Lianfeng believes that the digital transformation of small and medium-sized logistics enterprises needs to consider the following aspects: focus on core business, choose a reasonable logistics operation model, make full use of third-party logistics platform services, improve enterprise data collection capabilities, and improve data analysis and application capabilities, Integrate e-commerce, Internet of Things and other resources, speed up the level of terminal automation, and digitize, visualize and standardize the operation of logistics business.
"Since China first surpassed the United States as the world's largest logistics market in 2016, it has maintained continuous expansion of overall volume and gradual improvement of development quality. Digital transformation has become the key to high-quality development of China's logistics industry." China Yang Daqing, a special researcher of the Institute of Logistics, told the "Securities Daily" reporter.
Yang Daqing believes that due to the repeated impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the ebb of the demographic dividend, in order to cope with the shortage of front-line labor and achieve the goal of reducing costs and improving efficiency in the logistics industry, it is more urgent for logistics companies to carry out digital and intelligent transformation.
