How does brick-and-mortar retail promote consumption? Expert: Digital and intelligent transformation is very important

Zhao Ping, vice president of the Research Institute of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, presided over and spoke at the forum.　Courtesy of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Research Institute

Beijing, December 16 (China News Network) (Reporter Zhang Wenhui) The latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to November, the total retail sales of consumer goods 399554 billion yuan. Among them, the national online retail sales of physical goods are 9,805.6 billion yuan, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total retail sales of social consumer goods.

Physical retail is an important part of the real economy, as an important carrier to expand domestic demand and promote consumption, how to achieve digital and intelligent transformation in the new situation to promote the steady growth of consumption? The Research Institute of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade recently held the "Expert Symposium on Promoting the Steady Growth of Consumption through the Digital And Intelligent Transformation of Physical Retail" in Beijing.

In fact, since Suning Tesco launched in 2009, China's physical retail has begun its digital transformation. However, under the new stage, the homogenization competition is fierce, the two-line channel diversion is serious, the digital foundation and capacity are weak, the demand-driven supply chain support is insufficient, and the enterprise operation and management model is lagging behind, and the global pandemic of the new crown epidemic has put forward new requirements for the construction of an omni-channel and smart retail ecosystem for physical retail, and the demand for further transformation and upgrading of physical retail has become more and more intense.

Different from the traditional online retail, the digital and intelligent transformation of physical retail has obvious new characteristics. Zhao Ping, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Research Institute, believes that the digital and intelligent transformation of physical retail pays more attention to the creation of consumption scenarios that improve the consumer experience in terms of consumer demand satisfaction; in organizational management, it will focus more on optimizing business process adjustments according to the direction of data flow; in the provision of goods and services, it will shift from digitalization of key nodes to digital intelligence of the whole process, so as to achieve accurate tracking and analysis of market fluctuations; and use new technologies to empower business processes in business model innovation. Realize the reverse drive of consumer demand and the reverse integration of the supply chain; shift from the dominance of large enterprises to the joint participation of large, medium, small and micro enterprises in the collaboration between enterprises, and realize cross-channel cross-field cross-industry integration and internal and external resource collaboration of digital intelligence open platform.

Li Mingtao, chief expert of e-commerce at the China International E-Commerce Center of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that the role of the digital and intelligent transformation of physical retail in promoting consumption is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, the digital and intelligent transformation of physical retail can promote efficient supply, thereby meeting the demand for consumption growth. Based on the advantages of connecting production and consumer ends, the use of modern digital technology to achieve the free flow of elements of the whole industry chain, the full sharing of resources; second, thanks to the new model and the application of new technologies, physical retail can achieve omni-channel layout, multi-industry integration, more importantly, the connection between the seller and the buyer is further enhanced, and the awareness and understanding of each other by both sides have been greatly improved, making retail enterprises focus more on improving the consumer experience in order to realize the value-added of goods and services, thereby improving the quality of consumption.

Gao Kun, deputy general manager of Beijing Suning Tesco, also said that the digital and intelligent transformation of physical retail has an important role in promoting the further prosperity of rural consumption in counties and towns. Taking Suning Tesco Retail Cloud as an example, through digital and intelligent transformation, based on the integration of smart retail resources such as brand, supply chain, technology, logistics, finance, and operation, it provides smart retail solutions for full-scenario digital reconstruction and full value chain empowerment, which can effectively solve many difficulties and problems such as products, prices, funds, and costs faced by small and medium-sized and micro physical retail stores in counties, towns, and villages, so as to play a significant role in promoting consumption promotion through rich commodity display, accurate demand docking, and efficient commodity supply chain.

How can brick-and-mortar retail achieve digital and intelligent transformation? Experts at the meeting agreed that the specific path of transformation includes taking consumers as the core to improve the digital and intelligent service experience; taking integration as the entry point to achieve digital and intelligent collaboration; and taking innovation as the guide and adhering to the digital and intelligent development mode. (End) Sino-Singapore Finance Studio