Attitude reversal, Alibaba, Jingdong's auto aftermarket will be smooth sailing?

The rise of e-commerce companies such as Ali and Jingdong highlights the enormous energy consumption of the Internet. When they announced their entry into the auto aftermarket, many people in the industry shouted "The wolf has come." Even worse, e-commerce companies will "force death." 90% after the market stores. However, the attitude of the two major e-commerce giants in the post-market seems to be shifting from radical to cautious.

The rise of e-commerce companies such as Ali and Jingdong highlights the enormous energy consumption of the Internet. When they announced their entry into the auto aftermarket, many people in the industry shouted "The wolf has come." Even worse, e-commerce companies will "force death." 90% after the market stores.

However, the high-profile entry into the post-market last year, which claims to open 20,000 stores by the end of this year, is now silent. Coincidentally, Qing Yan, the general manager of Jingdong Automobile's aftermarket department, who had just taken up his post two months ago, recently denied to the “China Automotive News” reporter the news about the post-distribution market of Jingdong.

The attitude of the two major e-commerce giants in the post-market seems to be shifting from radical to cautious.

The owner of the car terminal becomes a chicken rib

“I bought the owner of Alibaba Terminal on Taikoo. I went to several stores and were told that I couldn’t use it. I could hardly have one to use. The result was like a 'second class citizen'. The experience was terrible." Mr. Car advocated a channel to reporters.

On September 23 last year, the Alibaba Terminal Ecological Conference was held in Hangzhou. At that time, the head of Alibaba's automotive division bluntly stated that there are about 400,000 offline service stores in China's auto aftermarket. In fact, only 20,000 stores are required, and most of the stores will be eliminated. Alibaba Motors plans to cooperate with offline high-quality stores through the "Car Terminal" to provide Alibaba's brand endorsement, online user diversion, and genuine supply for all cooperative stores. By the end of 2017, it will open 20,000 car terminal stores nationwide. At the same time, Alibaba Motors will try to build a supply chain alliance for parts, including not only the accessories brand merchants but also the accessories chain merchants, forming an accessory supply chain that can be opened up online and offline. The goal of the car terminal is to integrate a supply chain and Alibaba Ecology to create a high-quality automotive aftermarket brand, integrate the decentralized brand stores into an automotive service alliance, and replace the image of the offline repair factory and car wash store.

However, this year, apart from the news that Tmall had re-listed after the owner of the Alibaba Terminal at the beginning of the year, it did not see any movement in the car terminal. Nowadays, in the Tmall flagship store of Alibaba Terminal, the owner of the most popular 188-car washing car 20 times has long disappeared, leaving only a variety of oil, filter and other auto parts.

Wang Peng, Dean of the Automotive Technology Institute of Beijing Automotive Times, told reporters that e-commerce giants holding high the banner of subversion, at least for the time being, did not set off waves in the post-market. He believes that e-commerce companies started with the Internet are accustomed to using the "burn money" method to seize the market, but it is easy to make mistakes that rely too much on data, ignore the reality.

Jingdong not involved in service links temporarily

In July of this year, there was news that JD.com announced that it had launched a "transparent workshop" with a cooperative store, and later it was reported that JD.com would acquire an "arrogant stall" for the auto parts B2B procurement platform.

Recently, Jing Yan, General Manager of Jingdong Automobile Aftermarket Department, gave a different account when facing the issue of post-market layout development proposed by reporters. He told reporters that Jingdong will not enter the maintenance service link at this stage, and the rumors of acquiring “arrogant stalls” and establishing a maintenance service system are rumored.

Qingyan told reporters that Jingdong’s business in the auto parts field includes B2C and O2O, that is, selling accessories to consumers or distributing them to repair shops and providing service from repair shops. In the near future, Jingdong should establish a closed-loop system for the post-market. After the closed market has been closed, Jingdong will form a standard system for personnel management, customer marketing, tool equipment management, and technical training, and export it to cooperative maintenance companies to help them improve their competitiveness. However, Qing Yan emphasized that although JD.com considers this, it does not mean that it will enter the post-market service chain at this stage. JD’s core competitiveness lies in its distribution capabilities, and the business at this stage will expand.

After further communication with Qingyan, the reporter learned that the first step of Jingdong's strategic goal is to build a B2B parts supply chain, that is, to focus on distribution, integrate systems, data, logistics, and finance, and build a joint venture between self-operated and third-party sellers. The platform supplier meets the needs of high-quality, high-efficiency, full-category accessories for customers such as maintenance companies and the insurance industry. The second step is to attract more users to purchase auto parts through Jingdong. For the repair shop, JD.com provides customers with sources of supply while forming a closed loop. From the standpoint of Qing Yan, it is easy to see that JD does not plan to enter into post-market services.

Management, accessories and technology are indispensable

Mo Huaying, partner of Beijing Thinking Huihai Investment Management Co., Ltd., believes that if companies want to enter the automotive aftermarket and make performance, they need to have three elements, namely SaaS (Software Service)-based management system, parts supply chain and technology supply chain. .

He said bluntly: “If companies do not have closed loops of these three elements, they will only be part of the pit.” At the same time, he emphasized that although the scale of the automotive aftermarket has been expanding year by year, the current market is looking at 800 billion yuan. The scale is occupied by half of the country's 26,000 4S stores, and another 460,000 registered auto repair shops share the remaining market of 400 billion yuan, so it is extremely difficult for startup companies to stand out from the crowd.

Wang Peng pointed out that the water in the automobile aftermarket is very deep, and the decision makers of Internet companies mostly lack the actual combat experience of operating steam service shops. He said: “Alibaba Terminal has combined a large number of maintenance stores. The basis of cooperation is to promise to bring traffic to these stores. However, the reality is that most of the past customers are high-frequency, low-profit car wash customers and not only take up maintenance. The resources and time of the shop are also almost a single loss and a single profit. The customers who hold the Ali owner card are treated by the repair shop 'discrimination'.

Wang Peng believes that the e-commerce company's intent to cut into the post-market through cooperation with repair shops does not work, and this partnership is very fragile when both parties do not benefit. “Unless e-commerce companies cooperate with auto companies and combine their online advantages with the offline advantages of auto dealership networks, they jointly invest in the creation of auto repair service brands. However, this mode of investment is too large, and Internet companies that focus on asset-light models are not It's too much to do," he said.

Extended reading

After the electricity supplier enters the market, fish and bear's paws are not available.

According to Wang Peng, Dean of the Automotive Technology Institute of the Beijing Automotive Technology Times, from 2015 to early 2017, there were as many as 825 post-market start-up companies with Internet properties, but less than 10 companies are still operating today. Even if it is an Internet leader like Alibaba, it will be difficult for the market to rely on its own efforts to integrate.

According to Zhu Weihua, co-founder of Handyman, retailers starting to sell auto parts or in-depth market maintenance services, the premise is to have merchants enter the platform, but in the past few years, the cooperation with the platform has not been due to "Benefit, the value of services has not been reflected, resulting in maintenance stores that are unwilling to cooperate with the platform. With a small number of merchants, the total number of users with maintenance vehicle needs on the e-commerce platform is difficult to increase, thus creating a vicious circle. Therefore, he believes that the current e-commerce platform cannot be directly operated in the post-market. Even if it involves direct sales of accessories, the counterfeit and common problems existing in Auto Parts City will still cause the e-commerce platform to fail to meet the needs of high-end consumers unless the e-commerce platform is The automaker is authorized to sell high-end original accessories.

Zhu Weihua also pointed out that the relatively large number of users of the platform, such as car homes and other accessories to do centralized procurement, if you do not consider profitability, it is possible to erode the business of traditional offline accessories dealers on a large scale, but if you consider profit, there is a How attractive it is is also unknown. "Now in the market, users are kings and resources are kings. There are users, who have exclusive accessories, and who has the ability to integrate the market." He said.

Wei Junqiang, chief engineer of Beijing Auto Repair Co., Ltd., believes that e-commerce companies should be the right choice when they start getting involved in the auto aftermarket with parts B2B. Because in the post-market, it is difficult to establish a standard system for auto repair services. Car breakdown is just like illness. Online diagnosis and treatment can hardly replace the hospital, so the faulty vehicle will eventually go to the shop for diagnosis and repair. Internet e-commerce is relatively feasible from the accessories, because the auto parts market is undergoing a standardization process, and the prices, brands, quality, and channels of the parts are all different. The e-commerce platform, through centralized procurement, is expected to reduce intermediate links.

However, Wei Junqiang also emphasized that if the e-commerce platform is both online and offline, it will be difficult to control the quality and cost of services. First of all, if the platform brand is used to provide offline services in cooperation with maintenance stores, and the platform is not involved in the service, then the service quality will not be guaranteed. Secondly, due to the increasingly stringent qualification examination and approval of auto repair shops, e-commerce companies must first face the problem of lack of business qualifications to maintain their own stores. Even if they pass the examination and approval, they must rent venues, invest in equipment and manpower, and deviate from the Internet companies. Light asset model.

“Simply put, it is the electricity supplier to do the electricity supplier's business, store to do the store's thing, everybody earns oneself to make the money. The electricity supplier only serves the store, provides them with the high quality and low price, the category complete accessories. With the support of the business, the stores provide quality services to the owners, said Wei Junqiang.