Well-known e-commerce companies race to stake their claims, accelerating their layout in provincial capital rural markets
"Race to stake their claims"
□Our reporter Hou Tianyi
The rural market is becoming another main battlefield for e-commerce. With the nationwide first "JD Help Service Store" landing in Zhaoxian County, it is believed that this competitive situation will accelerate. And rural consumers will enjoy a higher quality shopping experience.
Channel sinking accelerates
On November 20, e-commerce giant JD opened the country's first "JD Help Service Store" in Zhaoxian County. From then on, consumers in rural areas of Shijiazhuang will be the first to experience JD e-commerce's "last mile" service.
The "JD Help Service Store" has been open for a week. How is business going? On the morning of November 27, the reporter came to this service store located in Zhaoxian County town. From several dozen meters away, the huge "JD Help Service Store" logo on the red billboard was visible. The products displayed in the store were placed on both sides, mainly popular major home appliances such as air conditioners, washing machines, and refrigerators, while several laptops were placed in the center of the store.
Service store manager Jin Xinlong introduced that the goods displayed in the store are not for direct sale, mainly allowing consumers to experience on site whether the goods are "good quality at a low price." "After consumers come to the store to inspect the real machine, the staff place orders on their behalf, and the prices are all signed direct-supply prices."
When talking about why Zhaoxian County was chosen as the location, the person in charge of JD warehousing said, "The internet foundation here is good, and people's enthusiasm for online shopping is high." He said that the opening of the "JD Help Service Store" will allow more rural consumers in Shijiazhuang to enjoy a high-quality shopping experience with "fast delivery and installation." In the next 3 years, "JD Help Service Stores" will also be rolled out across districts and counties nationwide, reaching more than a thousand, striving to eliminate urban-rural price discrimination for home appliances and achieve the same prices nationwide.
Emphasis on after-sales service
Although the store has not been open long, consumers come from time to time to visit and shop. Jin Xinlong said that at present the vast majority of ordinary people recognize this model, and the service store sells an average of more than 40 home appliances per day, with considerable sales revenue.
What benefits can the "JD Help Service Store" bring to consumers? A villager gave the answer. After placing an order for a refrigerator he had "wanted for a long time," he said that ordinary rural people do not dare to shop online, mainly for fear of buying fake or inferior products, and defending their rights is also very difficult. "Whether something is good or not, you can touch it and see it in the store. After experiencing it on site, you feel more at ease."
In fact, the "JD Help Service Store" pays more attention to logistics distribution and after-sales service quality. Jin Xinlong said that the delivery, installation, and maintenance of home appliances are what consumers care about more. The "JD Help Service Store" does not make money through home appliance sales, but focuses on distribution and after-sales service, with helping consumers solve related problems as its "main task."
Competition "each showing their own special abilities"
In addition to JD's accelerated layout in Shijiazhuang, the local Guoda 365 Company also began e-commerce business in rural areas long ago. In October this year, Guoda 365 Company built a rural e-commerce demonstration base in Zhengding County, piloting the promotion of 100 "Good Folks 365" e-commerce service platforms.
The reporter observed that these commercial giants' layout in the rural market can be described as "each showing their own special abilities," launching differentiated competition one after another based on their respective advantages.
The category of JD's rural e-commerce layout is mainly major home appliances. Because consumption demand in rural areas differs greatly from that in cities, rural consumers pay more attention to "practicality," and there is a lack of home appliance brands that are cheap and of excellent quality. The "JD Help Service Store" is aiming at this market opportunity.
The "Good Folks 365" service platform of Guoda 365 Company, however, has relatively rich functions. Liang Shaokun of the company's management department introduced that this kind of convenience store not only provides many types of fast-moving consumer goods and enables small withdrawals and savings card applications, but also offers social services such as rural libraries and labor and employment referrals. "We absorb young university students into employment at the service platform to the greatest extent, solving the difficult problem of university student employment, and also helping ordinary rural people experience a different kind of consumption experience."