The seven modes of fresh e-commerce have their own advantages and disadvantages. Who can laugh at the end when competing for hegemony?

In the eyes of many people, fresh e-commerce is the only fat piece left in the domestic e-commerce market, and this opportunity must not be missed. At present, in the domestic market, whether it is an e-commerce platform or a traditional offline supermarket, even logistics enterprises are actively participating in the battle for fresh e-commerce, and the modes are very diverse, with almost seven modes. However, judging from the current pattern, no model can really dominate the market of fresh e-commerce, so who will be the real winner of these seven models in the future?

1. Integrated e-commerce platform

When it comes to e-commerce, we have to mention e-commerce giants such as Ali and JD.COM. At present, domestic integrated e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.COM, Suning.cn, No.1 Store and Amazon have all started to set foot in fresh e-commerce. Then compared with other fresh e-commerce, the integrated e-commerce platform has several obvious advantages.

first, the advantages of entrance. The biggest advantage of the integrated e-commerce platform is the entrance advantage, especially Tmall and Taobao, which occupy more than 8% of the market share in China. This powerful traffic advantage is beyond the reach of other fresh e-commerce platforms in the short term.

second, users have good shopping habits. The integrated e-commerce platform has long cultivated users' good shopping habits, which is a natural advantage. Many users go shopping on Tmall, Taobao, Suning.cn and other platforms, and when they see fresh e-commerce products, they will choose to buy them accordingly.

third, trust. Trust is a key factor for online shopping users. Many people choose online shopping, preferring to choose platforms with sufficient integrity, such as Tmall and JD.COM, but it is difficult for many fresh e-commerce companies that have just started to do this at the beginning.

fourth, perfect payment system. For online shopping platforms such as fresh e-commerce, a perfect payment system is also quite necessary. At this point, I am afraid that for other fresh e-commerce platforms, it is difficult to create a powerful Alipay like Taobao and Tmall.

v. brand advantages. Tmall, JD.COM and other integrated e-commerce platforms have strong brand advantages and many loyal users, which other fresh e-commerce companies do not have.

since the integrated e-commerce platform has so many advantages, does it mean that they are flawless in the field of fresh e-commerce? Of course not.

first, commodity standards are not uniform. For the integrated e-commerce platform, what they mainly do is the platform, and most of the fresh e-commerce is sold through the merchants on the platform. However, there is no uniform standard for the quality and price of fresh products sold by different businesses, which requires a lot of comparison for consumers to choose more cheap and beautiful fresh products.

second, it is difficult to control the quality. Because the integrated e-commerce platform is a platform model, the quality of fresh products sold by merchants cannot be controlled. However, fresh products are different from other products, and once food safety problems occur, it will be a devastating disaster for the whole platform.

third, commodity loss is very common and serious. Many merchants don't specify or choose some courier with poor service when mailing goods, so the loss of goods can't be avoided.

fourth, the delivery logistics does not guarantee the delivery time. This is also a very serious problem for the preservation of fresh products.

5. Logistics is expensive. Because fresh products have higher requirements for logistics, its delivery unit price is naturally expensive. Fresh e-commerce, which has no price advantage, also needs customers to pay expensive logistics costs, which is naturally unacceptable to customers.

2. Logistics e-commerce

Speaking of fresh e-commerce mode, SF Express, which started with express delivery, is a mode that we have to mention. Agriculture is the only industry where e-commerce is not completely e-commerce. Wang Wei, CEO of SF Express, is also ambitious in choosing to cross the border from express delivery to fresh e-commerce. In his view, SF Express's choice to be a fresh e-commerce has advantages that any other platform does not have.

advantage 1: express service. SF has the largest express delivery army in China, and SF's express delivery service is also the most recognized by users among all express delivery companies in China. Fresh e-commerce is an area that requires very good express delivery, and this is precisely the advantage of SF.

advantage 2: warehousing. Fresh e-commerce also has very high requirements for storage. SF Logistics has a large number of storage centers all over the country, which is also a big advantage of SF compared with other platforms.

Advantage 3: Community O2O. SF Express can be well combined with SF sex shops. At present, SF has more than 5 SF sex shops in 7 cities across the country, which is also an obvious advantage for SF to choose community O2O.

Of course, SF Express is also facing a lot of challenges in building a brand-new fresh e-commerce platform.

challenge 1: the early promotion cost is very high. This is also the reason why SF Express has the highest market share in fresh e-commerce, but it is still not profitable.

challenge 2: the challenge in supply chain management is very high. How to ensure that the platform can supply fresh and excellent fresh products in real time requires close cooperation with many farmers, fruit and vegetable wholesale markets all over the country.

3. Food suppliers

COFCO Womaiwang and Guangming Caiguanjia are two typical representatives of traditional food companies entering fresh e-commerce. Of course, COFCO built the Womaiwang and Guangming Food Group later acquired the Caiguanjia. Food companies directly do fresh e-commerce, which naturally has no small advantage.

first, the food supply chain. I buy nets and vegetable butlers in the food supply chain, which is difficult for other fresh platforms to PK. A large part of the reason why many fresh e-commerce companies are difficult to operate is that there is a problem in the food supply chain.

secondly, warehousing. COFCO and Bright Food Group are also quite strong in food storage, which is also difficult for many fresh e-commerce platforms.

thirdly, food safety. COFCO and Bright Food can easily gain the trust of users in terms of safety. Food safety is the first step for users to buy for a fresh e-commerce platform.

finally, the price. COFCO and Guangming have obvious price advantages in fresh food, and the prices of many foods are in their hands, so they will have an advantage in price war.

of course, this kind of fresh e-commerce also faces some challenges.

first, logistics. Logistics is also a big difficulty for me to buy nets and vegetable butlers. Logistics can't keep up, which means that it is difficult to keep fresh when fresh products are delivered to users, and the loss rate will be higher.

in addition, manpower, financial resources, etc. Compared with Taobao, JD.COM and other e-commerce platforms, I need more manpower and financial resources in the early operation.

4. Vertical e-commerce

Vertical fresh e-commerce companies such as Putian.com, Youcai.com and Benli.com are the initiators of fresh e-commerce. It is precisely because of their rise that other e-commerce platforms have begun to awaken.

advantage: concentration. Due to the focus of vertical e-commerce, it pays more attention to the segmentation field than others, so it understands users better than other platforms.

However, due to many disadvantages of vertical e-commerce, some people think that it is difficult for vertical fresh e-commerce to become bigger and stronger.

disadvantage 1: supply chain. For vertical e-commerce, they have no previous accumulation in food suppliers, which makes them prone to problems in the supply chain. In particular, some newly-started vertical e-commerce companies, because of their weak strength, have no food suppliers willing to cooperate with them.

disadvantage 2: logistics. Fresh e-commerce has very high requirements for logistics and distribution. If logistics outsourcing is adopted, the possibility of commodity loss will be higher. However, if employee distribution is adopted, it will require a lot of manpower and limit the expansion speed of the company to some extent.

disadvantage 3: brand. Due to the lack of brand awareness, it is very difficult and costly to gain the trust of users and buy fresh products directly on the platform in the early stage.

disadvantage 4: cold storage. Cold storage of food is also a major disadvantage of vertical e-commerce. Large-scale cold storage needs to invest a lot of money, which is naturally difficult for vertical e-commerce with weak strength.

5. Farm Direct Selling

The representatives of farm direct selling mode are Dolly Farm and Tuotuo Commune, which rely on their own farms to build fresh e-commerce, and they also have great advantages.

first, food safety. It is also the biggest advantage, because it is their own farm, so they have absolute confidence in food safety issues, and ecological fruits and vegetables are also the favorite and most willing to buy by consumers.

second, the supply chain. Because it is self-produced and sold, they don't have to worry about sudden problems in the supply of products.

third, close distribution. Because they are all fresh fruits and vegetables that have just been picked, close distribution can ensure the freshness of fruits and vegetables for farm direct sales.

disadvantage 1: long-distance distribution. Because for the farm direct selling platform, due to the remote distance of the farm, it is a troublesome and time-consuming process to deliver goods by express delivery to the door.

disadvantage 2: diversified demand. Because the farm direct selling platform is self-produced and self-sold, the breadth of products naturally cannot meet the users with diversified needs.

disadvantage 3: taking certain risks. Self-produced fruits and vegetables may lead to poor harvest due to season, rain, technology and other reasons, which will affect their supply to some extent.

6. Offline supermarkets

Fresh platforms such as CR Vanguard, Yonghui Supermarket and Metro have been closed one after another. It can be seen that it is not easy for offline supermarkets to get involved in fresh e-commerce.

although it has obvious advantages in close distribution of goods, cold storage, supply chain management, etc., offline supermarkets involved in fresh e-commerce have closed down due to the inability to make ends meet after building a fresh e-commerce platform.

on the one hand, they have an unnecessary labor cost for delivery (customers used to shop directly in the supermarket, but now they need to deliver them, and if they are long-distance, they also have an extra express delivery cost, and they need someone to package and deliver them);

on the other hand, they also need to pay more online operating costs, which is not the strength of offline supermarkets. They naturally need to pay more for it if they don't understand the Internet.

7. Community O2O

In fact, when it comes to community fresh O2O, Taobao, JD.COM and downwind Youxuan vertical e-commerce are all involved, and they are all trying to use it as a breakthrough for fresh e-commerce. However, the most representative is Wechat business. With the help of WeChat WeChat official account, a large number of entrepreneurs have started community fresh delivery.

first, delivery. Community O2O is very convenient for door-to-door delivery, and it can ensure the freshness of dishes and reduce the loss rate.

second, payment. Community O2O can also use offline cash on delivery, which is more secure for consumers.

third, speed. For many users who buy fresh e-commerce, they pay attention to speed, because there is no food at home and they need to buy food, but they don't want to go to the vegetable market. At this time, they can buy directly through WeChat WeChat official account or mobile app. Community online to offline can guarantee a short delivery time.

fourth, the cost. Community O2O merchants only deliver goods to nearby communities, and do not need a lot of cold storage. They only need to purchase a small amount of fresh vegetables, and at the same time, they can ensure that fruits and vegetables are sold in time, which reduces waste and saves costs.

Of course, for community fresh Wechat business, they also need to work hard on promotion in the early stage. Especially in the scale expansion, it needs more costs, and the expansion speed will be quite slow.

As we all know, mobile phone Taobao and mobile phone Tmall also have positioning characteristics, which solves the dilemma of Taobao in making fresh O2O. Taobao's successful entry into catering O2O is a good example. Compared with Wechat business, it is easier for Taobao and Tmall to unify the commodity standards of fresh e-commerce. In addition, Ali Rookie Logistics is escorting the long-distance distribution of fresh e-commerce.

On the whole, among these seven modes, some professionals believe that in the end, fresh electricity merchants will form a pattern with Taobao as the mainstay and Wechat business as the supplement. Vertical fresh-keeping e-commerce, Shunfeng Youhao.com, and vegetable housekeeper are hard to compare with Taobao in scale in the end, while offline supermarkets, farm direct sales, etc. may all go to Taobao to open stores in the end, and use WeChat WeChat official account to promote and serve them.