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As of the beginning of October, the monthly GMV of the open platform was increased by more than 50%.

Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “ePanda goes to the Middle East” (ID :ePandaMENA).

In mid-September 2019, Jollychic announced a strategic upgrade in Hangzhou, upgrading its self-operated model to a self-operated and open platform (POP), inviting quality sellers to enter its three e-commerce platforms. (Jollychic, MarkaVIP, Dealy). How close has it been to the business, and how has the strategic adjustment affected the business? ePanda went to the Middle East and interviewed the person in charge of the various business lines to understand the current defense.

Q: Since the announcement of the transformation and upgrade in September, what changes have been made compared to before?

A: After the open platform plan was released, the huge potential of the Middle East market and the e-commerce platform attracted a lot of sellers’ attention. In just a short period of time, more than 1,000 quality sellers have settled in the platform and achieved excellent business performance. As of the beginning of October, the monthly GMV of the open platform was increased by more than 50%.

After the implementation of the Open Platform Program, there were many positive feedbacks from the sellers:

1. The service provider system has been perfected: As early as last year, the defense has begun to carry out a small-scale invitation to the seller. When it officially announced its open platform plan in September this year, the open platform that has been implemented has been prepared and tested for more than a year. Therefore, the system of the service provider is perfect, and it can be quickly connected with the seller.

2. Comparing the support policies of the sellers: Supporting the sellers in the four aspects of traffic expansion, policy support, seller protection, and technological transformation. In particular, in the fourth quarter of this year, the company implemented zero commissions and zero warehouse rents for goods that FBJ stocked to Saudi Arabia.

3. The domestic measurement and foreign stocking policies have been verified to be very efficient. Under the domestic measurement and foreign stocking mode, when the new product is just on the line, the seller can test whether the new model is popular in the domestic on-demand delivery mode. If it sells well, it will be stocked in overseas warehouses. This can prevent the seller from blindly stocking; after the test, the goods are stored in the overseas warehouse, which can shorten the delivery time and improve customer satisfaction.

4. The defending Chinese service is very convenient. The staff of the platform are all Chinese, and they also use various conveniences to communicate in a timely manner.Tools, such as QQ, WeChat, etc., for Chinese sellers, the Chinese service for the seller is much more convenient than the foreign language services of many other platforms. At the same time, the seller’s service background is also available in Chinese, which is very easy to use.

Q: I have been cultivating the Middle East market for many years. What changes have witnessed the e-commerce in the Middle East?

A: As the forerunner of the Middle East e-commerce industry, the Guardian witnessed the process of the Middle East e-commerce market from scratch, from sporadic development to ecosystem construction. In this process, people’s consumption habits and payment habits have changed a lot. People from the offline shopping, to the beginning of online shopping convenience, and then recently developed into the online and offline O2O mode (online orders, offline delivery).

O2O refers to online ordering and offline delivery. Enforce the O2O new retail model that is the first to introduce online and offline integration in countries such as Saudi Arabia. He has established a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s local fast-moving, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical supply chain leaders to carry out Jollymart business.

A lot of changes have taken place from the point of view of users who shop online. Online shoppers seek quality and low-cost products to pursue a comprehensive user experience (shopping, logistics, after-sales, etc.). In terms of payment habits, from the main use of cash, to the accustomed and like convenient online payment without cash. With the development of the e-commerce industry, in order to meet the needs of users for rapid delivery, the logistics infrastructure in the Middle East has been continuously improved.

Q: What lessons and lessons have you learned during the past few years?

A: After a few years of struggle, we now summarize the points that must be adhered to:

1. There are many types of e-commerce platforms. To achieve low inventory and fast logistics, the first is to rely on big data technology to drive, and then need to establish local warehousing and logistics chain.

Warehouse: Responsible for overseas positions in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. The overseas warehouses in Saudi Riyadh are about 150,000 square meters, which is the largest e-commerce warehouse in the Middle East. It was recently approved by the Zhejiang Department of Commerce as a public overseas warehouse.

Logistics: Steering is building an e-commerce logistics network covering the entire region through self-operated distribution and third-party logistics cooperation. Among them, in Saudi Arabia, the current distribution network has covered about 50 cities in the first, second and third tier cities, and is still expanding rapidly. The defense also launched the “Day of Day” and “Next Day” distribution services in Saudi Arabia.

2. E-commerce is close to all aspects of life. In order to improve the quality of service, it is necessary to make a fuss about localization. Many consumers are even surprised to be a foreign-invested company.

Take Saudi Arabia as an example to administer employees’ sandThe rate of “more than 30%” is highly localized and has been highly recognized by the industry, government regulators and the community.

3. It is important to be an e-commerce provider in the Middle East. For example, in the Muslim culture, pigs are more taboo, and the image of pigs should be avoided in the packaging of goods, such as Pig Pei.

Q: What are the challenges facing the current defense?

A: The core focus of the current defense is the development of POP platforms, e-commerce ecosystem construction and brand upgrades. This is a self-challenge and strategic upgrade, and an important node for testing its operational capabilities and resource integration capabilities.

After the open platform, the seller has the right to participate in the platform activities and self-pricing, and after the introduction of the future advertising system, the seller also has the right to choose the flow. The implementation of the entire supply chain from the supply system to the ecological system with rules. This puts higher demands on the overall control ability of the defense in terms of goods and service quality.

The implementation of the model will be upgraded from selling and selling goods to making quality products and creating brands, and realize the vision of becoming the most popular and trusted e-commerce platform in the Middle East. To achieve this leap, we must put forward higher requirements for the multiple operational dimensions of marketing, supply chain management, logistics, and customer service. In these respects, the implementation of this year also made many innovative attempts. This year, the company is the first in the industry to broadcast live on the Gulf market such as Saudi Arabia, which has a significant marketing effect.

Q: How do you see competitors?

A: The penetration rate of e-commerce in the Middle East is still at a very low level, and there is much room for development in the future. In the blue ocean market in the Middle East, facing more and more e-commerce attendees, we are confident that we will expand the Middle East e-commerce cake with friends. The environment in which defense is also expected to be fair and competitive will not be affected by the increase in attendees.

1. Compared with Noon and Amazon, the implementation has obvious advantages in the supply chain and advanced e-commerce ecological model. As a full-category, one-stop shopping e-commerce platform, the most comprehensive merchandise category. Both Amazon and Noon are dominated by 3C.

From a localization perspective, Noon is indeed a strong competitor. But recently, Noon CEO Albaar relied on local e-commerce status to publicly claim that Noon has the responsibility to protect the local economy and prevent the “international giants” from occupying the Arab domestic market. His remarks have obvious local protectionism and undermine the fair competition of e-commerce in the Middle East.

Souq moved in the e-commerce ecosystem before it was acquired by Amazon. However, due to its relatively limited operational capabilities across multiple countries, the pace of progress is not as fast as everyone thought.

2. Competition in the Middle East e-commerce regionFor 3 stages. The first stage is traffic competition, the second stage is service competition, and the third stage is competition between brands and local resources. Fordeal, Shein and other friendly platforms from China have their own characteristics, but from the competition stage, many Chinese friends are still mainly in the first phase of traffic competition.

Q: How about the layout of the e-commerce ecosystem?

A: In terms of payment, the defense is the first foreign-funded enterprise in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to obtain relevant online payment licenses. The vision of defending the financial sector is to serve the 450 million people in the entire Middle East region. After the launch of the payment business, the implementation will also launch wallets and other financial services under Fintech, such as consumer finance; warehousing and logistics are mentioned above.

In terms of life scenes, the company is committed to introducing the new O2O retail model of online and offline integration in countries such as Saudi Arabia. He has established a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s local fast-moving, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical supply chain leaders to launch Jollymart business.

In the layout of the platform, there are three different platforms for Jollychic, the light luxury e-commerce platform MarkaVIP and the cost-effective fashion platform Dealy. JollyChic is a full-category, one-stop online shopping platform. This also means that JollyChic is the most popular group for MarkaVIP and Dealy, with the highest number of app downloads and sales.

As the leader in the Middle East e-commerce market, Prudential has always been committed to providing consumers with the best shopping experience and improving their quality of life. Three different shopping platforms can provide more suitable product selection and services for customers of different income levels. Secondly, in the case that the JollyChic APP download penetration rate has exceeded 80%, the implementation of both MarkaVIP and Dealy is also a manifestation of optimistic about the Middle East market, continuous investment and deepening the Middle East market.

E-commerce ecology such as payment and logistics is the tipping point for the development of the entire e-commerce industry. For e-commerce head enterprises, building their own e-commerce ecology is the key to making enterprises bigger and stronger. But this is not the only way for every e-commerce. Building an e-commerce ecosystem requires strong research and development capabilities, operational capabilities and capital support. Each e-commerce needs to choose the right path according to its actual situation.

The Guardian believes that cross-border e-commerce is a transitional phase that ultimately requires localization. Cross-border can only meet the needs of ‘multiple’, and the experience is not good, it can only play a complementary role. To become mainstream, you have to be localized. Therefore, all cross-border e-commerce companies will be eliminated if they have been cross-border. This is also the continuation of efforts to improve localization and local eco-business layout.

Q: What other innovations are there? In addition to the network red social, live webcast, directed to AliOr what are the places to learn from Taobao?

A: China’s successful model We have been trying, for example, is the first e-commerce company in the Middle East to conduct online marketing and live marketing. However, the customs and characteristics of local consumers in the Middle East are not the same, so sometimes some Chinese mature models cannot be established in the Middle East, and local innovation is needed according to the local market.

Q: Black Five is coming, what are the promotion plans? What innovations are there compared to previous years?

A: The time for Jolly Friday is November 1st – December 10th. As the first black five after the release of the open platform strategy announced in September, the stipulation will be heavily invested in creating a super-defense super black period five, launching the same product minimum price commitment for the whole month of November, the sword refers to self-operated, platform business double breakthrough.

The Super Friday slogan will be fully covered, from online to offline, with super-friday promotions on the way you see and go. Large-scale marketing campaigns also include advertising in local prime locations, working with local well-known online red and top media to promote.

Q: As more and more e-commerce players enter the Middle East and the outside world retreats attention to the Middle East market, is there still a chance to enter the Middle East? How to seize the opportunity of the blue ocean market in the Middle East?

A: First of all, the Middle East e-commerce market is still a blue ocean compared to other regions of the world, and there is much room for development in the future.

1. At present, the penetration rate of e-commerce in the Middle East is still very low. From the current penetration rate of about 2% in the E-commerce market in the Middle East to the penetration rate of more than 20% in the mature e-commerce market, there is still much room for development;

2. The proportion of young people in the Middle East is relatively high, and the market has strong purchasing power;

3. High-tech smartphone penetration is high (GCC>70%, MENA>50%);

4. The development of e-commerce in the Middle East is in line with the policies of the local economy.

But with the e-commerce players with first-mover advantage completing the stage layout, the threshold for entry is getting higher and higher. In the period when the capital market is cold, it is recommended that other players who intend to enter the Middle East market clearly define their position.

编 | 云晞@出海