This time, it was Liu Yidong's turn to applaud. This was what he admired the most about Li Mu. He never only did one thing, but always did one thing to mobilize many other things. Moreover, he would take into account many possible factors and prevent all kinds of unexpected events. This was Li Mu's ability, and it was also the direction that he had to learn and catch up with.
Liu Shixiong admired Li Mu a hundred times now, and he was also very glad to cooperate with Li Mu.
After applauding, Liu Yidong said, "I am now full of confidence in the future of Taobao, but the only thing I am worried about is our future distribution link. The capacity of EMS is too weak, and their timeliness is not very ideal. It is common for state-owned enterprises to take three to five days from Yanjing to Shanghai. If in the future, our Taobao sellers continue to join, the number of users continues to increase, and the daily order volume continues to increase, then the capacity of domestic logistics will reach a state of saturation. If the timeliness is too weak, it will definitely limit the development of Taobao."
Li Mu said, "EMS is only the target that we must choose at the moment, but in the future, once e-commerce begins to be popularized, there will definitely be private express companies that will see the development prospects and speed up their development. There will even be a situation where express companies blossom, so I believe that logistics and delivery will not be a big problem."
Liu Yidong nodded. "Private enterprises naturally have the sharpest sense of profit, but what I want to say is, can we do our own logistics system? If we can build our own logistics system to serve the stores of Taobao, then the profit margin can definitely be guaranteed. Moreover, if we control the logistics link ourselves, we can let the users have a better online shopping experience. "
Li Mu asked him, "You want to do your own logistics system?"
"Yes!" Liu Yidong said resolutely, "I think it's very necessary to make our own logistics system. If the logistics link is handed over to a third party other than the buyer and the seller, it's bound to face a few serious problems: first, the timeliness can't be guaranteed; second, the security can't be guaranteed; third, the service standard can't be guaranteed."
"Timeliness is the key to logistics. If a user uses online shopping, he will be looking forward to receiving the goods from the moment he places the order and pays. However, he needs to wait for the seller to deliver the goods, the courier company to pick up the goods, and the courier company to transfer the goods. Finally, when the goods arrive at the customer's city, he will have to make arrangements step by step. It is possible that it will take at least a week. This timeliness is too slow. If a user needs to buy something that will be used within a week, he will have to carefully consider the timeliness of online shopping. It is very likely that he can only buy it in physical stores."
"Safety is the core problem in the logistics process. Third-party couriers, even the postal service, often have the phenomenon of damaged goods. It is difficult for their employees to fulfill their duties in the logistics link, and the courier company does not have the heart to solve this problem. Moreover, every courier company has an overbearing clause for damaged goods, so they don't have the heart to solve this problem at all. If online shopping develops in the future and logistics companies operate at high capacity, the proportion of damaged goods in the logistics process will definitely increase greatly."
"The service standard involves the user's experience. Only our own employees can we carry out uniform requirements and training on their appearance and speech skills. Door-To-Door delivery, smiling service, and polite greetings are all very difficult for third-party couriers."
Li Mu was surprised. From what Liu Shixiong said, it was obvious that he already had a very detailed understanding of the logistics system. Li Mu thought that Liu Shixiong only became interested in the logistics system after he started the B2C platform, Jingdong. He did not expect that Liu Shixiong was already very persistent at this time.
In fact, having one's own logistics system was definitely a very important part. When Boss Ma was running Taobao, he did not have the energy and financial resources to take care of building his own logistics system. Later, although he expressed that he was not interested in doing logistics, in fact, his obsession with logistics was not weaker than Liu Xiaodong. He admired SF Wang Wei very much, but it was a pity that Wang Wei did not buy it. Later, he established rookie logistics, which was enough to show his attitude towards logistics.
Liu Shixiong was so persistent in his own logistics system that Li Mu also had a lot of feelings in his heart.
Li Mu knew very well that having one's own logistics system was definitely a very important part of e-commerce.
Jingdong's way to win in the B2C field was its own logistics system. Jingdong's logistics was fast, good service, and low damage rate. The reason was because of Liu Shixiong's strong control of its own logistics system. Jingdong's logistics also solved the problems that Liu Shixiong had just raised.
Jingdong's logistics not only solved the problems of speed, service, and security, but more importantly, Jingdong developed the cash on delivery business based on its own logistics system. This was one of the core points of Jingdong's success in the past. If it were not for its own logistics system, it would be impossible to do cash on delivery in the early days, especially when the courier company collected the payment on behalf of the courier company. There were also issues of security and settlement period.
When Boss Ma was running Taobao, he did not have the energy and financial resources to take care of building his own logistics system. Later, although he expressed to the public that he was not interested in doing logistics, Li Mu felt that his remarks were completely sour grapes. It was slightly hypocritical. It was just like when he said that the thing that he most regretted was establishing Ali. It was not what he really meant.
In fact, his obsession with logistics was not any weaker than Liu Xiaodong's. He admired SF Wang Wei very much, but it was a pity that Wang Wei did not buy it. Later, when he established rookie logistics, it was enough to show his attitude towards logistics.
Li Mu believed that Liu Shixiong could build his own logistics system like SF Wang Wei. As long as he was given enough resources, he would definitely be able to establish a logistics system, just like how he established Jingdong Logistics in his previous life.
However, a logistics company was not an online product. For Li Mu, he could not find a quick shortcut to success. Moreover, there was a huge difference between doing logistics based on Taobao and doing logistics based on Jingdong. When Liu Xiaodong started Jingdong, Jingdong Logistics was more like a local O2O product. In the beginning, there were only a few people and a few cars. The main service scope was Yanjing Zhongguancun. Later, it developed bit by bit until it covered all of Yanjing. Then, it built a Huabei warehouse and continued to radiate to a larger area.
To put it in a more vulgar way, doing logistics was like peeing in the snow on a sports field. For B2C, they would start from a standing point and scatter as much as they could. They would scatter as they walked, bit by bit, and one day, they would scatter all over the sports field. This was more gradual and easier to achieve. At least, the starting cost was low.
However, if they wanted to do logistics based on the C2C system, they would have to radiate to the whole country. Even if they did not cover the whole country at the beginning, they would have to first and second tier cities first. This would be much more difficult. They would have to hire a bunch of people to scatter in different places first. This was a project that required a lot of capital.
Li Mu was not afraid of heavy capital. His current income was very healthy. It was not a problem to use it to support a logistics system. However, the key was that it would be too slow. They had to hire people one by one, buy cars one by one, and build business locations and business halls one by one. It was too slow.
Li Mu asked Liu Xiaodong: "If you really want to build your own logistics system, how are you going to do it?"
Liu Xiaodong said: "I'm leaning towards acquiring a company. If that doesn't work, we will start from the first tier cities. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. We will build four branches in these four cities and focus on the logistics between these four cities."
As he said that, Liu Xiaodong paused and said: "From Beijing to Shanghai, the truck travel time is about 17 to 18 hours. From Shanghai to Shenzhen, it is about the same time. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are very close. This way, we can basically guarantee that the goods from Beijing to Shanghai can be transported within 30 hours, and the whole process can be settled within 48 hours. It is the same from Shanghai to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. From Guangzhou to Shenzhen, we can achieve the whole process within 24 hours, and from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, it will not take more than 72 hours."
Li Mu replied, "That sounds simple, but it's still a little too idealistic. If our order is too small, then our trucks can't be fully loaded in order to ensure the timeliness of the goods. More than half of the payload will be wasted, and the cost will be too high. If we want to reduce the cost, then our trucks will have to be fully loaded or close to full before we can set off. If that's the case, then the timeliness of the goods will be greatly affected. Furthermore, if it's a distance of over two thousand kilometers from Yanjing to Yangcheng, we must consider air transportation first, and then land transportation."
If they wanted to do express delivery, especially a top-notch express delivery like SF Express, logistics resources were especially important. SF Express started with air transport, but they had developed for a few years before they finally had the money to rent their own cargo planes. In the end, they changed from renting to buying, and built their own fleet.
In the early days of SF Express, the cargo bay of domestic civil airliners became the core resource of SF Express's rapid turnover. Li Mu guessed that the cargo bay resources of civil airliners shouldn't have been divided up yet. If Liu Xiaodong really wanted to start doing logistics, then the first thing he suggested was to buy as many cargo bays of domestic airlines as possible.
Liu Xiaodong smacked his lips at this time and looked at Li Mu: "You are right, there are a lot of details in building our own logistics that I haven't had time to think about in detail, and I'm taking it for granted."
Li Mu comforted him: "Don't worry, this is a huge system in itself, and there are many details that need to be carefully pondered, and repeatedly deliberated. I'm afraid no one would be able to figure it out in a short period of time."
As he said that, Li Mu said: "If you are really interested in logistics, we can look at the existing express delivery companies on the market. It would be best if we can get one in a package. If we can't get one, then we will do it ourselves. According to what you said, we will first do it in the big cities, with the big cities as the starting point, bit by bit, and finally spread to the whole country."
Liu Xiaodong nodded and said: "This will wait for our Taobao network to go online, then we will think about it according to the situation."
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