Li Mu, Liu Shixiong, and a few staff members in charge of logistics met for the whole afternoon. The first phase of Taobao Logistics' purchase order was basically finalized.
The first phase of purchase was mainly vehicles, storage, and sorting equipment. Because there was no funds for automatic sorting equipment, Taobao Logistics' first phase of sorting mainly relied on traditional conveyor belts and manual sorting. Although the efficiency was not as good as automatic equipment, it was the most suitable sorting solution in the early stage.
Because the government had not given a clear answer on what kind of preferential policies Taobao Logistics would enjoy in the future, Li Mu decided to control the investment for the time being. The first phase of purchase of vehicles was planned to be: 60 heavy imported tractors, 100 domestic medium-sized trucks, and 300 Iveco light vans.
At present, the tariffs for imported vehicles were divided into several grades. The tariffs for passenger vehicles were 25%, and the tariffs for tractors varied greatly depending on the tonnage, type, and fuel used. In other words, even gasoline and diesel trucks with the same tonnage had different tariffs. The tariffs for gasoline trucks were the highest, and diesel trucks were slightly lower. Taobao Logistics needed heavy tractors for point-to-point transportation, and they were all high-tonnage diesel tractors. The current tariff was 21%.
The 21% tariff, combined with the purchase tax, had reached the standard of 30%. This was already a very large proportion. For Li Mu, if he could solve these two taxes, Taobao Logistics' import of heavy vehicles could be greatly improved.
Taobao's CFO told Li Mu and Liu Shixiong a situation that they had not considered before. If it was for daily vehicle imports, there would be a 17% value-added tax. This tax would eventually be added to the price of the vehicle. If the government could also eliminate the 17% value-added tax, the overall tax incentives would be even greater.
Generally speaking, the government would give certain preferential policies if it involved the import of equipment and raw materials. Tariff was only one aspect, and import value-added tax was another.
If Taobao Logistics ordered directly from overseas companies, then when the vehicles arrived at the customs, Taobao Logistics had to pay 17% of the purchase tax to the customs. If it was only through domestic distributors, then the VAT would be paid by the distributors and added to the price of the vehicles. In the end, Taobao Logistics would have to bear the burden.
However, the government had always encouraged and subsidized enterprises with far-reaching significance. There were precedents for value-added tax. Most of the value-added tax incentives were collected first and then refunded. That was to say, Taobao Logistics would pay the value-added tax at the rate of 17% at the customs declaration, but after customs clearance, the money would immediately be refunded to the corporate account of Taobao Logistics.
Li Mu knew that he would not be able to shamelessly ask the leader to exempt the value-added tax, so he could only listen to the leader.
If the leader really valued and encouraged the development of Taobao, then even if he did not mention the value-added tax, they would think of it. If they did not think of it, it did not matter. The tariff and purchase tax exemption were already very significant to Li Mu.
However, Li Mu still secretly counted with his fingers. If the government really exempted the purchase tax, then the price of the imported trucks could be greatly reduced.
If he wanted to meet his logistics capacity requirements, the number of heavy-duty trailers responsible for long-distance trunk transportation alone would reach at least 300, and it might reach 500 or even more in the long term. If there were enough preferential policies, the funds saved would definitely be more than 100 million.
If this money was saved, the automatic sorting equipment could be installed in advance. So, Li Mu asked Liu Xiaodong, "Last time, I asked you to send someone to Germany to inspect Berman Machinery. Have you started to arrange it?"
Liu Xiaodong nodded. "I have arranged for a team of three people. They just set off a few days ago and have already contacted Berman. However, the information they gave back was that Berman seemed to be a little perfunctory. They did not seem to believe that a private delivery company in Hua Xia would have the ability to install automatic sorting equipment on a large scale."
Li Mu was stunned.
"Damn it, what era are we in? Are the Germans still wearing such colored glasses?"
Liu Xiaodong smiled awkwardly and said, "It's not that they are wearing colored glasses. They also received our people politely and took our National People's Congress to see their equipment demonstration. However, when it came to the specific details of customization, they were a little less concerned."
As he spoke, Liu Xiaodong continued, "Berman mainly felt that the market in Hua Xia is not mature yet. What's more, the popularity of automatic sorting in the country is indeed very low. Right now, in the national express logistics industry, only our big brother postal service is using it, and there are only three sets of equipment in the country. Currently, quite a number of airports in Hua Xia have not implemented automatic luggage sorting. Not to mention express delivery, Berman basically has no customers in Hua Xia, not even a branch."
"Damn it." Li Mu said with some annoyance, "Let's do it this way. First, let them stabilize their emotions. Even if they are given the cold shoulder, they have to persist first. In addition, from today on, let them stay in the best local hotels in Germany and rent the most high-end cars. They must not drive the cars themselves. They have to hire local German drivers, and the level of daily travel expenses should also be raised. If they treat Berman's people to dinner, they must all use high standards. First, spend money to leave a deep impression on the Germans."
The people from Taobao Logistics were ignored by Berman, most likely because they did not let Berman realize the business opportunities that existed. It might also be because Berman looked down on the Hua Xia market, but Li Mu did not care what kind of mentality they had. The first thing he had to do was not let the people he sent out be ignored in front of the Germans. He had to ensure that even if Berman's people ignored the market space in Hua Xia, they could not ignore the way the representatives of Taobao Logistics spent money like water. Then, they would have to re-evaluate the strength of Taobao Logistics.
No company would send a group of people all the way to Germany and spend a lot of travel expenses every day just to talk nonsense. Even if they were really there to talk nonsense, at least it proved that the company had strong financial resources. In layman's terms, it could be said that they had a lot of money!
If Berman could understand this, they would definitely put away the contempt in their hearts and really see Taobao Logistics as a big customer in the future.
Many plots in life and movies were already very common. For example, when customers dressed in ordinary clothes entered a luxury store, they would always be despised and discriminated against by the waiters. In real life, although most waiters would not take the initiative to find trouble with customers, their eyes were indeed very sharp. If there were many groups of customers in the store, they would definitely focus on serving the well-dressed customers who looked very rich, and actively or passively ignored the customers who did not look very rich.
Although Li Mu was quite unhappy with Berman's neglect, he also knew in his heart that there was nothing wrong with their overall approach. Even if they secretly ignored the Hua Xia market, they still had basic etiquette and reception. Therefore, what he needed to do now was to first make Berman look at the people sent by Taobao Logistics in a different light. It was just like a well-dressed customer who would be regarded as the most potential customer in any store.
In addition, Berman was currently the number one company in international logistics automation solutions. Only by looking for them could all the problems be solved at once. He must make them pay more attention to Taobao Logistics, so that it was possible to provide more solutions for Taobao Logistics in the future.
What Berman had was not only the automatic sorting system that Li Mu was looking forward to, but they also had a set of very awesome solutions — a complete set of automated high-level warehouses.
The automatic sorting system was the solution for express logistics and airline baggage sorting. The complete set of automated high-level warehouses was an essential tool for large-scale modern warehouses.
Ordinary warehouses were very weak in terms of space utilization, inventory records, and storage efficiency. With the same storage area, the inventory of automated high-level warehouses could exceed that of ordinary warehouses by up to ten or twenty times, and the operating efficiency was much faster.
To put it bluntly, the entire warehouse base used multi-layer shelves that were tens of meters high, which greatly increased the storage space. The goods were fully automated through the automatic sorting system, so the turnover efficiency of the warehouse was also greatly improved. As for the difficulty of high-level operations, it was also very easy to solve. The automatic storage of high-level warehouses could be achieved through the automatic palletizing system. Jingdong's "Asia No. 1" warehouse was such a fully automated high-level warehouse base.
Li Mu and Liu Xiaodong had discussed the construction of an automated high-level warehouse base. The cost was indeed very high. From the beginning of the construction of the factory, the cost was several times lower than that of an ordinary warehouse base. The price of the complete set of equipment was even more outrageous.
However, Li Mu always felt that automation must be planned early. If the cost was high, then find a way to solve it. As long as they could carry out the automation reform one step ahead of their competitors, not only would it greatly improve efficiency, but it would also provide a strong competitive edge. If Taobao Logistics could reach the strength of "SF Express + Jingdong Logistics" in the next two to three years, then this foundation would have a huge impact on the entire industry. At least more than 50% of the future express delivery market would fall into the hands of Taobao Logistics.
Liu Xiaodong's obsession with logistics was stronger than Li Mu's. This kind of high degree of automation was also the solution that he dreamed of the most. Since the big boss Li Mu also supported it, the two naturally hit it off. Then they developed a three-phase implementation plan for automation.
The first phase: First, acquire land in the cities where the major logistics distribution bases are located. The land area must include the needs of the first and second phase of the project.
The first phase was not in a hurry to build a high-level warehouse. Only a large normal warehouse would be built. The sorting center and warehouse center would all be built together. The sorting center and warehouse center would be semi-automated. In other words, half of the labor and half of the machinery.
When the national logistics market continued to improve, Taobao Logistics business and Taobao's self-operated B2C business improved, and the first phase of the project was about to be fully loaded, the second phase of the project would be launched in a timely manner.
The second phase of the project would first build a large high-level warehouse next to the warehouse in the first phase. This was the fundamental reason why the first and second phase of the project had to be met from the beginning.
Then, after the construction of the high-level warehouse was completed, the warehouse center that was originally under the same roof as the sorting center would all be removed and moved into the automated high-level warehouse base. This way, not only would the overall capacity of the warehouse be greatly improved, but the sorting center would also have more space to improve and upgrade.
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