New business model
Once the company began to recognize the commitment of e-commerce to make the supply chain intended, they often find a new way to pursue business goals, develop strategies, and business models, and these methods have not appeared or impossible before Internet. These new business models and opportunities are unlimited imagination. The following example illustrates a lot of such possibilities.
Real resources
The Internet promotes the information search, so that the resource that has been alone in the supply chain can now be developed at the same time to meet the specific needs. Including cases in stock, unused productivity or even unsubstant, all of these cases are used to create a secondary market for "real resources". These secondary markets can create the highest value by minimizing the imbalance between supply and demand as participants, reducing the possibility of stock outdated.
In many examples, Internet-based secondary markets can benefit every member in the supply chain.
A typical case of real resources is World Chemical Exchange, which provides a global market for chemical and plastic manufacturers and buyers by ChemConnect.
Representing 80% of the world's 25th strong chemical enterprises, more than 2500 employees can manage all chemistry and plastic trading all day. Coverge trading of the secondary market for electronic components.
Due to the shorter product life cycle with high-tech industries, excessive inventory of parts can lead to huge invisible wear costs, however, suppliers and manufacturers are not often produced in the end of the product life cycle.
CONVERGE minimizes this possibility by providing an open real market for the purchaser and the seller.
Supply chain structure reconstruction
With the arrival of information technology, companies can reconstruct the logistics structure of the product to achieve higher efficiency. The material stream no longer has to follow the information: Internet allows information flow to replace some inefficient logistics. Cisco has become one of the most successful companies involved in using Web. 74% of sales are completed on the Internet, and the company has outsource most manufacturing activities, while concentrating on selling, attracting new customers. Web-based specific information systems can contact Cisco and its suppliers and pay attention to all necessary information flows. However, logistics can be relatively simple - 55% Cisco sales is done directly from a subcontractors to consumers, but not stay in the Cisco distribution center. The result is lower inventory, faster and more accurate order execution, and reduces costs in large-scale.
product upgrade
Most people in us have completed the upgrade of software products using the Internet. However, some innovative companies are also exploring how to use Internet upgrade hardware products.
Large-scale customization
Internet allows many companies to use web, allowing customers to specifically order according to their taste and preference settings. Therefore, the network promotes large-scale customization. This is the main characteristics of online retailers, but now has expanded to many mainstream services and products. From a personalized greeting card to a computer, from bicycles to the car, there is such a case in each area. Although large-scale customization is not suitable for each product or industry, it may become a powerful method for connecting customer relationships through personalized services.
service support
Services and support For many companies, it may be time consuming, cost-driven. The use of Internet to complete long-distance measurements and diagnostics have proven to be highly cost effective solutions.
Observe the PC support field, a software company named TuneUp.com has developed a remote maintenance service to help individuals and companies maintain the normal operation of the PC. The contract signing party allows the service center to collect remote data on his computer, check the virus and other abnormal phenomena, send a signal to the customer to provide online solutions.
They also recommend and help contract signed a policy to install upgrade software, hardware drives, and programs. Later, Symante and NortonWeb have also begun to provide these services, and this approach to the remote service is used by many terminal users and corporate service companies.
In the Auto Detector project, Cisco's supply will perform software for quality testing in the local test environment. The test data is transferred to Cisco via the Internet, so that Cisco's engineers can remotely monitor and control the test environment. This is what they can solve their problems that they cannot diagnose themselves. The standardized test results run through the entire supply base, allowing Cisco to quickly measure actions, gain valuable information about their products, and this information may be difficult to obtain if there is no such arrangement.
From product to service
Intuit development and trading a series of web-based financial instruments in the market, and also sells the best personal financial, small business, and tax preparation software. In the past few years, the company only provides software products and is mainly sold through retail stores. Due to the arrival of the Internet era, Intuit may have an Internet-based service for individuals or businesses. These are derived from online tax preparations, while also bring salary books, office supplies, mortgage brokers, insurance, electronic bill payments, and other more services.
In addition, due to Intuit and many major banking agencies have established contacts, it can also result in data such as dividend and interest payment, and incorporate them into electronic tax files. Achievements from Internet, the income from the service is stable, and a certain percentage of Intuit's overall income is increased. These services are only available to customers through the Internet to the customers only in the entire strategic plan. Behind this, Intuit uses a large number of Internet tools and solutions to build contacts with a large number of suppliers, from the bank, brokerage to an independent mortgage broker, from insurers to office suppliers like Staples. No Internet, intuit is impossible to transform to service-based companies.
Multi-channel online amphibious implementation
For online retailers, the high cost of order execution has been considered to prevent the main obstacles from enterprises from obtaining success. Japan's 7 Dream.com is a major case in the multi-channel model of the network.
Japan 7-11 (Sej) is the largest and most successful convenience store in Japan. In 2000, Sej created 7 Dream.com, a joint venture including Japan 7 major industries - SEJ, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), MITSUI, SONY, JTB, NEC, and KINOTROPE. 7 DREAM offers a large product column on its website, allowing customers to order, and pick up in the local SEJ store after two to three days. In this way, the Internet-based channel value and the power of SEJ vast chain stores and logistics infrastructure are closely combined without exaggerated storage costs.
Another new Internet-sized amphibious multi-channel execution case is CVS, a major pharmaceutical chain in the United States. At the CVS Web site, CVS allows customers to order, and pick up in their local stores, eliminating the customer waiting time. In another case, TOYSRUS can use Amzon.com's logistics infrastructure, and customers can order directly through its web site. In many other cases such as GAP and Lands'END, companies are developing similar network-sized amphibial execution and distribution strategies.
