For a long time, B2B solved information problems, then transaction problems, then delivery problems, and finally credit problems. This is a process from light to heavy, from online to offline, from information to data, and from data to credit.

B2B is indeed difficult; Alibaba started with B2B, but what truly made Alibaba was B2C. Now Alibaba is returning to B2B.

Some say online ordering isn't B2B. I think if there's a prelude, online ordering counts as B2B. In terms of pure business, transactions between enterprises cannot be called B2B. Talking about B2B transactions without the internet is meaningless. Simply going online, in my opinion, doesn't count as B2B. Have you actually used the internet to break into your transaction? Has B2B brought you more traffic and more users? If not, then it's pointless to talk about it.

Don't think that adding transaction links goes against the spirit of B2B. Channel flattening in the supply chain doesn't necessarily mean reducing the number of nodes; it should be measured by whether supply chain efficiency improves and costs decrease. Therefore, it's biased to think that reducing transaction nodes is the only way to flatten channels. Flattening channels is about removing redundant processes, not necessarily supply chain nodes. For example, supply chain services add nodes from a transaction perspective, but from a supply chain performance perspective, they greatly improve efficiency—that's a form of flattening.

Doing B2B isn't about drawing a model on paper and eliminating someone. First, you need to think clearly: if you eliminate someone, who will do their original work? Can the value be transferred and delivered? Otherwise, it's just wishful thinking, and it might even harm both parties. A traditional distributor's sad monologue is both funny and true: E-commerce, you haven't knocked us traditional distributors out; you've confused us. Why are you not making money and dragging us down too?

Zhao Bo's Comments:

  1. Internet companies' business logic is fundamentally different from traditional business. They burn money first, acquire users, then make money. Traditional businesses can never do this.
  2. Traditional distributors earn from price differences—the hard-earned money of movers.
  3. Internet companies, especially B2B companies, have many ways to make money compared to traditional agency industries: finance, transaction commissions, advertising, price differences, data, etc. Price differences are optional for them.
  4. B2B platforms look at distributors: your original business is the old city. Facing existing stock, they have two choices: either tear down the old city and rebuild, touching distributors' existing business, doing old city renovation; or build a new city, do new products, develop new areas. But B2B platforms don't have quality products, and no one comes to the new city. Although renovating the old city is costly, it's still more cost-effective.
  5. Clearly, if you don't transform your own business, internet companies will use bulldozers to transform it for you.
  6. For them, it's just a business; for distributors, it's their life!
  7. Capital is not scary, the internet is not scary, but backward thinking is scary.
  8. Don't fight the platform to the death, and don't rely on fortune-telling. Find a way to revolutionize yourself first, only then can you escape the fate of being destroyed.

This platform will soon organize distributors to visit and inspect representative B-end platforms in China, and exchange ideas with distributor friends from across the country.

Organization Form 1. Company visit 2. Actual market case visit 3. On-site explanation 4. One-on-one communication

Note! All food, accommodation, and travel expenses are self-funded. Each registered friend only needs to pay a 200 yuan organization fee. Due to limited organizational capacity, we are only inviting 50 distributor friends to participate in this inspection.****************************

Interested distributor friends can long-press the QR code below to contact me to register. When adding friends, please reply with "Inspection".

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Reply with the red number below to get corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operations | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operations management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brands | 016 Distributor B2B transformation |

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