电子商务的发展改变了传统模式

E-commerce has been booming in China in recent years, and digital shopping is said to be, not just changing people's buying habits but also affecting the traditional commerce model.

Li Dong has the details.

Ren Xiang buys nearly everything on the internet. He recently purchased a TV from an online store. Unlike TVs on sale in an actual home appliance store, the one he bought online is customized.

"It's a customized TV from Taobao.com. It's pretty good in terms of function and price. In traditional shopping I can only passively choose the products, compare to this, I prefer the customized shopping experience, which makes me more involved in choosing what I want according to my needs."

In the past, from designing to manufacturing, ordering, nearly the entire production process was decided by the sellers. It's usually a long process that could result in large amounts of inventory.

But the digital shopping model is one in which the designer puts a few designs on the internet to get some feedback from consumers. Then while consumers place orders, the manufacturers also modify the products, and in a few days, buyers can receive their customized goods. The digital buying process has shortened the traditional supply line.

There is a growing demand for personalized products among young people. The internet is the platform that can get the quickest response from consumers.

The digital shopping model used to create a lot of pressure for traditional manufacturers. Zippo is an American manufacturer of cigarette lighters.

Mark Paup, the company's director or marketing and sales, says in the beginning many retailers were afraid that e-business would have a negative impact on their sales, but later they found that digital shopping actually boosted their business.

"Mainly we would just take feedback from distributors and we would look at trends, and patterns of buying and what was selling. But it was so delayed that it wasn't … we were too late to the market. By that time, we felt the trend the trend is over. When consumers come to our website, they tend to search for certain designs. And that gives a lot of insight and feedback to say: "Jesus, we need to start developing more designs around flowers and themes of animals, for example, they give us a lot of insight and data. Also they search by price. So we know woo, we've seen more people looking at these price points."

The powerful renovation and creativity of e-commerce have generated many successful new brands in China. Wang Yulei, vice chief operating office of Tianmao.com, says both newly emerging internet brands and traditional brands can benefit from this fast information exchange platform.

"With the development of China's economy, young people's need for personalized products is getting stronger and stronger. The only way to satisfy them is to provide them with personalized products. Because today we have uploaded 10 new products on the website, tomorrow we will know which is favored by most people. If my supply chain is flexible enough, we can design new products based on the most favored products. This is very hard to realize for many traditional brands. But more and more traditional brands are opening online shopping sites. Their delivery, production and supply lines are more mature, so they will catch up and expand their market share very soon."

But some insiders also believe digital shopping won't replace the traditional shopping model, because most buyers still want face-to-face interactions where they can touch and the products they are interested in and ask questions about them.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.