China's fresh e-commerce only 1% profit, where is the problem?

Nowadays, I want to eat bayberry from Zhejiang Xianju, mango from Thailand, Boston lobster and Australian steak. No longer need to run around looking for authentic sellers, click the mouse and place an order online, you can wait for food "to knock" at home. With the massive growth of consumer demand for shopping without leaving home, fresh e-commerce relying on the Internet has become a new blue ocean in the industry.

This year's "June 18 e-commerce carnival", the major e-commerce will be fresh to the key competitive category, in addition to Tmall, JD.com, including easy fruit fresh, every day orchard and other vertical fresh e-commerce also "show" better results. The rise of fresh e-commerce has heated up the cold chain logistics industry. According to data from research institutions, the market size of China's cold chain logistics industry will reach 470 billion yuan in 2017, with an average annual growth rate of 25%.

Industry pain point: cold chain logistics is not perfect

Cold chain logistics refers to the temperature-controlled supply chain, which mainly includes three ways: cold storage (2 ℃), freezing (minus 18 ℃) and quick freezing (minus 29 ℃). Through a complete cold chain uninterrupted system, so as to maintain the product in a certain temperature range of storage and distribution, and then extend and ensure the shelf life of the product. As the products of fresh e-commerce have high decay, cold chain is an important support for fresh e-commerce. However, the development of domestic cold chain logistics is not mature, and there are many deficiencies in infrastructure, technical equipment and standard system, which has also become a "pain point" for fresh e-commerce.

Although the transaction volume of fresh e-commerce in China reached 56 billion yuan in 2015, it can not hide the large-scale losses of fresh e-commerce, according to the 2015 Chinese fresh e-commerce market research released by iResearch. Of the more than 4000 fresh ecommerce companies in China in 2015, only 1 per cent were profitable. Among them, food logistics costs account for about 70% of the total food costs. According to statistics, the loss of fresh products in China is about 20% to 30%, most of which are caused by inadequate freezing in the process of product circulation. High product wear and tear also brings safety risks.

"when customers choose e-commerce brands and judge whether they are satisfied or not, commodity freshness is one of the most critical factors." Yang Ping, vice president of No.1 store, said at the 2016 International Cold chain Logistics Summit Forum held in Shanghai on Friday that "whoever first creates a controllable cold chain model that meets customer expectations and delivers quickly will seize the fresh market."

The key is to manage and control the energy consumption and cost of cold chain logistics.

In addition to customer stickiness, cost control is the most difficult problem for fresh e-commerce companies to solve. How to achieve efficient management and control of the whole process of cold chain logistics through deep technology ploughing and mode innovation?

The starting point of cold chain logistics, the focus of the source of food production areas: cold storage, with the arrival of summer has also become the focus of attention in the industry. "carbon dioxide cold storage refrigeration technology will gradually replace the domestic freon refrigerant." Gu Zhong, managing director of Zhejiang Dun'an Cold chain system Co., Ltd. pointed out at the forum that "carbon dioxide refrigeration technology has the characteristics of high efficiency, energy saving, economy and environmental protection, and can save up to 50 percent of energy consumption in summer, with an average annual saving of 30 percent." "in order for fresh food distribution to produce economies of scale, lower costs must also be considered." It is understood that carbon dioxide below minus 28 ℃, the lower the temperature, the larger the scale, and will not pollute food.

As the core competitiveness of fresh e-commerce, cold chain transportation and distribution is the most important and basic link of the cold chain logistics industry. Among them, the temperature control ability of the whole process of transportation is the key, so the requirement of refrigerated truck is very high. Xie Jian, chairman of Lantu New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., told Jiefang Daily Shanghai Watch: "the deep cultivation and innovation of cross-disciplinary technology is the key." For example, the use of aerospace composite materials and reflective coatings on the box can not only make refrigerated vehicles lighter, transport 10% more goods, but also save about 8% of energy consumption. " At present, Lantu Enterprise has jointly launched pure electric refrigerated vehicles with China Aerospace Science and Technology Group. Temperature control system, remote control and other technologies can make cold chain products under strict monitoring in the whole process of transportation. At present, China's refrigerated transport market is also ushering in a period of rapid growth. In April 2016, the opinions of the General Office of the State Council on the further implementation of the Internet + Circulation Action Plan also specifically emphasized policy support for the construction of a cold chain system, and supported the construction of a cold chain system for the whole circulation of agricultural products.

"doing a good job of cold chain logistics can effectively increase the customer stickiness of fresh e-commerce." "according to McKinsey's China consumption report 2016, consumers are paying more and more attention to food quality and healthy living, and are even willing to pay a premium to buy quality products they recognize," said Su Jing, an expert on McKinsey's supply chain. "