The market is divided into categories, and each channel has its own advantages. Various logistics companies are not completely substitutable, and they are all looking for the best combination for the right scenario. In the past, companies sought to match resource capabilities with demand, and made decisions from an internal perspective based on known information, which was easy to be self-involved. Today, the market is subtle, and disruptive innovation has no rules to follow. Competitive factors such as resources, processes, products, and technologies produce new chemical reactions. To keep up with the market, we should not forget the original intention of logistics services. With China’s status as the world’s largest trading country and the booming new cross-border e-commerce format, the international expansion space is worth looking forward to. Chinese logistics companies have entered the global market, and cross-border one-stop logistics solutions require a landing operation model and entity, and put forward higher requirements for the logistics system. Chinese logistics companies can connect with the public systems of customs in various countries to grasp the operation of overseas transfer stations and routes in real time.
Predictable service. The most important thing about logistics services is reliability. The price, time limit and quality must match the product design to make the customer experience certain. In addition, the process must be visualized, the demands must be responded to, and the exceptions must be guaranteed. There are many types of logistics services on the market. Enterprises must make trade-offs and segmentation, lock in specific markets or customer groups, continuously strengthen unique resources and capabilities, polish products and services, and improve professionalism. In the market, small and medium-sized enterprises can compete for differentiation, while large enterprises must be service platforms. Even if the demand crosses markets, the service process must still be closely connected. Cross-border logistics must accelerate the establishment of overseas logistics service networks, integrate into the global supply chain, and achieve internal and external linkages. Expected services are trustworthy services, while services that exceed expectations require more excellent operations.
Controllable quality. Controllability is the basic requirement for network operation, and loss of control is often accompanied by the expansion of service scale or adjustment of business structure. Changes in customer behavior, the need for rapid innovation at the front end, and cost reduction will all increase the workload and complexity of back-end operations. 80% of the energy of operation control is to deal with exceptions, so it is necessary to carry out special governance on 20% of bottlenecks and grasp the long-term response mechanism for a few exceptions. Operational performance assessment is based on the guarantee plan. The network system is difficult to adjust for individual temporary needs, but it is still necessary to make temporary arrangements or invest additional resources to maintain a reliable level. Information asymmetry across borders is gradually disappearing, and many foreign logistics companies have also extended their tentacles directly to domestic front-end customers. Barriers such as talent, technology and industry experience are also being eliminated in the marketization, and innovation-driven development relies more on good technical capabilities to integrate the network.
Quantifiable costs. The concept of lean logistics will never be outdated, because the goods themselves have fallen into the quagmire of price wars, and the cargo owners are more pursuing low prices in logistics channels, which has caused the logistics price war to fall deeper. Logistics companies need to apply more digital and automated means to squeeze costs and expand scale, such as whether resources can be efficiently and fully utilized, whether the process is simplified and standardized, and whether the operation is outsourced or subcontracted. The cost accounting of agency-type logistics companies is relatively simple, and it will be more complicated for networked logistics companies to settle accounts. Integration and sharing are no longer limited to physical facilities. The concept of “cloud operation” of intensive resource sharing can achieve logical intensiveness through technology, ensuring the flexible scheduling of service resources and the consistency of customer experience. Under the dual pressure of cost and market, logistics enterprises will propose the concept of value-added services as soon as they start to make progress, and provide special services and cheap excessive services. On the surface, they seem to be looking for differentiation, but in fact, they are putting themselves in a more passive situation.