[Billion Power News] From the traditional Chinese-African trade to today's omni-channel B2B2C cross-border e-commerce model, the founder of the Amanbo platform Liao Xuhui has explored for nearly 20 years, and Amanbo has walked for 10 years.

Liao Xuhui, who was born in IT, was the earliest group of e-commerce people in China. In 2000, he started doing traditional Chinese-African trade, including brand marketing. It took more than 9 years to cover nearly 20 countries. In 2009, he started to do B2B and B2C markets. At that time, there was no clear concept of cross-border e-commerce in the market. The original intention was to be a trading platform that was a little further than the pure information platform. It was called "Focus on Africa" and covered Including 8 major sectors including culture, logistics, finance, education, e-commerce, etc. This is the earliest prototype of Amanbo.

In the following more than 10 years, Amanbo's architecture was changed again and again. Until now, it was really Liao Xuhui's view that in the next few years, it will be a platform model that will withstand the market test and make money.

20 years of precipitation

In Africa in 2014, there were a small number of Internet users, low Internet speeds and expensive tariffs, and there were no supporting C facilities, such as courier companies. After focusing on Africa Network's B2B, B2C, including the international trade version of the model, the implementation of this model is not smooth, Liao Xuhui stopped many sections, the platform was renamed Amanbo, only e-commerce, and focused on the B2B field.

"The conclusion at the time was that B2C development would not be very rapid. Relatively speaking, the B2B business environment is relatively mature and does not rely heavily on the online environment. We must start there and not touch the C-end for three years." But the B2B model at the time Also, due to payment issues such as large transaction amounts, domestic export demand is strong, but overseas is “calm” a lot. There is no way to achieve a closed-loop transaction, and there is no way to fully achieve online.

According to Liao Xuhui analysis, there are many factors here. At that time, many domestic factories knew nothing about Africa, resulting in unclear product positioning from all channels, and most of the local distributors in Africa had never done imports, neither knew foreign trade nor the e-commerce platform. Most importantly, the small businessmen in Africa do not have much capital, have limited stocking capacity, and have a short stocking cycle, but the waiting period for foreign trade goods is too long.

"In fact, many goods in the African market are not suitable for online trade. Because of their low per capita GDP, unit price of goods, and the disposable power of local people, and high shipping costs, this is an added bonus for high-product cross-border e-commerce transactions. Value, low shipping requirements are a paradox. The African market continues to this day. "

In fact, Liao Xuhui also clearly saw the trend of fragmented trade. He believes that the way out for the platform in the future is to sink channels and de-intermediate, kill the original importers and traders, and directly link Chinese factories and local wholesale market dealers, Retailers and terminals, that is, B2B2C, but can only do B2B first.

In 2016, Amanbo was very popular in China. After being reported by CCTV, it flooded more than 80,000 users. Amanbo then began to prepare overseas warehouses, solve the problem of long waiting periods for goods, and changed the system to use local currency transactions. The entire platform system became local e-commerce logic. But when Liao Xuhui thought that Amanbo's model could basically hold its ground in the B2B field, Amanbo again "failed".

So it took more than a year to transform it. In early 2017, he transformed Amanbo into a cross-border plus local financial platform that supports local currencies. Facing many language, display, currency, operation, and SKU issues, he implemented a strategy of one country and one site. In June 2018, Amanbo went public in Kenya, covering western, central, and eastern Africa, and completed a B2B2C architecture that supports both cross-border e-commerce and local e-commerce.

After cleaning up low-quality users and R & D merchant management systems, the online, offline, and social platforms including invoicing, credit sales management, distribution management, and logistics tracking were opened. In mid-2019, Amanbo's B2B2C model became official. "Dust settled." Versions cover buyer and seller versions, and B2B and B2C can be managed separately. At present, the B-side users of the Amanbo platform reach 120,000 to 130,000.

"Under ten years of sharpening swords, what the outside world does not know is that B2B2C's architecture model always runs through Amanbo, making Amanbo's model from B2B to B2C really feasible." Liao Xuhui said with a smile, "This is also the benefit of 10 years of research and development, Amanbo At present, there are less than 100 domestic employees, which are not as many as our software patents. "

Is the B2B2C model feasible?

"A truly effective business model must be able to benefit users at different levels or in all aspects. Its source of profit comes from innovation-which can reduce costs or increase efficiency, whether online, offline or social, in the future The commercial society must be a society with integrated channels. "This is why Liao Xuhui said that Amanbo's business model is so designed. "For those who are almost 50 years old, there are not many opportunities for trial and error, and the current model has been verified to be feasible."

Therefore, Amanbo's B2B2C model has several characteristics:

The first one is an OSO (online + social + offline) omni-channel solution, which can be targeted at large trade enterprises and make products or brands go abroad. This model uses social gameplay to open up O2O, and can provide users with multi-level fission distribution tools.At the same time, Amanb also uses offline social gameplay to develop young people who are micro-businesses, providing them with order trading systems, management systems, Complete set of solutions including invoicing, logistics management, etc.

Secondly, under the B2B2C architecture, first connect "B" and "B", and use e-commerce to improve the efficiency of the entire link.

On the B side, many models are covered. Amanbo removes some of the trading links between middlemen and traders. Suppliers can sell goods directly to local dealers, that is, they can do traditional trade, local wholesale, and local brand distribution. , Brand retail. And Amanbo also provides tools, and suppliers can also do B to C trading to improve local transaction efficiency.

At the B to C end, because the African market is different from China ’s commercial “soil,” more than 95% of companies do not even have a sales and inventory management system. For local small B groups, Amanbo can provide a free management system and help them. They carry out B2C e-commerce sales.

Third, cross-border plus local, that is, Amanbo sellers can do cross-border e-commerce including B2B / B2C, or send goods to local offline trading, and also support suppliers to open factories for local distribution; at the same time, they also support African local sellers enter the platform.

The fourth is transaction plus management. Amanbo not only provides a trading system that supports many trading models, but also a management system that suits the local actual situation.

Why do we have to do the B2B2C model? Why must this model work? In Liao Xuhui's view, today, the development of cross-border e-commerce has encountered obstacles. In the final analysis, it is a cost structure issue. Of course, it also includes issues such as compliance, vat, fake and shoddy products, and branding. Many problems are because of their own Violation of underlying business logic and business ethics.

"Even if some billions of sellers are bitter, because in fact, the business that loses money and drinks seems to be doing a lot, but in fact, the profits are getting lower and lower, and some of them can no longer operate sustainably."

Therefore, the structure designed by Amanbo is to buffer the impact of direct B2C cross-border e-commerce on the traditional economic structure of overseas markets through the second "B" as a bridge, including local importers, multi-tier distributors, and local employment in destination countries. Problems, tax issues.

At the current stage, the consumer power and e-commerce transaction capacity of African users have not reached. At present, the online retail share in Africa accounts for less than 1% of the total retail sales in Africa. Coupled with Africa's high logistics costs, various comprehensive service costs, etc., he believes that blindly copying the Chinese model does not recognize that although the African continent is 1.3 billion people, it is composed of more than 50 countries with completely different policies and environments. In the large market environment, relying only on online B to C or C to C gameplay, you must still lose money within 3 to 5 years. "Blind burn money, burn too much, you will die."

Omnichannel access to Africa

The African market is not easy to do, but it does not mean that there is no opportunity. Liao Xuhui believes that there are several main reasons:

I. The low proportion on Africa does not mean that there are no business opportunities in Africa. China-Africa trade volume has reached more than 200 billion U.S. dollars, and the average annual growth rate is 3% to 4%. Among them, the import and export are basically flat, and the domestic industry in Africa is very backward In the context of mainly relying on imports, the relative market space is large.

2. The pure online cross-border e-commerce strategy does not work, which does not mean that there are no markets or users of other methods or Internet technologies in Africa. Cross-border e-commerce can use the Internet and e-commerce logic to transform business and efficiency in Africa and tap the demographic dividend.

3. From an economic point of view, the economy has cycles. As China enters the so-called "L-shaped" development cycle, Africa's economy continues to rise. In the past 8 years, the 20 countries with the fastest GDP growth in the world. Up to half. So who can find the key to a business solution that fits that market, this market is an opportunity for anyone.

Wherever this society develops, sellers run it in whatever way. It is necessary to respect the market laws and find suitable games at their stage.

"For example, for a country with rapid online growth, I focus on online development; this country has a poor market and logistics is not good, so I focus on offline; for countries with large populations and high unemployment, I focus on social models. It's very simple logic, so it's not that Africa has no chance. "

Therefore, at the current stage, for sellers who want to deeply cultivate the African market, Liao Xuhui's suggestion is:

I. Have a global vision and layout, and use localization to share market risk; At the same time, use the branding logic instead of simply thinking of B to C cross-border e-commerce to promote sustainable brand development .

"At present, the branding of Chinese products in Africa is extremely low, but this is also an opportunity. Because of the awakening of brand awareness in this market, Africa is the best brand breakthrough, and European and American countries do not have trade tariffs and trade barriers here. A national springboard for Chinese national brands to break through trade barriers and achieve international development. "

Second, for small sellers, we must learn to change ideas. In the past, we only did export business, but now we can find international supply chains for import.

"In fact, there are many good things in Africa, such as agricultural products, fruits, coffee, and local products, as well as good crafts, good quality and cheap prices, but many people don't know."

Third, the omni-channel layout, especially big sellers, should be online and offline plus social synchronization.

"Especially for the young market with a median age of only 18 years on the African continent, social gameplay is more likely to leverage the market, and as the number of sellers will increase, omni-channel layout is particularly important to deal with competition. "

International layout

For the African market at the current stage, Liao Xuhui said that it is difficult to achieve rapid cash realization in the African market. It will take some time and the impact of the epidemic on the cross-border e-commerce supply chain is also obvious. Goods status. On the one hand, China's large foreign trade orders will be "taken away" by manufacturing industries in other regions, and on the one hand, it will also accelerate China's industrial relocation.

Therefore, Amanbo also responded quickly to the outbreak.

First, as an international supply chain, Amanbo is currently recruiting global suppliers.

Secondly, it should be a local supply chain to accelerate the access of more local manufacturing chains, importers, distributors and other supply chains.

According to Liao Xuhui, Amanbo is also accelerating the layout of the supply chain that it has been advancing, and will soon launch a flexible "shared goods center" (shared supply chain) to access all international and local supply chains. , And share the center with all sellers in the country, including not the Amanbo platform.

In addition, Amanbo will focus on several projects this year:

1. The "Double Hundred Plan" recruits 100 importers and 100 factories in each country, first introduces the local competitive supply chain to the platform and opens it to all sellers on the platform. These goods include imported products. There are also local African products. After selecting the goods, the platform adopts the WeChat play method, which is equivalent to a generation model, that is, the purchaser does not need to buy goods and inventory, and can sell goods on social media such as Amanbo and Facebook.

2. This year, it is expected that 10 to 15 national sites will be opened within three months to cope with the increasing user demand. And regardless of whether the seller uses offline stores, WeChat or social models, Amanbo can provide solutions.

Third, help Chinese industries to go abroad. From the investigation of the industrial environment to the strategic choice of bringing the industry to the sea; from the shared exhibition hall to the industrial OSO (online + social + offline) omni-channel construction; from the industrial landing to the channel construction, from the park construction to the local industrial policy support, Amanbo can provide solutions.

Fourth, help corporate brands go abroad. These enterprises can be either factories or trading companies. From the earliest market research, brand positioning to sample trial sales, to the construction of the entire brand's overseas distribution system, even including one-stop services such as inventory, warehousing, collection, payment, and after-sales service, Amanbo can provide all the sea brands. enterprise.

But for a plate that covers such a large area across Africa, can Amanbo really "live" it? In this regard, Liao Xuhui said that in the past 20 years, Amanbo has stepped on too many pits, and has "spent" a lot of money, but has never chosen to burn money to buy traffic models. For many years, Amanbo has also been integrating resources from various sources locally. With the local resources and capabilities that Amanbo now has, it has been able to open up the entire African ecological channel, not just simply providing account numbers and tools to sellers. .

Therefore, Amanbo's survival and development logic is to "slowly boil" and build the entire ecology of Hai Africa, including trade, export, import, as well as logistics and payment, currently have their own solutions. I have n’t raised funds, I do n’t need money, I just want to develop according to my own market cognition and strategy.