In recent years, a brand-new business model has emerged, namely "barter company". "barter" cares about the name, that is, barter. It sounds as if we are back to a period in human evolution, that is, before money appeared, people exchanged their surplus meat, grain, fruit, fur and so on. Exchange necessities with others that they don't have or need.
The exchange of goods at the beginning of human evolution is an important milestone in the history of human evolution and a progress in the process of human development. The appearance of this mode of mutual exchange proves that the productivity of human beings has been greatly improved. Besides ensuring their daily needs, there is still a certain surplus, so the surplus goods are exchanged for other daily necessities and food, which greatly enriches and improves the living conditions of human beings.
The "barter" model we are talking about today is mainly based on merchants, that is, exchange your overstocked goods for others' overstocked goods. At first glance, since it is in stock, is it definitely a product that cannot be sold or sold? Don't I still get back all kinds of inventory goods that others can't sell? Moreover, in the process of barter, it is necessary to pay a certain percentage of transaction costs to the barter company that built this platform. The proportion of transaction costs varies from a few percent to dozens of percent according to the charging standards of various industries. This rule and standard are of course decided by other barter companies. In other words, if I go to Taobao with the "junk" that others can't sell, maybe I can find what you just need? On the surface, your inventory has realized its value and become what you need, but what do you think of your backlog of "waste products" that may be a treasure to others? This is my initial simple understanding of barter companies!
In fact, when a new model appears, people will first look at it with suspicion. Therefore, early companies will inevitably become "mice" in the process of testing the new model. I witnessed two or three such companies disappear and go bankrupt from the beginning to a few months later! The first company collapsed, and then a new company was opened. It's true. Since last year, two more such companies have started to operate, and salespeople come to promote them from time to time. Thanks to the hard work of the sales staff, I was pulled into one of their groups. In fact, I just hold a wait-and-see attitude and want to see what the essence of this operating model is, how they operate and how they make profits.
Being in this barter exchange group, you can see the information of some new businesses sent by the group every day, including mineral water, toilet paper, real estate, cars, furniture, home appliances, shopping cards, beauty cards and other service products. At this time, I have some doubts about their concept of exchanging inventory for inventory. Are these shopping cards and beauty cards also in stock? And judging from many pictures of goods sent by the group, they don't look like overstocked goods, but like brand-new items. What's going on here?
I didn't answer this question until one day at noon, a man in a suit and tie came to the store. He handed me his business card and introduced himself briefly. I know he is also here for the business of the barter company. Compared with the young salesman in the past, this man is mature and smart, and I suddenly have a desire to know more. I moved a stool, sat him down and asked him some questions. What are the advantages? How to operate? Can the customer's inventory backlog be realized directly?
He answered all my questions one by one. Through his explanation, I have a better understanding of the nature of barter companies. He introduced to me that it was actually the exchange of a stock of goods, just a gimmick in propaganda. In fact, 95% of their products are new. They are guided by the recovery of inventory, and then guide customers to give them new and good goods, which is an additional sales channel for customers. And these customers who are recycled by them can't get cash directly, but get a voucher of the same amount from their company after estimation, and need to pay their transaction fee for this commodity. This transaction fee ratio has a standard for all walks of life, such as fast-moving consumer goods such as non-staple food drinks and toilet paper. They don't even have a transaction fee, or a small transaction fee of 23%. Like some high-profit industries, they even charge 30% transaction fees. He told me that these transaction fees are the source of their company's profits, because they need to rent a relatively large venue, equivalent to the area of a large shopping mall, and need to configure various shelves. There are also many staff salaries and expenses from this transaction fee.
Then how do they price this product? We can't let customers quote at will! He smiled and told me that the price of the goods was determined by referring to the price of similar goods in Taobao, just like a dress. If customers say it's worth 200 yuan, they will take a photo of Taobao to find the price of the same clothes. If Taobao sells 150, then they will price 150 yuan. And this transaction fee customers need to pay a certain percentage of cash according to the product valuation you give them. If the value of the goods you give them is 1000 yuan and the transaction service fee of your industry is 10%, it means that you need to pay them 1000 yuan in cash service fee first, and your goods belong to them. You will get a cash voucher with a face value of 1000 yuan from their company, and you can only exchange this voucher for other items you need in the barter mall under their company. According to him, their franchise stores in counties and cities are about to start, and then this kind of vouchers can be used in all stores, and with more and more barter merchants, their products will be more diversified, which means that your barter vouchers will play an increasingly important role and can be exchanged.
So what do you think of the predecessors of the barter company that closed down two years ago? I asked him, and he told me that it was because their bubble was too serious. The goods brought by customers were all quoted by customers at will, such as things worth 10 yuan. You can quote 100 yuan, and they gave you a voucher of 100 yuan, but you have to pay them 10% transaction service fee. And the price of goods brought by other customers must be too high. As you can imagine, this 100 yuan voucher in your hand can be exchanged for something with actual price. If your customer who exchanged goods also reported 10 yuan's things 10 yuan, that is to say, you actually took your 10 yuan and exchanged a 10 yuan thing from someone else, but both of you paid the barter company's service fee 10 yuan at the same time during this transaction, you will have this. This is the root cause of the collapse of the previous barter company. He said that their current barter company is completely based on the market price of the goods themselves, so it will definitely continue to do so.
After his introduction, I said I would think it over, and then he went to do other business, but I still don't agree with their model. The essence of their barter company is equivalent to renting a venue to establish a shopping mall model. The initial investment cost is mainly the venue rental cost and shelf cost, and the decoration does not need to be too luxurious, and the personnel promotion cost is also a big expense. After the platform is built, interested merchants will settle in, that is, give them the goods, and they will only give you a voucher, which is equivalent to leaving your goods there for them to sell on a commission basis, and you have to pay them a certain cash service fee. Then they will lure merchants into new products for free under the guise of recycling overstocked goods. They only need to issue a voucher similar to a white note, so they can have a lot of goods, and the settled merchants become their consumers at this time. There you are. Anyway, the transaction service fee of their barter company has been taken away in advance. When one day, if there is no fresh supply, or the service fee they charge is not enough to maintain the company's most basic operating expenses, they will go bankrupt, then the voucher in your hand will become a piece of waste paper, which is actually not much different from those shopping malls that sell shopping vouchers in advance. They just changed a concept and a model!
Of course, I'm not cursing people for closing down. I hope they can continue to operate healthily and permanently, but there are countless examples of the closure of traditional shopping malls, and the shopping vouchers in the hands of those consumers have been taken away by the merchants! I just don't want more people to be the last victims! ! !
The above only represents the author's point of view, and everyone is welcome to leave a comment! What do you think of this new business model?