(A) the advantages of chain management of agricultural products
1, improving economic benefits.
First of all, the chain operation mode of agricultural resources reduces the operating cost, and the advantages of centralized procurement and unified distribution are obvious, which simplifies the circulation link. The information sharing of agricultural resources chain network reduces the intermediate links of marketing, expands the scale of operation and improves economic benefits.
2. Form a brand effect.
On the basis of strict brand authorization and management system, the headquarters of agricultural chain enterprises can use brand franchise to attract franchise stores to participate and spread brand effect.
3. Promote standardized management.
The centralized management of the headquarters integrates personnel, finance, logistics, marketing and information management, which is conducive to the continuous improvement of management level and the coordinated operation of enterprises.
4. Change the market structure and increase the market share.
Chain operation integrates agricultural marketing network, realizes low-cost expansion and cross-regional development, and realizes scale benefit and profit.
5. Reduce the regulatory costs of regulatory authorities.
The chain operation of agricultural resources has improved the market access standard of agricultural resources and effectively controlled the quality and service level of agricultural resources in the market.
6. It is beneficial to the development of organic agriculture.
Chain operation of agricultural resources is conducive to supervising the source, purifying the agricultural resources market and developing organic agriculture.
(B) Agricultural industrial chain management issues
1, third-party agricultural technology is weak.
China's agricultural production lacks agricultural technology most, and agricultural technology is mostly expressed to farmers in the form of agricultural products sales with attached interests, which lacks fairness and is difficult to win the trust of new farmers. As a result, many agricultural chain organizations are deeply suspected of selling melons.
2. The education system is not in harmony with the service system and the circulation system.
On the one hand, producers lack technology, on the other hand, the knowledge structure and technology development of research departments are out of touch with application.
3. The usage rate of Internet technology is low.
The information superhighway that the country has made great efforts to build is idle, lacking content service providers and agricultural database infrastructure.
4. Unfair competition brought by monopoly operation.
Development of agricultural resource chain
Since 1990s, with the rapid transition from planned economy to market economy in China, agricultural products production enterprises are no longer bound by the old agricultural products circulation system and enter the market field of free circulation. In the process of market competition and elimination, the distribution network of agricultural resources has gradually formed a network pattern with self-employed households as the main form. Agricultural production enterprises rely on this distribution network to survive. However, this self-operated distribution model has great risks such as capital, reputation and scale. First, the intermediate links are complicated, which can not guarantee the dealers to maintain the quality and brand of agricultural materials. In addition, after the appearance of fake and shoddy agricultural materials, consumers of agricultural materials can't find producers effectively, which also damages the reputation of regular producers. In this situation, large-scale and intensive agricultural chain management mode came into being. Agricultural operators, relying on their own unique advantages, have brought considerable benefits to agricultural operators and created a new situation for establishing a standardized agricultural market order.
The chain operation of agricultural resources needs to break through fifteen levels to succeed.
Chain operation of agricultural resources refers to a modern commodity circulation mode that operates agricultural means of production under the management of the same headquarters, uses a number of stores with unified names, adopts unified procurement or grants management rights, and realizes economies of scale. In recent years, many enterprises in China have devoted themselves to chain operation, explored the road of agricultural chain operation and agricultural technical service suitable for China market, accumulated rich management experience, and promoted the development of agricultural chain operation and service mode in China. In the process of exploration, some problems that need to be improved are also exposed. The author summarizes the problems faced by growing chain enterprises and thinks that chain enterprises need to break through these fifteen barriers in order to develop.
First, the concept.
The unity of ideas is one of the basic characteristics of establishing a chain, and whether the unity of ideas can be achieved is also doomed to the life of chain enterprises. As we all know, the business philosophy will be embodied in three levels of personnel, namely, the upstream supplier personnel of chain enterprises, the headquarters personnel of chain enterprises and the personnel of franchisees (direct stores/partners). At present, many employees have no experience in chain industry, and a large part of them are upgraded from the original retail stores. Although the store has changed and uniform clothes have been provided, the idea has not really reached unity, and there are widespread problems such as strong sense of buying and selling and poor sense of service, which can not give full play to the brand connotation of chain enterprises. In the long run, chain enterprises will become ordinary dealers and compete with the traditional distribution system.
Chain enterprises can gather human resources in a short time, but to turn human resources into available resources for enterprise development, we need to pay attention to the gathering of employees' thoughts, realize the unity of all employees' thoughts and the high recognition of chain enterprises' business philosophy, and form a corporate culture suitable for chain enterprises themselves.
Second, the service level.
What is a service? Selling genuine products, managing delivery, spraying drugs, using agricultural machinery and tools for free, guiding the use of drugs and fertilizers, and recommending labor-saving farming modes and products should all belong to the service category. Service has played a great role in promoting the development of chain enterprises. It is the specialization of personnel, diversification of forms, timeliness and localization of measures that make chain enterprises different from the conventional distribution system. However, service is not just talk, but action. All employees should have a sense of service, and service should not be the differentiated rhetoric of front-line salespeople.
At present, the general technical strength of franchisees is weak, which has become a bottleneck restricting their development, and the demand for comprehensive technical services by chain headquarters is the most urgent. Many employees are engaged in jobs related to technical services. They are guiding farmers to use our products scientifically, solving problems in agricultural production and improving the productivity of users. More is to meet the actual needs of users. Technical services are mostly at the primary level to meet the demand. Those who can create demand can do very little as user consultants. At the grassroots level, they see more "full description" of products, and technical services have evolved into a big competition between different businesses.
It is worth noting that in some chain enterprises in the later stage of transformation, people are still the same, products are still the same, and former village-level customers have now become franchisees. The difference is that the number of trainings has increased. Through training, the technical level can be improved and the service ability can be enhanced. Whether the service work can drive sales is the premise. After having the service attitude and ability, chain enterprises need to find service differentiation in order to maintain the development momentum forever.
Third, brand clearance.
Chain enterprises get rid of the previous idea of making product brands and emphasize channel (office) brands. The starting point is to have an advantage in market competition, seize the initiative in cooperation, and gain more added value of products. The chain enterprises that have emerged in recent years are mostly high-rise buildings. How big is the brand influence and brand pull? Especially at present, the brand awareness of end users is weak. How to think about the popularity, reputation, market performance and reputation value of chain brands, how to maintain the reputation of chain brands, maintain excellent market protection and create higher reputation value, and weigh the relationship among them is also a problem that chain enterprises need to ponder. It is necessary to establish a perfect brand building system and maintenance system.
A chain company once claimed that the sales of a reformed chain store in a certain place reached the sales of nearly half a year in previous years on the opening day, which highlighted the value of chain brands and improved the loyalty of farmers. When asked about the measures taken, it was secretive. Afterwards, I learned that price leverage played a great role in creating this sales miracle. On the opening day, all pesticide products are bought for one free, fertilizer products are sold at the purchase price, and other generous gifts are given. Under the temptation of low prices, users have no reason not to sell. It is far-fetched to establish brand loyalty through such measures. The improvement of market share and market coverage is behind the improvement of brand awareness of chain enterprises. Terminal franchisees did not enjoy the reputation value brought by chain brands in this transaction.
Fourth, product resources.
China has a vast territory and abundant natural resources. There are more than 100 kinds of crops planted, and the climate and drug season between the north and the south are very different. The occurrence of diseases, pests and weeds has its own characteristics. Taking pesticides as an example, there are more than 2,000 production enterprises active in the front line of agricultural materials sales, including 2,226 in China, at the end of 2065 1, 438+0 February 3 1. Some chain enterprises claim that the purpose of doing chain business is to turn the current channel into a pipeline. The intention is obvious. People in the pipeline will not go out, and goods outside the pipeline will never get in. The flow of goods is only from the pipeline (headquarters of chain enterprises) to the client. To do pipeline business, what needs to be done is to have sufficient product resources. The author once saw a county-level enterprise doing chain business somewhere, and there were nearly 200 kinds of product specifications of pesticide products alone. Even so, it is said that it is difficult to meet the needs of franchisees and needs to continue to produce products. Imagine that if it is a national chain enterprise, it is impossible to reserve 100 kinds of product resources to meet the needs of franchisees distributed all over the country.
At present, many chain enterprises are transforming on the basis of the original network, and the products continue the previous varieties. The difference is that they have changed from the original brand promotion brand for enterprises (production enterprise brand and product brand) to the self-built channel brand (trade name brand) of chain enterprises. One of the main carriers of brand transmission is the product. In order to establish their own brands more quickly, many chain enterprises have begun to set foot in establishing the unification of trade name brands and product brands. Turning around and customizing varieties and establishing their own product resource library have already had many successful experiences in other industries. Agricultural enterprises have many particularities and will face multiple risks in field operations. There are not too many requirements for fertilizer varieties, but pesticide varieties will encounter the problem of legalization of labels. Using the own commodity names of chain enterprises and highlighting the commodity names of chain enterprises will violate the provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Pesticide Labels and Instructions and choose small and medium-sized enterprises to operate. If you don't check the quality of the enterprise, it will increase the business risk of the enterprise.
Many chain enterprises have different development ideas from some production companies, and different roads lead to no common goal. Large enterprises do not add products to the chain system, but choose the original sales system. At the same time, based on the unknown future of chain enterprises, upstream suppliers will adopt dual-channel operation to achieve the purpose of reducing operational risks, but chain enterprises will lose their right to speak. Although they have the right to sell products, there will be many problems in market protection and logistics control.
Fifth, the price is off.
One of the purposes of chain operation is to reduce procurement costs. On the one hand, the reduction of cost will affect the market price, thus increasing the competitiveness of products in the market; On the other hand, it will increase the profit rate and improve the profits of chain enterprises and their distribution systems. In practice, the relationship between cost, selling price and profit has not reached the ideal state, and the scale advantages of many chain enterprises have not been brought into play. The purchasing cost and market selling price are not lower than the level of similar products in the market, and users have not benefited. In the case of high operating personnel and operating expenses, it is difficult to reduce the price of goods and surpass the local ordinary retail stores. The product prices obtained by franchisees do not have a competitive advantage, but they promise to get enough market protection, and they want market interests. In the end, how high the product price can be sold depends on the ability of the employees in the franchisee.
Now many enterprises claim to sell solutions to farmers, and pesticide varieties can still operate in this way. It is still difficult to do this operation on fertilizers and seed varieties. It often happens that chain stores launch solutions, which are "decrypted" into products by other retail stores, and they are naked to compare prices. When the added value is not fully reflected, the value is completely replaced by the price, and the price has become an important factor for leading users to choose. This requires chain enterprises to give up short-term interests, return product prices and profits to the industry average, focus on the promotion of chain brand value, and guide users to recognize the service value.
Sixth, personnel clearance.
Human resource is an important part of chain operation, and the level of human resource allocation determines the future direction of the chain and whether the concept of chain enterprises can be implemented. In the whole chain operation, the allocation of human resources includes not only grass-roots operators, but also top managers and investors. The thinking of top management and investors determines the direction of chain operation. If you have a heart to make quick money, I believe that chain enterprises based on short-term expectations will lose their original characteristics. In this short-term thinking mode, it is difficult to gather like-minded allies.
At present, the employees of chain enterprises mainly come from two aspects: the old employees before the enterprise reform and the new employees recruited after the establishment of the chain. The shortage of talents has become the bottleneck of the development of chain enterprises, especially the shortage of management and technical talents. It is often seen that chain enterprises hire management elites and technical talents with practical experience at high salaries, which shows that chain enterprises are eager for talents. Among many positions, the author thinks that the technical service position is the most important, and the employees in this position are also the most difficult to recruit, and short-term training is the most difficult. Other positions can let employees do standardized things through short-term training, but technical service positions are different. Farmers face many problems in agricultural production, and it is difficult to rely on short-term training and endorsement. Some enterprises have done speech training and standardized questions and answers. It is required to be familiar with these issues within the specified time. The fact is, you know them by heart and make them clear, but you are confused at once. Either you are too theoretical for users to understand, or you digress from Wan Li to mislead users.
It is often heard that the person in charge of chain enterprises feels that those who have the ability can't stay, and those who can't stay can't do it. Instead of obsessing about "staying" and "doing", we should think about educating people, reduce the number of airborne troops, improve the talent echelon within the enterprise, select and train talents from within the company as needed, and then take the lead directly when it comes to using force.
Seventh, the capital is closed.
Because of the different business models of chain enterprises, we will not talk about fixed assets investment for the time being, but only discuss the liquidity problem that restricts the rapid development of chain enterprises. At present, the problem of credit sale in the process of agricultural resources management is serious. What's more, credit sale is regarded as a "reward" policy for dealers and users, which intensifies the credit sale war. After users have tasted the "sweetness" of selling on credit, they also have the expectation of "making goods sold on credit more violent"! Many chain enterprises also rely on selling goods to realize their interests. How to deal with the current problem of credit sales? The leaders of some chain enterprises frankly said, "I would rather die than credit, and fight to the death to see who can laugh last." As a result, it is bound to increase the financial pressure on the headquarters of chain enterprises. When there is a cash flow problem and the capital chain is tight, franchise stores still have to say that the problem of direct stores will be more prominent. The pressure of direct stores will be passed up to the headquarters, and if franchisees are unsustainable, the capital chain will be broken.
The newly established chain enterprises have a weak right to speak to upstream suppliers, so it is difficult to transfer the financial pressure to upstream suppliers, so most of the inventory pressure and liquidity pressure must be borne by themselves.
Eighth, loyalty.
Now many managers of chain enterprises are talking about employee loyalty, franchise loyalty and direct store loyalty. In order to improve their loyalty, they built a corporate loyalty system and adopted a series of brainwashing measures. Undeniably, some practices are effective, but they also expose many problems.
I often hear the person in charge of chain enterprises complain about the low loyalty of franchisees, and clearly promise to go back on our word, hang a chain brand, sell your goods when people arrive, and put them under the counter when people just leave. In the face of "loyalty", franchisees are also full of bitterness, and their original promises have not been fulfilled. They hang up the sign and it's over. If they give money, they won't come. They will take a bunch of goods at a much higher price than other places and get goods from other dealers. On the topic of loyalty, it is reasonable for both sides to hold their own views. The author believes that the key to this difference lies in their incomprehension of the pre-operation concept of the chain and their over-optimistic estimation of the sales expectation. Most franchisees join the chain system in the hope of breaking through the bottleneck of development, enjoying the intellectual resources and material support brought by the chain headquarters, and gaining greater commercial benefits under the action of external forces. It is unrealistic to pin all your hopes on the chain headquarters. It is also unrealistic to imagine that users will take the initiative to come to the door as soon as a chain signboard is hung. Whether the chain can be made or not, whether you can enjoy the benefits brought by the chain, don't copy it mechanically, but also combine what you have learned and your own practical problems to find the best answer. Commitment and loyalty go both ways, and unilateral loyalty is impossible in business activities.
Ninth, profitability.
As a chain enterprise, no matter how beautiful the prospect is, we must consider one question, that is, where does the profit of the chain enterprise come from? Judging from the successful cases of current market operation, as the headquarters of chain enterprises, it mainly obtains profits from product sales, brand authorization, service support and national policies. As a franchise store, what can be profitable is to increase the sales of goods while maintaining the average profit rate of the industry. The profitability of headquarters and franchisees is closely related, and whether it can continue to be profitable depends on the development of franchisees. In the market, we can also see many sales multiplication schemes and sales promotion strategies provided by chain headquarters, in which price leverage plays a key role. The usual measure is to dump the goods that franchisees could have made a profit (mostly the goods purchased by franchisees themselves) at a low profit. The promotion scene is really sensational, but it does appear that the sales of franchisees have increased and the net profit has shrunk.
Tenth, the mode is closed.
Chain enterprises operate in the form of direct operation, franchise, trusteeship and free alliance, and the development of chain enterprises also has two development paths: top-down and bottom-up and then down. Is it better to operate directly, join in or chain freely? Is it operated by region? Or do you operate according to crops? Is the area large? Or aim at the local market? These are all issues that everyone is arguing about, and everyone has their own understanding. The author thinks that the choice of mode cannot be generalized, and each mode has its advantages and disadvantages. It is necessary to combine our own actual situation analysis, tailor our measures, give full play to our greatest advantages, and find a development model that suits us, so as not to imitate others.
Judging from the current situation, the success coefficient of the bottom-up and bottom-up regional business chain model will be higher. They adopted the strategy of rooting and growing, gave full play to the advantages of localization, made good use of the resources accumulated by local people for many years, bypassed the dead hole of the airborne chain, and made great progress. I've seen several county-level chain companies, and they're all doing great. When asked about the development goal, the person in charge said, I just want to build a chain based on this county, develop one and then develop another, not to look good on the face, but to let the franchise stores follow us.
Eleventh, competitive strategy.
Market operation is to survive in the competition, and it is also the desire of every enterprise to find a "blue ocean" in the "Red Sea" to avoid competition, but we have to admit that for a long time, we still need to fight for our territorial waters in the "Red Sea". For the new chain enterprises entering the market, the original indigenous distributors will try their best to suppress other people's cheese. At this time, the distributors who used to go their own way will be particularly Qi Xin and be unanimous. Many chain enterprises call themselves "regular troops". According to this understanding, most other dealers in the market are "guerrillas". I often hear the brothers of the "regular army" say that the guerrillas don't play cards according to the routine, they always shoot behind their butts, and our guns don't work! We are very passive. There is no rule not to play cards according to the routine, which is the necessity of the market. Complaining that others can't solve the real problem. The most important thing is to establish your own defense mechanism.
Many chain enterprises firmly believe that "attack is the best defense". After entering a new market, they usually take an offensive strategy and try to end the battle in a short time. Keeping a low profile in the face of the surrounding distribution system, preparing for a long-term battle, carefully defending, mobilizing the masses, and taking a firm stand are far more beneficial than attacking.
Twelfth, distribution.
The core of chain operation is unity. Strictly speaking, the goods of chain enterprises should also be delivered by the headquarters. Franchisees (or other chain stores) have no right to purchase goods by themselves. Due to the particularity of agricultural products, the operation mode of "unified distribution by headquarters+self-procurement by franchise stores" is adopted in practice. Behind this compromise model is the dilution of the reputation value of chain brands, which increases the risks in brand operation.
Agricultural products are a special commodity, and their sales volume is closely related to regions, crops, periods, outbreaks of pests and weeds, and farmers' habits. At present, the characteristics of small single purchase quantity, high purchase frequency, irregular purchase time and short sales peak period are common in various places, which puts forward higher requirements for the distribution of agricultural products, especially pesticide products. According to chain enterprises, logistics and distribution costs account for a large proportion of operating costs and increase year by year. There are also chain enterprises exploring cooperation with specialized distribution companies to solve logistics distribution problems in the form of pairing with rural transport teams, and some experiences have been explored.
Thirteenth, training.
The author has contacted several end customers, all of whom are chain enterprises. When asked what they want most from franchised chain stores, several of them agree that the headquarters can provide personnel training and help sell goods. It can be seen that terminal franchisees have high expectations for training, and they also want to get intellectual support from the headquarters by joining, thus breaking through the bottleneck of their own development. However, they must be soberly aware that training is temporary and support is limited. Far water can't quench near thirst and far water can't put out near fire. Managing employees and promoting varieties by relying on their own strength is the way to development.
Facing the demand of terminals, chain enterprises should also give full consideration to meeting the demand, so as to normalize training, support diversification, support localization and internalize trainers. More attention should be paid to the training of internal operators. Only by improving the working ability of internal operators can they be retrained and the company's policy ideas be passed on to the terminal stores. It is a common measure to use the external brain for training, which does play a certain role in improving the quality of personnel, but it also finds many problems. Training is like a gust of wind, which comes and goes in a hurry. The top is extremely excited and the bottom is also in high spirits. I feel that I have learned the Nine Yang Sutra, but I can't start when I return to my own enterprise to face practical problems. It is necessary for chain enterprises to establish a perfect internal training system to make the training normal and practical.
Fourteenth, implement customs supervision.
Chain enterprises are usually equipped with powerful information management systems and video capture systems to monitor and manage business processes and put everything under the control of headquarters. In practice, it is really unsatisfactory. Everything stems from the lack of execution, which is discounted in the implementation process. It's called a chain, but it's actually covered with a gorgeous chain coat. In some franchise stores, the goods of chain enterprises only account for about 20% of all goods, and chain enterprises lack the right to speak, which leads to repeated discounts on policies. Chain operation has also lost its original purpose.
Fifteenth, consumption habits.
Chain enterprises are divided into provinces, cities, counties, townships and villages. Whether it is a channel or a pipeline, it is everyone's consistent practice to establish exports at the village level, which will eventually form the competition between village-level chain stores and traditional terminal retail stores. At the terminal, users' consumption habits affect the development of chain stores.
Cross-regional purchase. In rural areas, farmers pay more attention to the local conditions of their neighbors and have weak brand awareness. It is difficult to achieve corporate brand appeal, and they are more accustomed to buying agricultural materials nearby. According to relevant media reports, nearly 70% of users' purchases of agricultural products are limited to natural villages, 20% will be in township-level agricultural stores, and 10% will be concentrated in county-level agricultural stores. The so-called cross-regional sales hypothesis of "chain stores locking N villages" deserves further discussion.
Large-scale purchases have made rapid progress. At present, the land pattern has changed, and many large farmers have emerged. The purchasing method chosen by large farmers is to cross the village level and go directly to the distribution offices in towns, counties and cities. Now the upstream dealers have thrown an olive branch, and the following farmers are also reaching out. These two forces are naturally combined. When this condition is met, the fate of terminal chain stores is not optimistic, and what needs to be done will be to change the functions of enterprises to cope with the changes in consumption habits.
Store layout. The layout of chain stores pays attention to bright windows and clear places, but the reality is that farmers dare not enter such stores. Once, the person in charge of a chain store saw two fellow villagers waiting outside the door and didn't enter the store. They hurried out to ask why, but it was because the floor in the shop was too clean. Two fellow villagers have just returned from the fields, and there is mud on their shoes, for fear of soiling the floor. The standard layout of the store is the embodiment of specialization. A clean and tidy storefront will bring beautiful enjoyment to users, but at the same time, it needs to be considered that the distance between storefront and users should not be widened because of beauty.
Price system. Farmers have the habit of bargaining when buying agricultural products, but it is impossible to do so in strict chain stores and it is impossible to erase zero, so they have always been regarded as inhuman by farmers. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the operation mode according to the consumption habits of rural users and explore a set of chain management system suitable for rural characteristics in China.
The development of any new thing cannot be smooth sailing, and setbacks are inevitable. As long as you face it bravely and respond positively, you will always succeed. With the change of agricultural procurement subject and the continuous expansion of business scale, service-oriented chain enterprises developed by relying on services will surely usher in more development opportunities.