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After more than ten years of reform and development, China commodity circulation channels have basically formed a market-oriented framework system. It is difficult for us to evaluate the current commodity circulation channels by economic types or institutional affiliation. We can only analyze the current commodity circulation channels in China from two aspects: the main channels for commodities to enter the market and the main channels for consumers to accept commodities.
First of all, from the perspective of the channels through which goods enter the market, China's current commodity circulation mainly enters the market in four ways (or four channels) in its initial stage.
First, production enterprises directly set up sales organizations in various regions to form their own sales networks. Some of these sales organizations are offices stationed by enterprises, and some are sales branches. Their task is to sell goods to major local retail stores and product users, generally no longer through intermediate wholesalers. However, if the sales organization undertakes the task of expanding the product market to the surrounding areas, it can promote their products to the commercial wholesale organizations in the surrounding areas (such as below the county level). This commodity circulation channel is a typical form of industrial self-marketing development to a mature state, and it is also a common commodity circulation form in the world. Generally suitable for large enterprises to sell goods with high value, large quantity, low purchase frequency and strong brand selectivity. At present, most durable consumer goods in China are sold through such circulation channels.
Second, manufacturers use middlemen from all over the country to distribute products, or as agents to help them open up markets. The main difference between this kind of circulation channel and the traditional circulation channel is that it is in direct contact with wholesalers in the place of sale, while the place of sale still uses commercial enterprises and relies on commercial channels to open up markets for enterprises. Under the condition of mature market economy, this kind of circulation channel is still a main type. The use of middlemen is also different, and some just regard them as circulation intermediaries and maintain general trading relations with middlemen; Others entrust middlemen to carry out exclusive distribution or exclusive agency, or even establish a stable "one-on-one" production and marketing agency relationship, in fact, they regard middlemen as their full-time sales organizations. The former situation is more suitable for daily consumer goods with wide market, high purchase frequency and little commodity value, such as cigarettes, wine, food and retail daily consumer goods; In the latter case, it is similar to a production enterprise establishing its own sales organization.
Third, production enterprises sell products through trading markets (bazaars). From the end of 1980s to the beginning of 1990s, the functions of bazaars have changed greatly, from simple agricultural and sideline products trading to agricultural and sideline products, handicrafts, daily industrial products and even means of production. The trading mode has also developed from retail trading to wholesale and retail, and even to wholesale; Market facilities have also developed from simple local stalls and roads to highly standardized and large-scale permanent trading markets. At present, large-scale industrial products trading markets have appeared in coastal provinces and cities such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian and Shandong, and they are showing a trend of specialization. For example, Guangdong's home appliance market, Yiwu's small commodity market, Changshu's clothing market, Wenzhou's footwear market and Zhejiang Tongxiang's woolen sweater market have all become well-known specialized commodity trading markets in China. The main players entering the market are mainly industrial production enterprises, including some middlemen. Most trading markets play the functions of primary wholesale and secondary wholesale, and even become the main supply base of retail stores in some big cities. By 1995, the total number of urban and rural markets in China reached 82,892, an increase of 35% over 1985, and the total transaction amount reached 1 1590 1 100 million yuan. Judging from the goods passing through the trading market, most of them are products of small and medium-sized enterprises and township enterprises, and some of them are brand-name products of large enterprises, but most of them are not production enterprises themselves, but middlemen.
Fourth, production enterprises sell products directly to consumers. At present, this way of enterprise direct sales also occupies a certain proportion in China's commodity circulation channels. Most of the means of production enter the market through direct sales of production enterprises, and a considerable number of consumer goods are sold to consumers through direct sales of enterprises. In terms of consumer goods, there are three direct selling methods worthy of attention. One is the retail activities in the market. Producers realize the whole circulation process of goods through direct transactions with consumers in bazaars; The second is to set up brand stores to sell goods of a certain enterprise (brand). Because stores are usually set up by production enterprises themselves and directly face consumers, it is also one of the forms of direct sales; The third is to sell goods to consumers through direct sales or pyramid schemes, including door-to-door sales, forum direct sales and multi-level pyramid schemes. Although some forms of direct selling (such as multi-level pyramid selling) are restricted by disputes, they are still allowed to carry out certain pilot projects, which also constitutes one of the forms of commodity circulation channels in China at present.
Secondly, from the way consumers accept goods, the changes in China's commodity circulation channels are mainly reflected in the changes in retail forms. At present, in some major cities in China, in addition to traditional general stores, specialty stores and department stores, there are also new retail formats such as supermarkets, convenience stores, specialty stores, mail-order stores and vending machines. It is more and more convenient for consumers to accept goods. China's commercial enterprises have gradually learned how to adopt corresponding retail forms according to environmental changes and the actual needs of consumers, so that goods can smoothly enter the consumption field and meet the needs of consumers at any time.
However, although China's commodity circulation channels have basically realized market-oriented multi-channel circulation at present, the circulation pattern formed in the period of alternating transformation between planned economy and market economy is still immature, with a lot of irrationalities, and some even have adverse effects on economic reform and development. The problems existing in the current circulation channels are mainly manifested in the following aspects.
(A) commodity circulation channels scattered disorderly development, did not form a reasonable scale effect, resulting in an increase in commodity circulation costs. Since the mid-1980s, the reform of China's commodity circulation channels is mainly manifested in the fact that various systems and industries have established their own channels for commodity circulation, with the main purpose of strengthening self-control ability and increasing the convenience of circulation. However, this practice will inevitably lead to a substantial reduction in the scale of commodity circulation in a considerable number of self-operated circulation systems, thus causing a general increase in circulation costs. According to the statistics of some industries, the circulation cost per unit commodity has doubled, or even more than doubled, resulting in a decline in circulation efficiency. Take Shanghai as an example: 199 1 year, the profit rate of commercial sales is 3.5 1%, but in 1996, it has dropped to 1.28%. Especially the hardware electrical materials industry used to be a very profitable industry, but the sales profit of 1996 has dropped to 0.43%. Of course, there are some other factors, but the shrinkage of commodity circulation scale cannot form a reasonable scale effect, which is one of the important reasons.
(2) Some circulation enterprises unilaterally pursue circulation profits, resulting in unreasonable turnover and detention of commodities in the circulation field. After the reform of the circulation system, a large number of funds and enterprises entered the circulation field and sought profits in this field. These circulation enterprises, whose main purpose is profit, often do not take accelerating the turnover of goods and reducing the circulation cost as their own responsibility, but seek high profits by hoarding scarce materials and reselling them. As a result, some important materials often turn around repeatedly in the circulation field, and prices rise repeatedly. It can be said that "goods are traveling and prices are rolling." At the end of 1980s, when some commodities and materials were particularly tight, there was even the phenomenon of reselling "approval documents", which seriously disrupted the circulation order and undermined the rationality of commodity circulation. Unreasonable assessment indicators for commercial enterprises will also lead to unreasonable commodity circulation. For example, the state-owned commercial system has long regarded sales as the main index to evaluate the performance of commercial enterprises, which has led to the resale of goods between some commercial enterprises to form false sales. These problems have adversely affected the formation of a reasonable commodity circulation system.
(3) The economic division between departments and regions has caused the artificial blockage of circulation channels and hindered the formation of national market networks and national circulation organizations. The reform of commodity circulation system in the past decade has not fundamentally solved the situation of administrative intervention and direct control of circulation enterprises by various systems (departments) and regions. In order to protect the economic interests of departments or regions, various systems and regions often adopt a restrictive or exclusive attitude towards commodity circulation activities outside their own systems or regions. For example, the self-operated circulation channels of industrial systems often compete with the circulation channels of commercial systems for commodities and markets; In some areas, local circulation enterprises, especially commercial wholesale and retail enterprises, are often given quotas for purchasing local products and ordering foreign products; To some extent, the establishment of cross-regional commodity circulation network and the merger and cooperation of circulation enterprises will also be restricted and interfered by local protectionism, so it is difficult to successfully build a nationwide unimpeded circulation network and system. Accordingly, it is often difficult for circulation enterprises to break away from geographical affiliation and become national circulation enterprises. However, under the condition of market economy, commodity circulation must be carried out across departments and regions, forming a national market network and a national circulation enterprise. This requires further reform of the current circulation management system.
(d) The disunity of commercial management in the whole society leads to the repeated prohibition of abnormal circulation. At present, the management system of business is still based on subject management, that is, every enterprise belongs to its own system management, no matter what the nature of its economic behavior is, it must be managed by its own system, and the external system can not interfere, so that the commercial administrative department can not actually manage the enterprises engaged in circulation activities outside the commercial system, thus causing inconsistency in the management of circulation activities in the whole society. The same disunity exists in the management of circulation behavior in various regions, which is often "illegal here, legal there" and "illegal at a place, legal at b place". This disunity and nonstandard management objectively creates environmental conditions for the appearance and spread of some bad and illegal commodity circulation behaviors, which leads to the repeated prohibition of counterfeit and shoddy products and violations of consumers' rights and interests, and affects the normal and healthy development of commodity circulation channel reform.
(E) The existence of "grey channels" has had a great impact on the normal circulation of commodities. In recent years, there is a "grey channel" in the circulation of commodities in the market, which is outside the supervision and management of the government. The main manifestations are: imported commodities enter the market through informal channels (such as smuggling into the domestic trading market or entering commercial enterprises through underground brokers); Some commodity trading activities are conducted through unregistered brokers or trading institutions; Some commodity transactions are conducted privately, without invoices or receipts, and so on. According to incomplete statistics, in the early 1990s, more than 80% of China's imported household appliances entered the market through "grey channels". For example, 199 1 year, 1 190000 video recorders were sold in the market, while only 1 10000 were officially imported through import and export companies, less than 1000. The existence of these "gray channels" can avoid some taxes and fees that must be paid by formal channels, and form unequal competition for commodities circulating through formal channels, which has caused great impact. Moreover, because these commodities circulating through "gray channels" are out of the sight of the social supervision system, they often become the main channels for some fake and shoddy products and even commodities that may endanger social life. Of course, under the condition that the market economy is not perfect and the market environment of fair competition has not yet formed, it is difficult to completely eliminate the phenomenon of "grey channels", and sometimes it can make up for the shortage of formal channels to some extent. However, if it is not guided and restricted, it may affect the development of commodity circulation channels and even disrupt the normal order of social and economic activities.
The problems existing in China's commodity circulation channels reflect the immaturity of commodity circulation channels under the conditions of market economy. Further reform should fully consider the objective background of big market and big circulation under the market economy, and strive to form a more reasonable circulation channel system, so as to make China's commodity circulation channels more optimized.
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China's transformation from planned economy to market economy is not only a process of transformation between old and new systems, but also a process of formation, development and maturity of new systems. Just like any country that implements the market economy system, the final maturity of the market economy system always needs to be adjusted and overcome by a large number of primary and primitive unreasonable factors. China's market economy is reformed on the basis of the original planned economy system, so the adaptation of planned economy to socialized mass production can still greatly promote the maturity of market economy. The reform and optimization of China's circulation channels should also consider overcoming the unreasonable factors in the initial stage of the development of the general market economy and making use of those factors that have been formed in the planned economy to adapt to socialized mass production. It can be said that after more than ten years of reform, it is no longer an era to promote the development of social commodity circulation channels by spontaneous adjustment of various social factors, but to promote the optimization of social commodity circulation channels through rational and conscious adjustment. Because only through conscious adjustment can we accelerate the mature pace of the socialist market economy. At present, we can consider optimizing and reorganizing China's commodity circulation channels from the following five aspects in order to enhance its adaptability to the development of China's socialist market economy and improve its modernization level.
First, set up large-scale circulation enterprise groups to play a leading role in the field of commodity circulation.
The main body of circulation is the basic element of commodity circulation channels. The leading role in the development of circulation channels is often the circulation subject with certain market control ability. This is true in most countries with mature market economy, and it is also true in the circulation field under the condition of planned economy in China. At present, some disordered states in China's commodity circulation field are largely due to the lack of real circulation subjects with market control ability in the current circulation field. This is the immature development of the market economy. Therefore, it is very important to optimize China's circulation channels, form a group of circulation subjects with certain market control ability, and make them play a leading role in the field of commodity circulation. Under the planned economy system, although state-owned commercial enterprises do have great market control ability in scale and strength, it is difficult to play a leading role in optimizing commodity circulation because of poor management mechanism. After the reform, most state-owned commercial enterprises have been reorganized and reformed, forming a number of circulation organizations that adapt to the market economy. After more than ten years of development, some circulation institutions in other aspects of society have matured. These may become the leading forces in the future commodity circulation field. The problem is that at present, these circulation subjects generally have problems such as small scale of operation, limited business area and strong system or regional affiliation. In particular, most state-owned commercial enterprises have not finally got rid of the control and intervention of the government's administrative power, which has seriously hindered these circulation organizations from rapidly growing into circulation entities that control the national market. Therefore, we should make up our minds to truly develop some of these circulation organizations into circulation "giants" with market control ability, with the goal of building a number of powerful national circulation enterprise groups.
The measures that can be considered are: (1) support and cultivate a number of circulation enterprises (groups) with great development potential and good basic conditions, expand to the whole country through joint, merger, shareholding, holding or chain, establish a nationwide commodity circulation network, and form the ability to control the national market; (two) the use of industrial, real estate or investment enterprise groups with branches or sales networks throughout the country, to promote their joint or enhance the circulation function with existing circulation enterprises, and to develop into a "giant" in the circulation field. These national circulation enterprise groups should integrate the functions of business flow, logistics, information flow and promotion flow, organize large-scale commodity trading, storage, transportation and distribution activities, and provide efficient and low-cost circulation services for various production enterprises. With such a group of powerful national circulation enterprise groups, it will not only play a leading and controlling role in the national commodity circulation activities, but also greatly reduce the cost of commodity circulation and promote the optimization of commodity circulation channels.
Second, strengthen enterprises' high attention to circulation cost and accounting consciousness, and accurately choose circulation channels and methods.
Efficiency and economy are the main manifestations of the rationality of circulation channels. The reform of commodity circulation channels in the previous stage mainly considered improving the efficiency of circulation channels, especially the large-scale self-selling network of production enterprises, mainly to promote the rapid circulation of their products to the market and improve the efficiency of commodity circulation. At that time, when the circulation efficiency of full-time commodity circulation enterprises was really low, the practice of self-marketing was correct. However, more than a decade of reform has led to the emergence of a number of new and efficient circulation enterprises in the market. Therefore, enterprises should re-choose between self-selling and entrusted circulation enterprises' agent sales, because adopting the method of self-selling may naturally eliminate the transaction costs brought by entrusted sales, but at the same time, it will inevitably lead to the management costs of organizing self-selling institutions and maintaining their effective operation. For a production enterprise that is not familiar with the market circulation business, this management cost is sometimes very high. Therefore, the choice of current circulation mode should be mainly reflected in the comparison between management cost and transaction cost. If the transaction cost is greater than the management cost, the self-selling system should generally be developed; However, if the management cost is greater than the transaction cost, it is not appropriate to develop the self-operated sales system, but should focus on entrusted sales. Of course, the circulation cost is only one of the criteria for selecting channels. In addition, circulation efficiency and circulation service are also important criteria for enterprises to choose channels. However, it is very important to improve the cost consciousness of commodity circulation for optimizing commodity circulation channels. Specifically, it is necessary to urge enterprises to analyze and evaluate the circulation cost formed by the current commodity circulation channels and methods. Distribution channels with higher costs should be adjusted. At the same time, full-time circulation enterprises should also let their circulation costs continue to decline and make them public, so as to attract production enterprises.
Third, establish a fair competitive market environment to fundamentally curb speculation and the development of "grey channels".
The main reasons for market disorder and confusion are speculation and "gray channel" phenomenon. These behaviors undermine fair competition in the market and often harm the interests of the country, enterprises and consumers. Of course, the development of speculation and "grey channels" can be restrained to some extent by laws, regulations and management means. However, through further reform, a fair and competitive market environment is gradually formed, which is an important prerequisite for fundamentally eliminating speculative selling and "gray channels" and eventually promoting the gradual disappearance of these phenomena. Judging from the environmental conditions that form speculative selling and "grey channels", four factors are the most important, namely "dual-track price", "preferential policies", "diversified management" and "local protectionism". The "double-track price", which consists of planned price and market price in parallel, may generate profits from hedging planned commodities and entering the market through "grey channels" due to the objective price gap. Therefore, as long as the price merger is implemented, this arbitrage profit-making behavior will naturally disappear, which has been basically solved in the current market; "Preferential policies" are mainly reflected in the fact that commodities can form different trading conditions in different regions or different enterprises, and may also lead to speculative business activities arising from differences in utilization conditions. Therefore, with the further establishment of the market economy system in the future, all kinds of "preferential policies" should be reduced or even cancelled, so that market trading conditions tend to be equal among various departments and regions, and speculation can be fundamentally eliminated; "Diversification" means that the management subjects and norms of market circulation behavior are not unified, which may make some circulation operators take advantage of these differences in management policies to "edge the ball" and adopt irregular circulation behavior. Therefore, through the reform of circulation management system, strengthening the unified management of circulation behavior is an important prerequisite to eliminate irregular circulation behavior; "Local protectionism" will often lead to speculation, "gray channels" and other irregular circulation patterns that are allowed to drift because of the need to protect regional interests. Therefore, it is also an important environmental condition to fundamentally eliminate "local protectionism" or minimize its influence on commodity circulation behavior, so the reorganization and control of commodity circulation channels in China is actually a systematic project. It involves the fundamental transformation of the whole social and economic system.
Fourth, establish a socialized circulation management system focusing on behavior management, "rule the country according to law and prosper the market according to law", and eliminate irregular market behavior to the maximum extent.
As mentioned above, to optimize China's commodity circulation channels, we must first standardize the market circulation behavior, and to standardize the market circulation behavior, we must establish an effective socialized circulation management system. The reform of commodity circulation system has expanded the main body of social commodity circulation. In fact, the original commercial management department can not implement unified and effective management of the commercial circulation activities of the whole society. The fundamental reason is that the current management system is to implement systematic management focusing on subject management. The circulation enterprises in each system are mainly managed by each system. This will easily lead to "multiple policies", and the commodity circulation activities of the whole society lack unified norms, which constitutes a disorderly state. Therefore, the fundamental measure to change this phenomenon is to establish a social management system focusing on behavior management. The characteristics of this management system are: the government department in charge is not managing the circulation enterprise itself, but the circulation behavior of the circulation enterprise. No matter which system of enterprises, as long as the circulation behavior occurs, it will be included in the scope of management. The management of all enterprises' circulation behavior can cover the whole society, thus unifying the market circulation behavior norms. From a further point of view, as long as a socialized circulation management system based on behavior management can be truly established, the problem of separating government from enterprises can be successfully solved, so that circulation enterprises can have greater autonomy and develop healthily under the condition of fair competition.
Fifth, widely adopt modern circulation methods and technologies, and strive to improve the efficiency and benefit of commodity circulation.
To optimize commodity circulation channels, we should not only promote the orderly and standardized operation of circulation channels, but also strive to improve the modernization level of circulation channels. On the one hand, the modernization of commodity circulation channels is manifested in the diversification and modernization of circulation methods; On the other hand, the circulation technology is advanced and efficient.
From the point of view of circulation mode, it is an important embodiment of modernization to develop a variety of circulation formats that adapt to market development, such as establishing retail formats such as shopping centers, supermarkets, chain stores, vending machines, catalog stores, mail orders, online sales, etc., and enhancing the convenience of commodity purchase; Through the establishment of distribution centers, distribution centers, trading markets, commodity exchanges, membership-based wholesale supermarkets, etc. , the enterprise's commodity distribution ability will be enhanced. It is an important aspect to promote the modernization of circulation mode to build large-scale commodity distribution centers such as circulation centers and logistics bases and enhance the comprehensive service functions of commodity circulation enterprises.
From the point of view of circulation technology, introducing modern science and technology into commodity circulation activities to improve the efficiency and quality of commodity circulation is also an important way to modernize and rationalize commodity circulation channels. For example, the extensive use of electronic computers to manage information related to commodity circulation and the establishment of management information systems to organize commodity circulation are important foundations for promoting the rationalization and efficiency of commodity circulation; Using modern operational research, network technology and other scientific principles to plan the distribution mode and operation mode of goods is also a necessary measure to improve the efficiency of commodity circulation; In addition, the technical improvement in shopping mall design, commodity storage and transportation, and commodity packaging will also have a great impact on the improvement of circulation efficiency.
Therefore, when studying the reorganization of China's commodity circulation channels, we must plan from a high starting point from the perspective of the future, so that the commodity circulation channels in the new period can approach and reach the international advanced level and meet the objective needs of the development of China's socialist market economy.