Steel Market Online Trading "Five Tips"

Not long ago, there was a steel trade owner who had already owned a foreign steel spot (trading) market, and he was prepared to spend another 2 million to acquire an online trading market. According to the author's understanding: Two years ago, the bid for the acquired website was 10 million yuan. At that time, someone offered a bid of 5 million yuan, and the owners of the website were also reluctant to let go. The result of the transaction was naturally unsuccessful. Now it takes only one-fifth of the price to be able to buy it. It is really very cheap.

As far as the capital shortage situation of the steel trading industry in Shanghai is concerned, many companies that have encountered problems have a common problem—the previous period has exceeded their own strength, and there are cracks in the capital chain. There are many ways to repair such cracks, of which the more effective ones are. One is contraction—cut a stall that can't make a profit. Of course, when everyone is caught in the funding gap, it is indeed a good time for companies with financial strength to take relatively large returns at a relatively low cost. This is an opportunity. However, at this time, there are often many opportunities to come together. There are more opportunities and more temptations. Therefore, the mind must remain calm, it must not be lost in the face of all kinds of temptations, and it must not blindly invest in greediness and cheapness. It should combine the actual situation of the company to discover new profit points. The steel trade owner plans to build an online trading platform based on the newly-built steel spot (trading) market, and the assumption is very good. The problem is that after the acquisition of a website, it is only the beginning of capital investment. Next, it has to invest more funds in the software and hardware of the “armed” website. It also needs to spend money to select and build a reliable one. Operation team. In addition, the positioning of the website is also the key.

Faced with the question of whether the spot steel trading market should acquire an online steel trading platform, it is rash to answer this question or not, which I think is not appropriate. If we must come up with an answer, then before answering this question, the author believes that the establishment of an online steel trading platform in the spot trading market has “five priorities” and companies must recognize it.

Positioning is correct

In the new steel market, building an e-commerce website is a must. The problem is that e-commerce has a very complete set of functions. The parties must not covet big and complete, and must understand what they want to do. Why do you want to do this? What kind of talent do you choose to do? How can I do it? Before this series of questions do not understand, do more preparations for the desk; until you want to understand it, do not delay again. Otherwise, first look at the operation of the surrounding online steel trading platform, most of them are still in the money-laden stage. Some sites with better performance have a common point—the correct positioning.

Different positioning must be equipped with different inputs. If you only serve the steel market, you only need to strengthen the management function, but also to provide on-site customers with industry information and on-floor trading and other services, which also does not need to build another online trading platform. If it is to engage in a third-party trading platform, it should be another system that operates independently of the steel market, and the steel market is only a point in the system. However, judging from the current market environment, unless the steel mills have accumulated a large number of resources and enough steel end users, the probability of establishing such a steel trading network is very small. Therefore, it is up to the local government to decide what kind of online steel trading platform the steel market should be established. Generally speaking, a new steel market website does not need to spend a lot of money to build a trading platform, as long as it satisfies the extension of steel market management and service.

Operation is safe

In this round of funding gap in the steel trade industry, we must not underestimate the role of the industry's unspoken rules. Similar unspoken rules such as repeated pledges and violations of special regulations for bank loans must have undermined the integrity system of the industry, affecting the safe operation of funds and steel logistics, causing adverse reactions in society, and making normal operating enterprises subject to varying degrees of hurt. In previous years, this was the season when various companies prepared steel for winter storage, and the steel in the north went south. Nowadays, companies that want to store in Dongcun do not know that it is safe to store their goods there; they want to purchase and they are afraid to buy controversial steel. Therefore, when establishing a new online steel trading platform, a set of systems and mechanisms for risk prevention must be set up to ensure the security of funds and goods of both parties to the transaction. In this way, it is possible to attract more and more companies to participate in online transactions.

According to the author's understanding, some steel trading websites have invested in self-built libraries. Self-built warehouse, in addition to site and equipment investment, also recruited more than 100 employees. Since the initial investment is really small, this is one of the important reasons why the coverage of the website is not large.

In fact, in this steel trade fund gap, there are also a lot of warehouses and spot steel markets that are operating with integrity. Not long ago, in the special clean-up of relevant departments, it was discovered that some warehouses and spot steel markets have historically operated in a standardized way, and there has not been a single controversial cargo. The new online steel trading platform should find ways to integrate the resources of these honest companies for my own use in the absence of investment.

The price should be affordable

Many physical goods can enjoy price discounts when they trade online, ranging from 20% discount to more than 20%. One of my friends once talked about the online shopping experience: “Online shopping is cheaper than physical stores.” When it comes to the reasons, it is actually very simple: online shopping can save store rental fees and labor such as employees, utilities, etc. Fees and incidentals. The price of commodities on the steel trading network is similar to that sold by steel trading entities, which is not enough to attract steel traders and consumers to purchase online. If the new steel trading network can be integrated into enough resources, and can be reflected in the reduction of procurement costs and logistics costs, profit distribution to the purchaser, which will attract enough merchants to purchase online.

At present, the factory prices of all steel mills are uniform, but according to the different amount of dealers purchase, give different rebates, and the price of online listing did not show the expected benefits. Under such circumstances, people tend to be more humane and traditional sales models.

Service must be in place

At present, the steel products that can be purchased by the steel market on the Internet are not rich in variety compared to the physical market, and there are still many stocks that are out of stock. Generally speaking, the types of steel consumed by end-users cannot be single, and it is common for more than 20 types of steel products to appear on a single purchase order. If this user surfs the Internet to purchase, it will not only save time, but after investigating a number of online trading markets, it will still not be able to meet the various steel specifications required.

On the contrary, in the steel trading entity company, there will be a "one-stop service" initiative. After receiving a large number of steel specifications, the steel stocks that are not stocked will be taken out for agency purchases, and the quality and quantity will be punctually Serve the destination. For steel consumption end-users, in choosing the procurement approach, they will often choose a convenient and convenient trading method. They will not spend time and energy in tossing in two different markets.

Experience to be comfortable

Many steel trading websites have slogans that can be “finished with just one click”, which means that participants can enjoy a “convenient, fast and safe” experience. However, in the actual transaction process, there are often cases of online negotiations and offline transactions, which do not allow both parties to experience "convenience" and "quickness" because after the transaction agreement is reached, they have to rely on traditional logistics. To complete the transaction, you have to spend the second logistics cost and go to the designated warehouse to pick up the goods. If it is not done well, the single item proposed is controversial. Sometimes, even if the goods mentioned are uncontroversial, but the warehouse is sealed up for various reasons, it will take a lot of effort to clear the relevant links before it can be picked up. Those who have had such a trading experience will stay away from online transactions.

If the newly built online steel market can achieve "five priorities" and integrate into multiple steel plant resources for sale, if the purchaser intends to purchase, he will have to hand over the money to a third-party payment platform like Taobao. Ship directly to the designated location of the purchaser. After the experience is received, notify the third party payment platform to settle the purchase price with the steel mill. In the meantime, the website should also join hands with banking financial institutions to use the concept of logistics finance to provide relevant financial services for both parties to the transaction. In this case, each link of the transaction is controlled by the closed environment set by the online steel market, which solves the security problems of online transactions. At the same time, the steel plant's online listing price will remove certain sales costs, and it will eliminate the cost of secondary logistics, so that the purchaser can enjoy the price benefits.

If the online steel market can achieve this "five priorities," it will inevitably be welcomed by both parties. The website will also continue to tap its own profit points as the number of people involved in online transactions increases.