12 Industry Trends of “Internet+”

At this year's two sessions, Premier Li Keqiang wrote the "Internet +" action plan into the government work report for the first time, proposing to "promote the integration of mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, etc. with modern manufacturing". At the same time, at the Premier's press conference, he also clearly expressed his support for online shopping, believing that the development of e-commerce will accelerate the release of social production capacity and will not harm the development of the real economy. Even physical stores can use websites to develop better. Everyone is talking about "Internet +". What opportunities will "Internet +" bring to various industries now?

1. “Internet + Industry”: Making Manufacturing Smarter

Recently, the collision of German "Industry 4.0" and Chinese elements has become the biggest highlight of this year's IT Exhibition in Hanover, Germany (CeBIT2015). "Industry 4.0" is the application of new technologies such as the Internet of Things and intelligence to improve the level of manufacturing, transforming the manufacturing industry into intelligence, and achieving real-time management through network technologies that determine the production and manufacturing process. Its "bottom-up" production model revolution not only saves innovative technology, cost and time, but also has the potential and opportunity to cultivate new markets.

"Internet + Manufacturing" and the evolving "Industry 4.0" will overturn traditional manufacturing methods and rebuild industry rules. Internet companies such as Xiaomi and LeTV are constantly seizing the market share of traditional manufacturing companies in the transformation of the integration of industry and the Internet, and creating new consumption models through value chain reconstruction, light assets, flattening, and rapid response to the market. Driven by "Internet +", product personalization, customized batching, process virtualization, factory intelligence, logistics intelligence, etc. will become new hotspots and trends.

2. “Internet + Agriculture”: Catalyzing the Path of Agricultural Branding in China

Agriculture seems to be the farthest away from the Internet, but as the most traditional industry, agriculture also determines that the potential of "Internet + Agriculture" is huge.

First, digital technology can improve agricultural production efficiency. For example, using information technology to conduct big data analysis on the soil, fertility, climate, etc. of a plot of land, and providing solutions related to planting and fertilization, can improve agricultural production efficiency.

Secondly, the Internetization of agricultural information will help to connect with the demand market. New farmers in the Internet era can not only use the Internet to obtain advanced technical information, but also grasp the latest price trends of agricultural products through big data, thereby determining the focus of agricultural production to grasp the trend; thirdly, the Internetization of agriculture can attract more and more young people to actively participate in agricultural brand building. The group of "new farmers" with Internet thinking is growing, and will be able to create a more diverse model of "new agriculture."

At the same time, agricultural e-commerce will become an important driver of agricultural modernization, effectively reducing the intermediate links and enabling farmers to obtain more benefits. Facing the agricultural input market of more than one trillion yuan and a rural user population of nearly 700 million, the market space for agricultural e-commerce is vast, and the era of big explosion has arrived. On this basis, farmers need to establish brand awareness of agricultural products and subdivide "categories" into "brands" with higher recognition.

For example, the former tobacco tycoon Chu Shijian grows "Chu Orange"; Lenovo Group director Liu Chuanzhi cultivates "Liu Peach"; NetEase CEO Ding Lei raises "Ding Family Pigs", etc. There are also emerging e-commerce brands focusing on the agricultural products field that have achieved great success, such as Three Little Squirrels, Xinnong Ge, etc., all of which have refined their personal brands in the large category of agricultural products to enhance their value.

3. “Internet + Education”: The explosion of online education

This year's Premier's report stated that in 2015, the fair development and quality improvement of education will continue to be promoted, including accelerating the standardization of compulsory education schools, improving the basic operating conditions of weak schools and boarding schools, and implementing policies such as migrant workers' children receiving compulsory education in the inflow areas. It is said that in 2015 alone, the Ministry of Education will invest 70 billion yuan in education informatization.

In the past 2014, segments such as K12 online education, online foreign language training, and online vocational education have become the main driving forces for the growth of China's online education market. Many traditional educational institutions, such as New Oriental, are also transforming from offline to online education, and some Internet companies that have a high stickiness of the population on the mobile Internet platform are also transforming to online education. For example, Youdao Dictionary under NetEase has 400 million high-value users in the English vertical application field, and these users have a strong demand for online English learning.

Therefore, Youdao Dictionary launched products and services such as Online English Learning and Oral Master to deeply explore user needs. Through big data technology, personalized recommendations can be achieved. Based on the characteristics of mobile terminals, users can use fragmented time for immersive learning, allowing online education to address some of the pain points and blind spots of traditional education.

4. “Internet + Healthcare”: Vertical Development of Mobile Healthcare

The simplest way to integrate "Internet + Medical" is to achieve information transparency and uneven resource allocation. For example, services such as the registration website can solve the problem of long registration queues, long waiting times for medical treatment, and long settlement queues. The use of light consultation applications such as Chunyu Doctor and Dingxiangyuan has solved the problem of difficulty in seeing a doctor for some users.

The future of Internet medical care will develop towards more professional mobile medical vertical products, and wearable monitoring devices will be the area most likely to make breakthroughs.

For example, iHealth launched the Align, a powerful blood glucose meter that can be directly plugged into the headphone jack of a smartphone, and then display the results on the phone screen through a mobile app. Its compact appearance and mobility make it the most convenient tool for diabetics; Withings, a health smart hardware manufacturer, launched the Activite Pop smart watch, which has functions such as pedometer, sleep tracking, and vibration reminders, and its battery life is up to 8 months; Nanjing Xijian Information combines electrocardiogram with mobile Internet to establish a mobile electrocardiogram that can monitor the risk of heart disease at any time...

Big data, mobile Internet, and health data management will have great opportunities in the future and may even change the marketing model of health products. At the same time, with the rise of real-time management of personal health on the Internet, the traditional medical model may also usher in new changes in the future. The hospital-centered medical model may evolve into a new medical community model represented by real-time consultation and interaction between doctors and patients.

5. “Internet + Finance”: Financial Management for All and Development of Micro and Small Enterprises

From Yu'ebao, WeChat red envelopes to online banking...Internet finance has quietly come to everyone. According to data, in the first half of 2014, the transaction amount of domestic P2P online lending platforms was nearly 100 billion yuan, and there were 292 million Internet payment users. The transformation of traditional finance to the Internet and the inclusiveness of financial services for the people have become the general trend.

The combination of "Internet + Finance" will set off a financial management boom for all people. Low thresholds and convenience allow funds to flow quickly, big data makes credit investigation easier, and P2P and micro loans are becoming more and more popular. This will also help small and medium-sized enterprises, the working class, freelancers, migrant workers and other general public to obtain financial services.

Small and micro enterprises are the most dynamic entities in China's economy. They account for about 90% of the total number of enterprises in the country, creating about 80% of jobs, about 60% of GDP and about 50% of taxes. However, according to data from the central bank, as of the end of 2014, the proportion of small and micro enterprise loan balances to corporate loan balances was 30.4%, which remained at a low level. "Internet +" finance will lower the threshold for small and micro enterprise loans and activate the vitality of small and micro enterprises.

Internet finance, including third-party payment, P2P microcredit, crowdfunding, new electronic currency and other online financial service platforms will usher in new development opportunities, and a social credit system will be established.

6. “Internet + Transportation and Tourism”: Sharing all resources

Our physical space is becoming increasingly limited, housing is getting smaller, and parking spaces are becoming fewer and fewer. For many products, you don’t necessarily need to own 100% anymore. You just need to consider how to use them better. If you can use them conveniently, “ownership” is actually no longer important. “Internet + Transportation” can not only ease road traffic congestion, but also provide convenience for people’s travel and create wealth for practitioners in the transportation field.

For example, real-time bus applications allow users to check the arrival status of buses in real time, reducing delays and waiting; Didi and Kuaidi not only bring convenience to users' travel, but also reduce the empty rate of taxis; Yidao Car, Didi Special Car and PP Car Rental have made use of the sharing of automobile resources, setting off a new wave in the field of Internet transportation in the new era.

In the tourism service industry, the onlineization and disintermediation of tourism services will become more and more obvious, self-guided tours will become the mainstream, and there is still a lot of room for social sharing of tourism-based Internet experiences. Sharing models such as Airbnb and Tujia can allow housing resources to be shared, and the Internetization of tourism services and tourism products will also have a lot of room for imagination.

7. “Internet +” culture: making creativity more extensible and imaginative

The core of the cultural and creative industry is creativity. It is an emerging industry that takes creativity as its core and provides cultural, artistic, spiritual, psychological, and entertainment products to the public. The high degree of integration between the Internet and the cultural industry has promoted the overall transformation and upgrading of the industry itself. The Internet has significantly promoted maker culture and creative economy, and it has once again inspired the unlimited possibilities of national innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as cultural industry and creative economy.

The multiple terminals and multiple screens brought by the Internet will generate a large market for content services. As for derivative products of content copyrights, the Internet can integrate content and derivative products with e-commerce platforms. Video e-commerce, TV e-commerce, etc. will all usher in new opportunities. Some regional cultural products will be able to use the Internet and go nationwide in creative ways. In the future, designer brands, ethnic cultural brands, and small fashion brands will all have opportunities. The celebrity fan economy and the community economy based on interest segmentation will also have huge room for imagination.

8. “Internet + Home Appliances/Home Furnishings”: Let Home Appliances Talk and Make Home Furnishings Smarter

At present, most home appliances are still in the interconnection stage, that is, they are only connected to the Internet or linked to mobile phones.

However, what is truly valuable is the interoperability of Internet home appliances, that is, the interconnection between different home appliances to achieve linkage based on specific scenarios. Mobile phones are not only the only entrance to smart homes, but also allow more smart terminals to serve as the entrance and control center of smart homes, realizing the hardware and service integration solutions of Internet smart home appliances. The "smart home" derived from the "home appliances + home" products will be the competition of the new ecosystem.

For example, at the 2015 China Home Appliances Expo which just ended in Shanghai, both traditional home appliance giants such as Haier, Midea, and Skyworth, and Internet upstarts such as JD.com, 360, and LeTV, either launched intelligent systems and products or promoted and participated in building intelligent platforms. A battle for the smart home sector was in full swing.

For example, Haier has established seven ecosystems for the smart home system, including washing, water, air, food, health, safety, and entertainment home life, and uses the Haier U+ Smart Life App to connect its products; Midea has released a white paper on the smart home system, and clearly stated that the M-Smart system built by Midea will establish intelligent routing and home control centers, provide new connection solutions besides WiFi, and expand to black electronics, entertainment, robots, medical health and other categories.

In the field of smart TVs, LeTV not only showcases LeTV TV Super TV, but also promotes the "LePar Super Partner" plan, hoping to invite super partners of the LePar project to jointly explore the large-screen Internet market through the innovative "O2O+C2B+crowdfunding" multi-dimensional integrated cooperation model.

9. “Internet + Lifestyle Services”: O2O is just beginning

"Internet + Service Industry" will drive the large O2O market of life services. The integration of the Internet is to eliminate intermediaries, allowing supply to directly connect with consumer demand and use mobile Internet for real-time connection.

For example, home improvement companies, barber shops, nail salons, car washes, housekeeping companies, laundries, etc., all directly face consumers. Companies such as Beaver Home, Ai Car Wash, Dian Dao, etc., which provide online booking for offline services, not only save the cost of fixed employees, but also save the store costs that are the most troublesome for the traditional service industry. They truly bring the service industry into the O2O service market of efficient output and conversion. Coupled with the online evaluation and scoring mechanisms, the participating craftsmen will strive for excellence and self-improvement.

O2O has become a hot spot for investment at present. In fact, this market has just begun. There is still a lot of room for exploration in terms of large-scale users, transformation of traditional vertical fields, forming fixed stickiness, and building platforms.

10. “Internet + Media”: The emergence of new business models

The impact of the Internet on the media has not only changed the communication channels, but also greatly changed the communication interface and form. Traditional media is a one-way information output source from top to bottom, and most users passively receive information. However, the media form after integrating the Internet is to disseminate and spread content in a two-way, multi-channel, and cross-screen form. At this time, users participate in the content dissemination and become the content dissemination medium.

Interaction, real-time, social, community, personalization, people-friendly, personalized, selective, and integrated will be the important directions of the future media. Taking interaction, real-time, and social as an example, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala WeChat red envelope grabbing is an important manifestation of these three characteristics, allowing the media to interact with mobile phones and creating a new interface for brands to communicate with consumers.

Socialization and personalization, a group of self-media with opinions and personalities will have development opportunities. Using personality to form a brand and using content to build a community will be the direction of this type of media. The manifestation of personalization and selection is the rise of some media that use big data to filter and aggregate information precisely to people, such as new news and information clients such as Toutiao.

11. “Internet + Advertising”: Synergy of Internet Context + Creativity + Technology + Effectiveness

All traditional advertising companies are thinking about the survival issues in the Internet era. Obviously, the single advertising model on which they rely for survival has come to an end, and its internal motivation and development momentum have come to an end. In the future, advertising companies need to think about the communication logic of the Internet era, and use Internet creative thinking and Internet technology to achieve it.

The creative model in the context of the Internet used to test the ability of advertising companies by their ability to come up with big ideas, shoot big commercials, and make large print advertisements. Now, what tests advertising companies are real-time creativity, creative ability in the context of the Internet, integration ability, and technological innovation and application capabilities.

For example, many brands now need hot pictures for forwarding in Moments, HTML5, micro-films, infographics, and communication creativity combined with current hot topics. These are all testing creative ability. New creative companies and content-oriented advertising companies still have great potential. Relying on new precision technologies such as programmatic buying, and technology companies that optimize Internet advertising will also become a new market. In general, the synergy of Internet context + creativity + technology + effectiveness is the way out for advertising companies under Internet+.

12. Internet + Retail: The future of retail experience, cross-border e-commerce and mobile e-commerce

Premier Li Keqiang said in response to reporters' questions at the two sessions that physical stores and online stores are not in conflict. Not only will physical stores not be impacted, but they will also be reborn with the help of "Internet +". Traditional retail and online e-commerce are merging. For example, Suning Appliance said that traditional appliance stores will be transformed into stores that can interact with the Internet in the future to display goods and let consumers experience the products in person. In May 2014, SF Express's online shopping community service store "Heyke" introduced an offline experience and online purchase model to open up reverse O2O.

No.1 Store opened its first community service point in Shanghai's large community COSCO Liangwan City, becoming the first online shopping offline service station in Shanghai opened by an e-commerce company, providing community residents with comprehensive services such as on-site online shopping guidance and product delivery and self-pickup. These are all illustrating the direction of innovation in the retail industry. The future of online and offline is integration and synergy rather than conflict.

Cross-border e-commerce has also become a new opportunity for the retail industry. Recently, the State Council approved the establishment of a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone in Hangzhou, which proposed to conduct trials in technical standards, business processes, regulatory models and information construction in cross-border e-commerce transactions, payments, logistics, customs clearance, tax refunds, and foreign exchange settlement. As the trade processes of cross-border e-commerce become more and more smooth, cross-border e-commerce will also occupy a more important position in future foreign trade. How to promote Chinese products with the help of cross-border platforms is worth thinking about for many companies.

In addition, if e-commerce poses a huge challenge to the survival of physical stores, then mobile e-commerce is changing the entire marketing ecosystem. The popularity of smartphones and tablets and the creation of a large number of mobile e-commerce platforms have provided consumers with more convenient shopping options. For example, WeChat will launch shopping circles, which is building a new mobile e-commerce ecosystem. Mobile e-commerce will become an important platform for many new brands to enter the market with the help of social networks.

It should be said that "Internet +" is a concept that provides business opportunities to everyone. However, "Internet +" is not about subversion, but about thinking about cross-border and integration. It is more about thinking about how industries in the Internet era can be combined with the Internet to create new business value. Enterprises should not fall into the anxiety and misunderstanding of "Internet +". "Internet +" is more about +, not "-" or destruction.