Zhang Yang

    nicolezyyy@163.com

    SHENZHEN-BASED logistics company Synergy launched its intelligent Intercity Distribution Center (iDC) yesterday, which distributes consumer goods to retailers with low prices and high efficiency based on its online management system.

    By joining iDC, retailers can purchase consumer goods on the center’s website or phone app, and the center promises to provide goods at ex-factory prices and distribute goods six days a week to ensure retailers have abundant supplies.

    Depending on retailers’ own inventories and iDC’s data center of consumers’ demand for different goods, retailers can keep a low inventory to reduce operating costs. The center also allows retailers to purchase on credit to cut operating risks for small retailers, as they can pay the purchasing bills after they sell the goods.

    “By setting up an online system to integrate suppliers with retailers and adopting the IT application and big data analysis, iDC can minimize distribution costs and enhance transaction efficiency to benefit all sides,” said Lam Lap-fong, Synergy’s chairperson.

    Lam said the company plans to recruit 15,000 retail members in the Pearl River Delta region during the next two years that will provide not only retail goods but also community services for 45 billion consumers in the region. The consumption data will be analyzed by iDC’s online system and provide feedback to retailers.

    “We also plan to launch 25 iDCs nationwide in five years because the center has a strong capacity for replication,” Lam added. The iDC has been on a trial run for the past three months and has already attracted 1,200 retail members citywide.

    “We expect iDC to reshape the retail industry in Shenzhen and become a model for industrial transformation nationwide, and we also hope it can work as a bridge to help Hong Kong suppliers enter the mainland market,” said Andrew Leung, director of the Hong Kong Productivity Council.