これまでは生産者から消費者に商品が渡る過程で、卸売業者の仲介が不可欠でした。しかし、卸売業を経由する間にかかる物流コストはかなりのものとなっていました。 
Up to now, the process of getting products from the producer to the consumer involved wholesalers as an essential intermediary. However, the transportation costs associated with the use of a wholesaler have become significant.

 

 

こうした状況を避けるために卸売システムの効率化が指摘されてきました。けれども日本的な商習慣とも密接につながり、なかなか物流システムの改革には着手できなかった現状があります。しかし今では、卸売業の物流機能がIT武装の徹底によって強化されています。 

In order to overcome this issue, the industry recognizes the need to improve efficiency within the wholesale system. However, this process is tightly entangled with Japanese business customs, so the market has still been unable to really achieve reform of the logistics system. Now, full application of IT tools is finally strengthening the capabilities of wholesale logistics.

たとえば食品・酒類などを取り扱う食品卸最大手の国分は受発注のオンライン化などのIT武装を積極的に推進しています。その結果、卸売業起点の高度なロジスティクスシステムの構築に成功して大きな売上高を実現しました。ただしその一方で、負け組企業も増える結果となりました。物流改革に遅れた中小卸売業者の倒産も相次ぎました。また大手卸の系列に吸収、統合されるケースも多々見受けられます。 
For example, the grocery distribution giant Kokubu, which handles food and alcohol, has proactively updated its IT tools like online ordering. As a result, Kokubu successfully built a high-power logistics system at its wholesale warehouses, and achieved an increase in sales. On the other hand, results have also shown an increase of losers in this business battle. Small-to-mid size wholesalers who were slower to adopt logistics reform have been going out of business one after another. There have also been many cases of mergers and acquisition by groups of major wholesalers.

 

 

生産者ではなく消費者を起点とする卸売業のビジネスモデルが主流となったため、メーカーや小売業者とも連携を図りながら、卸売業全体での商品情報データサービスの共有化やメーカー共同物流を目的とした事業に取り組む必要があります。
Wholesale business models have shifted from manufacturer-based to mostly consumer-based, so wholesalers must work with a focus on communal access to product information data services across the industry, as well as joint logistics with manufacturers while continuing to cooperate with both makers and retailers.