Express delivery companies have entered the local life in a high-profile manner
In the hot land of local life, there is no shortage of new entrants.
In the past two or three years, well-known express delivery companies such as SF, Zhongtong and Yunda have significantly accelerated the pace of layout in the field of local life. Some of them set up live broadcast rooms to sell catering coupons, and some diverted traffic to platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me on mini programs.
While there are different ways to enter the local lifestyle market, these actions all demonstrate a strong willingness and determination in this area.
Taking SF Express as an example, at the end of 2022, SF Express and Douyin Life Service officially reached a "first-class delivery" cooperation, gradually achieving an average of 1 hour in the whole city; In 2023, SF City will enter the battlefield with the help of live broadcast, open the "SF City Life" account on the Douyin platform, and launch local life ** products including restaurants and hotels; In 2024, SF City has set up a special live streaming agency "Fengsu Sailing", which will provide greater development space and opportunities for its local life business ......
Source: Douyin.
On the surface, live streaming seems to be the focus of SF's current layout. However, in fact, SF's real intention is to provide users with a more comprehensive and efficient service experience by realizing the dual-track parallel of live streaming and local life business.
There are two main reasons why SF Express and other express delivery companies are targeting the local life service market:
First of all, with the continuous evolution of consumption patterns, the local life services market shows great potential and room for growth. For express delivery companies, this is not only an important business opportunity, but also an important means to obtain new increments.
According to the "2023-2024 China Local Life Service Industry Market Monitoring Report" released by iiMedia Consulting, by 2025, China's local life service market will reach 25 trillion yuan. Among them, the ** catering takeaway market will reach 1,746.9 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 1,746.9 billion yuan in 2025.
Source: iiMedia Consulting.
Today, when the growth dividend of the Internet is peaking, this huge market scale will inevitably become the focus of competition in all walks of life.
At this time, it is not surprising that SF Express and other express delivery companies choose to lay out in this field.
Secondly, with the intensification of market competition and the upgrading of consumer demand, express delivery companies are no longer satisfied with simple logistics services, but have begun to expand to a wider range of comprehensive services. In order to meet the diverse needs of the market, continuous innovation and expansion of the service range have become an inevitable choice.
By getting involved in local life services, express delivery companies can more closely integrate into the daily life of consumers and provide a more intimate and convenient service experience.
To put it simply, the express delivery industry has "rolled" into the service field, and the layout of local life services is a key part of this strategic transformation.
From the past to the present, express delivery companies have been actively expanding cross-border business, from getting involved in cross-border e-commerce, live streaming to the layout of local life services, they continue to explore new areas.
Although these cross-border behaviors seem to be unorthodox, they are actually choices made by express delivery companies in response to the needs of market development. Through these cross-border layouts, express delivery companies can integrate more deeply into the market and give full play to their logistics network and technological advantages to provide consumers with a faster and more convenient service experience.
New players entered the game strongly and encircled Meituan
From the perspective of express delivery companies, the layout of local life services will inevitably start fierce competition with some old competitors.
In this process, a rival that cannot be ignored is Meituan, a giant in the local lifestyle market.
According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2023, Meituan's core local business revenue for the quarter was 576900 million yuan, compared with 463 in the same period last year300 million yuan, an increase of 245%；Operating profit increased by 8% year-on-year3% to 1009.6 billion yuan. In particular, in the food delivery business, Meituan still maintained a strong growth momentum, with a peak of 78 million orders in a single day, a record high.
Meituan's third-quarter earnings report.
As Meituan already has a significant market share and brand influence in the local life services sector, it is indeed a challenging task for new entrants such as SF Express to gain a foothold in such a highly competitive market.
However, even though courier companies face stiff competition with established players in the local lifestyle services sector, they also have some unique advantages.
From the perspective of the types of service products, express delivery companies such as SF, JD.com and Zhongtong not only provide logistics services such as express delivery, express transportation and cold transportation, but also expand to local life value-added services such as home services and pet door-to-door feeding, and the service products show a trend of diversification.
Taking Zhongtong Express's terminal brand Rabbit as an example, they upgraded the mini program to "Rabbit Life +", and on the basis of providing express delivery services, they further integrated local life services such as takeaways, catering**, and movie tickets**.
Source: "Rabbit Happy Life +" applet.
Although these local merchant resources are mainly based on platforms such as Ele.me and Meituan, through cooperation with these platforms, Tuxi is clearly able to leverage its own logistics network and technological advantages to provide consumers with a more convenient and comprehensive service experience. At the same time, it can also increase your own income**, further enhance brand awareness and user stickiness.
It can be seen that if SF Express and other express delivery companies can give full play to their advantages in logistics network and technology to provide consumers with diversified and differentiated service products, they are very likely to occupy a place in the field of local life services.
According to this expectation, express delivery companies may have a certain impact on established companies in the local living market, such as Meituan, and become a force to be reckoned with.
However, it is still too early to say this, after all, express delivery companies have just set foot in local life, and there are still many things that can be done and efforts to be made.
The local living market is getting more and more volatile
When it comes to hot topics in the Internet field in recent years, the battle for the local life service market is definitely worth mentioning.
From Meituan, Eleme, to Douyin, Kuaishou, to AutoNavi, Xiaohongshu, as well as SF, Zhongtong, Yunda and other forces have poured in, and the industry has shown a trend of competing for the best.
Part of the local life service platform Source: iiMedia Consulting.
Heroes from all walks of life gathered together to show their strengths, making the market situation extremely complex and lively.
But no matter how the market situation changes, one thing will not change: the prerequisites for developing the local living market are still traffic and merchant supply.
Based on the importance of traffic and merchant supply, Douyin has become the two most representative platforms in the competition between new and old players with its huge traffic advantage and Meituan's rich merchant resources. At present, the competition between these two platforms has also become the biggest attraction in the local life industry.
It can be seen that the express delivery companies that have entered the cross-border market not only have shortcomings in traffic, but also have no advantages in terms of merchant supply, and there is still a big gap compared with leading companies in the local life market such as Meituan and Douyin.
But thankfully, express delivery companies have recognized this problem and have begun to take steps to improve it. For example, in 2023, Zhongtong Rabbit will hold the Rabbit Xi Business Investment Conference in Guangxi, Hebei and other places, aiming to strengthen the ability of commodity supply and procurement, and devote more energy to the field of local life services.
This move shows that express delivery companies are actively seeking to improve and enhance their competitiveness in the field of local life services.
From a macro perspective, the local living market is in a state of fierce competition, and the competition between players has just begun, and the future market landscape is still full of uncertainties.
Express delivery companies still seem to have a long way to go if they want to catch up with Douyin and Meituan. In the future, whether SF Express can seize the market share in the hands of Meituan and Douyin with its own advantages still needs to withstand the test of the market and consumers.
In addition, express delivery companies also need to focus on market segments and strive to form differentiated competition with local life platforms such as Meituan. Only then will they be able to stand out from the fierce competition.
There are many entrants in the local lifestyle industry, and the market is highly competitive. If express delivery companies want to get ahead, they have to come step by step.
Author |Li Xiang.