Express "the last 100 meters", easier said than done. Whale Merchant (ID: BizWhale) Original Author |Three.
Pull a hair and move the whole body", this time it is very obvious in the logistics and e-commerce industries.
On March 1, the newly revised "Express Market Management Measures" came into force, which clearly stipulates that the unauthorized use of smart express boxes and express service stations to deliver express mail without the consent of users is illegal and will be expressly prohibited; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of between 10,000 and 30,000 yuan will be imposed.
Consumer attitudes are polarized. Some netizens applauded, they thought that they could finally enjoy the door-to-door delivery service, and it was inconvenient to take many large items by themselves before. However, there are also netizens who "don't catch a cold", thinking that they often shop online, work and go out are not at home, and it is easy to lose the items when they are delivered to the door.
Judging from the preliminary feedback from the market for the implementation of the new regulations, many express delivery sites said that it was difficult to achieve, and even some express delivery sites were unmoved; Due to the increase in the workload of door-to-door delivery, the efficiency of inspection is reduced, and the corresponding income will also be reduced, so many couriers have decided to change careers.
"Home delivery" is not a new thing, and the relevant departments have formulated new regulations to protect the relevant rights and interests of consumers, but the nature of the development of the industry determines that to unify into this standard, the entire industry needs to carry out a painful transformation. However, according to the regulating effect of the law of the market, "the wool is out of the sheep", and the additional cost may eventually fall on the head of the consumer.
However, at the moment when major e-commerce platforms are vigorously "rolling" low prices, in addition to the best power of goods, "free shipping" is bound to be a plus point for service competition. The implementation of the new express delivery regulations also means that if the platform or merchant wants to continue to maintain the competitiveness of "free shipping", the operating cost will inevitably rise, so where is the way out of the first war? Especially in the face of e-commerce promotions such as 618 and Double 11, the number of complaints caused by not being able to "deliver to your door" in time will be very terrifying.
Home delivery has always been a hard nut to crack in the express delivery industry.
According to the data released by the State Post Bureau, in 2023, China's express delivery business volume will be completed by a total of 1,320700 million pieces, a year-on-year increase of 194%。
Correspondingly, the scale of China's express delivery business has increased by nearly 36 times from 2010 to 2020, but the number of express delivery employees has only increased by 7 times. In 2021, the number of couriers in China will be 4.5 million, and 108.5 billion express orders will be completed throughout the year.
Obviously, there is an extreme shortage of manpower on the distribution side. In this case, upgrading the door-to-door delivery service will inevitably greatly reduce the overall distribution efficiency. Although door-to-door delivery is an important part of improving the logistics experience, the vast majority of express delivery companies such as Three-way One-reach and J&T Express have defaulted to "door-to-door delivery".
As a result, many consumers will be "in hindsight". Ashin, who often shops online, complained to whale merchants: "I go out early and return late every day, and I can't pay attention to the express text message." When I realized that a lot of couriers were not taken, I will find that I received the message that "the courier has not been taken out for more than 24 hours, if you need to deliver it to your door or if you have any questions", I think I should consult my courier to put **. ”
There was a month when Ashin (pseudonym) had a month's backlog of deliveries at the express station because the courier did not notify him in advance. There are not a few cases of this kind of delivery without notifying the location of the express delivery in advance and waiting for the recipient to check it himself.
Of course, there are also consumers who think that it is not safe to leave the express at the door. It is placed at the post station not far away, and it is more convenient to come back from work to get it yourself.
Under the divergent opinions, the new regulations appeared. The requirements of the new regulations have the least impact on SF and JD.com, as they have already required all couriers to contact customers before the implementation of the new regulations to confirm whether the express can be placed in the express locker or express station.
However, for some express delivery companies, this new regulation is more troublesome, because most of their previous express delivery is directly sent to the express cabinet, express station, and then the pickup code is sent to the customer, and now the implementation of the new regulations may affect the speed of delivery, increase operating costs.
Courier Liu Maochun told the whale dealer: "Now I have to distribute more than 200 pieces of express delivery every day, and I usually put the express delivery in the express cabinet or post station to save time." We don't make much money ourselves, if each express has to be called once in the future to confirm whether to put the express cabinet, then our efficiency will be much lower, to join the customer has something to do not pick up**, more affect the delivery time, but also affect the income. ”
Jiang Yijie, the owner of an express station in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, told the whale merchant that he had paid attention to the new express delivery regulations, but it was not clear what impact it would have on the express delivery site. He said frankly: "I personally feel that it is unlikely that all the couriers will be delivered to your door in the future." Many, many couriers are very cheap, and they also require home delivery, so the courier brother will not only be too busy, but his income will also be reduced. Costs are passed on to the customer. Some customers who have no one at home during the day at work, after being delivered to the door, what should I do if the express is lost, and who is responsible? ”
It is true that what Jiang Yijie said is quite reasonable. As the owner of the express delivery site, Jiang Yijie said that they mainly make money by picking up and sending mail, all year round. The commission amount for picking up a single order is not much, less than 05 yuan, the shipping will be more, one or two three or four pieces are possible. Open all year round, in order to increase profits, some express stations will also be opened in combination with supermarkets and fresh fruit stores.
It can be seen that from the perspective of consumers, couriers, and post stations, they all hope that the new express delivery regulations will give everyone multiple choices. In addition to these perspectives, in the eyes of express delivery companies, the impact of the new regulations is another scene.
Door-to-door delivery is essentially a matter of service efficiency. However, only express delivery companies such as SF Express and JD.com can do it in China. These businesses themselves require all couriers to contact the customer before delivery, confirm whether the delivery can be placed in the delivery locker or delivery station, or directly delivered to the door.
For SF, the express delivery fee is basically about 15 yuan, which has enough profit margin to achieve door-to-door service; Due to the large number of electronic consumer products and the high unit price of customers, JD.com's door-to-door delivery also provides higher added value for its own products. Therefore, the release of the new regulations has little impact on several companies.
On the contrary, express delivery companies such as three links and one reach, J&T, etc., need to start formulating relevant implementation measures.
Let's look at Shentong, Yunda and other companies first. Shentong has launched a value-added service "Shendong Dong", if the sender chooses to deliver to the door, he will have to pay an additional delivery fee at the pickup end, and this part of the fee will basically be given to the delivery end. If you choose this service, you will be given priority to pick-up, and the courier must call when you come to the door.
A Yunda courier also told the whale merchant that a notice has been issued in the work group recently, "For unlabeled shipments, we should make more ** and send more text messages to avoid being complained." He said that in the past, they would generally call in advance for express delivery with key labels such as "call before dispatch" and "home delivery". ”
Best Express has also discussed countermeasures for the new regulations, if each express has to call the recipient in advance or directly deliver to the door, it is necessary to strengthen the manpower, material resources and other aspects of the equipment.
In the final analysis, door-to-door delivery will raise costs and compress the profitability of express delivery companies, couriers, and express stations. Judging by the data, from January to October 2023,Shentong Express's single ticket revenue from 27 yuan slipped to 2$11. According to the YTO semi-annual report, the revenue of a single ticket during the reporting period was 244 yuan, down 0$16.
In addition, the cost of a single express delivery product is 219 yuan, down 0$14. Factors such as the increase in manpower demand in each link, the increase in labor costs, and the decline in express delivery have caused the reality that home delivery is difficult to achieve.
The rookie, which has made up for the shortcomings of the three links and one reach at the end, is also constantly improving its services, especially the end distribution.
As early as July 2022, Cainiao CEO Wan Lin said at Cainiao Open Week that home delivery is the most important thing in 2022. The delivery costs incurred during the door-to-door delivery period are shared by multiple parties. Cainiao will also provide door-to-door delivery services for incentive stations and give a certain amount of subsidies, but the time and labor costs required for door-to-door operations are far greater than those of incentives.
In March 2023, Cainiao announced that it would invest 3 billion yuan to subsidize Cainiao Station sites and continue to strengthen door-to-door delivery services. As a result of this attention, the scale of Cainiao's home delivery has expanded rapidly, and the share of logistics has also increased significantly.
However, at the beginning of 2023, according to the news released by the "Acorn Business Review", there are currently more than 90,000 rookie stations across the country that have opened "Tao Department" door-to-door, and there are only more than 50,000 sites that can be active and deliver goods on a daily basis, and less than 60% of the active door-to-door sites.
In addition, J&T, which started quickly at a low price, cannot be delivered to all of them.
All in all, ** and the service experience are inherently incompatible. If the packages of three links and one reach, rookie and pole rabbit have to be delivered to the door, the cost may have to be passed on to the courier brother and the site, reducing the quality of service; Or pass it on to consumers or merchants, and the advanced practice is to let "the wool come out of the pigs"?
The companies that can achieve door-to-door delivery in a unified manner are currently seeing Cainiao, JD.com, and SF.
According to the "Measures", express delivery companies will be fined up to 30,000 yuan if they use smart express boxes, express service stations and other ways to deliver express mail without the consent of users.
Increasingly stringent requirements have also raised consumers' expectations for the quality of express delivery services, and once the daily service of express delivery companies does not meet the standards, it may lead to a large number of complaints.
Searching for rookies in the black cat complaints, there are 12,182 complaints; Searching SF Express, there are 10,654 complaints; Searching JD.com, there are 4,447 complaints.
If value-added services are introduced, will consumers agree to them? At present, many express companies have launched related services. If customers have the need for home delivery, they can choose value-added services, which will increase the original charging standard by about 1The value-added service fee of 5 yuan can bring 0An income of about 8 yuan. However, this service still needs to be rolled out on an ongoing basis.
Jiang Yijie believes that at present, shopping customers are more willing to use value-added services, while e-commerce merchants with a higher proportion of shipment volume are less willing to use, unless they are merchants who need cold chain delivery.
A Yiwu accessories merchant said to the whale merchant: "If they are all delivered to the door, we will have to increase the price of the original goods of more than a dozen yuan." Because of the courier fee, we estimate that the cost will increase by about 5,000 yuan per month. Other people who do small business in Yiwu are also in a similar situation to me. ”
On the other hand, with the intensification of competition in the industry, home delivery has gradually become the only way for express delivery companies to enter the high-end market.
The "Zhongtong Standard Express" launched by Zhongtong is its high-end express delivery product, providing customers with express delivery services of "accurate timeliness commitment and customized delivery at the end", which has covered 349 cities across the country. Express delivery such as Shentong has also made door-to-door delivery a value-added service, mainly depending on the choice of the shipper.
Looking at the industry's leading player SF Express, in March 2023, it will further expand its coverage to more than 600 cities across the country, and if it is not delivered, it will pay 5 yuan coupons.
In order to better undertake value-added services such as half-day delivery, forwarding, interception and return, insurance and door-to-door delivery, Cainiao Express has increased its recruitment efforts after the Spring Festival this year and provided more than 6,000 courier positions in nearly 70 cities.
Jingdong announced in February this year that Jingdong will launch a "free door-to-door return" service, where there is a "free door-to-door return" label of goods, regardless of size, weight and quantity, can be returned for free, users do not need to spend any freight.
There is also a new player, Douyin E-commerce, which launched a door-to-door delivery service at the end of 2021 to provide merchants with logistics value-added services on the platform. For orders to purchase services, including Zhongtong, Yuantong and Yunda Express companies, they promise to deliver to their homes, and the charges are 0$8 per bill.
In view of the three-legged situation of rookies, JD.com, and SF Express, are new players and old players waiting and watching or pulling together? If you are ready to pull Qi, how should the courier costs incurred be apportioned? After all, many express delivery companies do not have the user mentality of JD.com and SF Express, and it may be more difficult to raise prices.
Moreover, for many merchants, the express delivery fee affects the whole body, and the product will inevitably rise. The main affordable consumption of major e-commerce platforms, as well as many nine yuan and nine free shipping products, will be implicated.
Therefore, balancing the competitiveness of low price and high-quality service quality is also one of the core criteria for the competition of express delivery companies. In this way, the space left for express companies to fight the best war is getting smaller and smaller. Finally, it is necessary to reduce costs and increase efficiency from technical means, and force the transformation of the development mode of this labor-intensive industry. Hotspot Engine Program