In 2022, the express market has a “good start”.
On January 4, according to the news released on the official website of the State Post Office, the monitoring data of the State Post Office showed that from January 1 to 3, the overall operation of the national postal express industry was safe, stable and orderly, receiving 920 million express parcels, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%; 960 million express packages were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%.
With the end of the new year’s Day holiday and the approaching of the Spring Festival holiday, the first peak season of the express market in 2022 has also come. Many express enterprises are actively preparing to provide service guarantee for consumers.
several express companies “don’t close during the Spring Festival”
The reporter of the international finance news learned from a number of express companies that this year, the mainstream express companies will continue the “Spring Festival does not close” mode. On December 14, 2021, deppon express took the lead in announcing that “the Spring Festival will last forever”, and it will operate normally during the Spring Festival in 2022. Then on December 26, Zhongtong express and Yunda express successively released the service announcement of “no closing for the Spring Festival” in 2022 on the official website. The service time is from January 30, 2022 (December 28) to February 4, 2022 (the fourth day of the first month). Normal express services are provided on other days, and the service scope is all over the country (except epidemic areas and remote areas). Subsequently, Jitu express, Sto Express Co.Ltd(002468) , SF express and JD logistics followed suit and successively opened the “Spring Festival does not close” mode in 2022.
Generally, during the Spring Festival, each express company will temporarily increase the express unit price. At present, in the announcement, Zhongtong express clearly proposed to adjust the guidance price. The increase of each order of express mail of 1kg or less shall not exceed 1.5 yuan, the increase of first weight quotation of express mail of 1kg or more shall not exceed 1.5 yuan, and the increase of renewal quotation shall not exceed 0.3 yuan. Jitu express also said that affected by the epidemic situation, traffic, weather and other factors, the express price, timeliness and service scope will also be adjusted.
In this regard, in the recently released transportation research, Anxin Securities said that there were few orders during the Spring Festival, and the delivery fees of couriers were relatively high. It is expected that the price rise will mainly be used to pay the temporary costs of outlets and couriers, which will boost the prices of the industry.
In order to ensure that “the Spring Festival does not close”, many express companies have made it clear that they will give incentives to front-line employees. Zhongtong express said that it will provide perfect incentive policies and welfare guarantee for the front-line employees left behind during the Spring Festival, so as to ensure the happy new year and stable service quality. Extreme rabbit express will also provide corresponding welfare guarantee for employees left behind during the Spring Festival, so as to ensure that the first-line express brother has a happy new year and provide high-quality services for customers.
However, it should be noted that for express companies, especially listed express companies, the investment of temporary resources will also put pressure on the company’s costs and have the risk of affecting the company’s profits. Some listed companies have “suffered losses” in this regard. In the first quarter of 2021, SF had a huge loss, one of the reasons was related to the increase in costs during the Spring Festival. SF said in its announcement at that time: in response to the arrangement that the e-commerce platform will not close during the Spring Festival this year, SF gave a record high subsidy to the first and second tier on-the-job personnel in the first quarter, and the operating cost increased in the short term.
the new competition of “100 billion era” begins
The reporter noted that in addition to the double growth of receiving and delivering express in the express market during the new year’s Day holiday, the mainstream listed express companies also ushered in a “good start” on the first trading day of 2022.
As of today’s closing, among A-share listed express companies, Yto Express Group Co.Ltd(600233) rose 3.48% and S.F.Holding Co.Ltd(002352) rose 3.63%; Yunda Holding Co.Ltd(002120) rose 4.01%, Sto Express Co.Ltd(002468) rose 5.06%, Deppon Logistics Co.Ltd(603056) today’s share price also rose 1.76%.
Just in the past December 2021, China’s express business volume exceeded 100 billion pieces. It ended successfully in 2021 and officially entered the era of 100 billion. The competition among express enterprises is also moving towards a new stage. Zhao Xiaomin, a senior express industry expert, said that since 2021, the postal express industry has experienced a great innovation from “price war” to anti “internal volume”. While the business volume continues to reach a new high, the game among express enterprises is also moving towards a new stage. From blindly pursuing quantity in the past to paying equal attention to quantity and quality, or quality first, quantity resonates with quality, which has become the consensus of high-quality development in the industry.
The reporter noted that at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, regulatory authorities and express enterprises have also made many new actions. At the regulatory level, recently, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Beijing, Tibet and other provinces and cities have issued implementation plans or implementation opinions to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of courier groups. The policy focuses on courier insurance, salary income, 0.1 yuan distribution adjustment and other issues.
At the enterprise level, in December 2021, Yuantong’s fixed increase of RMB 3.8 billion was implemented; In January this year, the high-end product “yuanzhunda” was officially launched for customers, shifting from price competition to value competition at the product level. SF also completed a huge fixed increase of 20 billion in the same period; In addition, by the end of 2021, Shunfeng airport will start school flight, which is expected to be put into trial operation in June this year. Zhongtong express, a subsidiary of Zhongtong, announced the completion of a financing of more than US $300 million before the new year. Yunda also sent a signal to the market in December 2021: do not rule out exploring more equity financing means at an appropriate time……
Zhao Xiaomin said that in the face of changes in the industry logic, the urgent task for express enterprise operators is to break the past “old rules and bad habits”, jump out of the existing thinking framework, and realize that the express industry is a link between commercial circulation and commercial trade. We should deeply participate in the whole business activities based on our different business models. At the same time, we should grasp the changes of national industrial policies, timely adjust the direction of capital expenditure, upgrade and optimize the network, adjust the product structure, and seek differentiated competition. As the “price war” of express delivery has reached the critical point, no further price reduction can improve the market share, and even miss the final development opportunity; Taking into account the current level of industry competition, changes in regulatory policies, the establishment of a comprehensive guarantee mechanism for couriers and the adjustment of the national industrial structure, new requirements will be put forward for the governance structure, network stability, capital operation and end incentive mechanism of express enterprises.
(International Finance News)
