Core key point

• The "Singles Day" express receives goods quickly because the goods are delivered near the users in the pre-sale period.

• Tmall Mall to achieve "as soon as the order is delivered", as a pre-position of the Dan bird site can not be ignored.

• The rookie network that hatched Dan Bird is already the underlying operating system for the whole BABA.

• Under the high cost input, JD Logistics, Inc. may usher in a breakthrough after full opening up and independent operation.

• Pinduoduo, an e-commerce upstart, has made a breakthrough in logistics to become the biggest variable in the industry pattern.

"the logistics of Singles Day is too fast. I paid the last payment in the early morning and received the goods in the morning. "

As expected, Tmall's "Singles Day" is still hot this year, with transaction volume and logistics orders reaching record highs. Different from the topic of slow delivery in previous years, there are more and more voices lamenting the astonishingly fast logistics speed of "Singles Day" this year, and "double 11 delivery speed" has become the focus of discussion on social media-there are user feedback, orders placed in the early hours of November 11, and delivery will be notified by couriers the next morning.

As the arrival speed is too fast, netizens joked that this is a "defensive delivery", saying that they were still thinking about a refund after impulsive payment, but woke up and sent things directly home, which made people feel embarrassed to return.

It is really confusing to be able to achieve such a delivery speed during the "Singles Day" period-even when logistics is not tight, it is rare for orders to be delivered within a few hours.

The secret is hidden in the presale.

In fact, the reason why the goods can arrive so quickly is not because the couriers take the goods all the way to the receiving place in the wee hours of the morning, but that the goods have already arrived near the users before the payment is finished, and the logistics records reveal the answer.

The pre-sale period for this year's "Singles Day" begins on October 21, and more and more merchants are adopting the pre-sale model. If the user pays a deposit during the pre-sale period, the goods will be sent to the nearest place of business by the express delivery company. On November 11, after users paid the final payment, the goods only a few kilometers away from them, or even at the downstairs station, set off.

From the initial "burst" and "slow delivery" to today's phenomenal high-speed logistics, consumer carnival "Singles Day" transaction volume reached a new high at the same time, platforms, express companies and businesses are also constantly iterating logistics capabilities.

The scramble for time is also a competition for the voice of e-commerce giants on the moat of business.

Behind the efficient distribution

The "pre-sale extremely fast" model is the reason why BABA's e-commerce under "Singles Day" this year can arrive by lightning.

This year's "Singles Day", in order to cope with the huge logistics orders, BABA's logistics project Cainiao Network joined many brands to launch the "pre-sale extremely fast" model.That is, part of the pre-sold goods will be distributed in advance to the Dan Bird site as a pre-position, and the distribution distance will be shortened to less than 10 kilometers.

The purpose of the "pre-sale express" model is to cushion logistics pressure. For merchants, pre-sold goods are shipped ahead of time, allowing them to free up more warehouse capacity and arrange off-peak shipments. As far as express companies are concerned, the delivery pressure that originally accumulated after November 11 has been "uniform" for a longer period of time, couriers can have a relatively smooth transition.

The logistics time is greatly shortened, which is inseparable from the data support of BABA platform system. according to the public introduction, the e-commerce platform can be based on users.Browse goods, add shopping carts, add favorites, participate in the pre-sale of goods, etc.Predict the sales volume of goods in a certain area, so that the courier company can ship the goods with large volume to the warehouse of the express company ahead of time, or closer to the consumer.

Prior to this, Cainiao disclosed data from the intelligent logistics backbone network that the largest stock of Tmall's "Singles Day" in 2019 was facial masks, women's care products and toiletries. In addition, popular goods will also be prepared according to regional differences, such as the rookie warehouse in the south has a lot of thermal underwear, while the northeast is more grain, oil and rice noodles.

From the preparation before the festival to the final realization of "delivery as soon as the order is issued", the Dan Bird site which is used as a pre-position plays an important role.

Danjiao is the landing distribution business under Cainiao, which is different from traditional express delivery, which belongs to regional distribution, pays attention to refinement and specialization, and has an advantage in timeliness and distribution ability. According to the introduction of Dan Bird's official website, at present, it is mainly focused on aging products, a total of three categories: the same day, the next day and the next day.

The Dan Bird brand, which was just released in May this year, conducted its first military training in the following "618" promotion season. according to public information, at 10:00 on June 18, Dan Bird has let consumers in more than 1700 districts and counties across the country receive Tmall "618" parcels ordered that day. In Beijing, nearly 95% of the parcels have reached the current day.

During the "Singles Day" period this year, Danniao site was transformed into the front position of the torrent of goods, which is the solution provided by BABA to assist express delivery companies and alleviate the logistics pressure of "Singles Day".

Many users who have received the "Singles Day" express delivery have found that the express delivery has been sent to the "Suzhou hairy crab distribution point."

This phenomenon occurs because, during the hairy crab fishing season in September, both Shun Feng, a leading express delivery company, and Danjiao, a new brand, have launched a "hairy crab special line" green channel to ensure priority circulation and delivery.The logistics system was then reused to "Singles Day".

The limitation and service quality of Dan Bird's products are already different from the general express delivery products in the market. according to the information disclosed on the official website, Dan Bird will establish high-standard distribution services from Beijing and other core cities; in terms of business model, when serving Tmall supermarket, Dan Bird adopted a warehouse allocation model similar to JD Logistics, Inc..

Obviously, the rookie through the support of Danjiao to the standard Shun Feng, JD Logistics, Inc. high-quality logistics company intention is obvious.This means that since 2013, through the formation of rookies to enhance the logistics experience in the system.BABA formally deepened the tentacles of logistics into JD Logistics, Inc. 's advantageous areas.

The rookie invaded JD.com 's hinterland.

Logistics is an important infrastructure for the smooth operation of the e-commerce system. Compared with JD.com 's heavy investment in self-built logistics system, logistics is the weakness of BABA's e-commerce business.

In order to enhance the experience, BABA has made many attempts, such as investing in Xingchen, which is positioned as e-commerce logistics, and supporting Best Express, which made it the earliest logistics enterprise to be included by BABA in its logistics ecology, but the results of the above attempts are not very satisfactory.

In 2013, BABA took the lead with Shunfeng and Santong Yida (Shentong, Yuantong, ZTO Express, Yunda) to set up Cainiao Network Technology Co., Ltd., positioning collaborative e-commerce platform and express company logistics platform. In the company's ownership structure, Tmall invests 2.15 billion, accounting for 43% of the shares; Yuantong, Shentong, Yunda and ZTO Express each contribute 50 million, accounting for 1% of the shares.

In 2017, BABA's stake in Cainiao will increase from 47 per cent to 51 per cent and a new board seat will be added, accounting for four of the seven seats on the board of directors. On the eve of Singles Day this year, BABA's stake in Cainiao increased from about 51 per cent to about 63 per cent. At present, Zhang Yong, CEO of BABA Group, is also chairman of Cainiao Network.A series of movements is not difficult to see how much BABA attaches importance to rookies.

The core model of Cainiao network is to build an online operating system for express companies, that is, Cainiao itself does not do logistics, but based on the collection of information from express companies to provide different levels of services for express companies.Wan Lin, president of Cainiao Network, once said that Cainiao was a data company and technology company from the day it was founded.

Although there is a "technology company" positioning, but in the first two years after its establishment, Cainiao carried out rapid horse racing enclosures and self-built warehousing centers across the country. According to data obtained by Tencent Science and Technology, Cainiao Network has won land in 14 cities across the country in 2016, of which the investment in land construction and storage in Zhengzhou is 4.7 billion, in Wuhan is 60 to 8 billion, and in Chengdu Shuangliu is 2 billion. Cainiao Network has invested more than 20 billion in land construction and warehousing across the country. This is related to the strategy of "Skynet + ground Network" put forward by Cainiao Network at that time. The so-called "Skynet" refers to online platforms such as Taobao and Tmall, while "ground Network" is offline logistics enterprises.

The purpose of Cainiao network self-building warehouse is to improve logistics efficiency, but the impact of this practice on express companies is that the warehouse allocation mode changes the circulation path of e-commerce parcels and weakens the delivery function of express enterprises. as a result, express enterprises lose direct contact with customers, and their dependence on Cainiao network will become more and more serious. Therefore, this practice also raises questions about "BABA wants to stir up the master of logistics co-ordination, and the express delivery company should start to work for him."

In 2016, Liu Qiangdong said of Cainiao's network on CCTV's "Dialogue": the essence is to build data systems on several express delivery companies. To put it bluntly, it is to improve their efficiency. Finally, most of the profits of several express delivery companies will be sucked away by Cainiao logistics.

In this regard, Cainiao Network retorted that Liu Qiangdong did not understand platform sharing, and could only focus on squeezing partners' profits to support themselves, and did not understand the significance of enabling partners, upgrading the industry, and prospering the ecology.

In 2017, Shunfeng, one of the rookie shareholders, clashed with Cainiao, first accusing Shunfeng of shutting down its data interface to Cainiao in the early hours of June 1. Subsequently, Shunfeng said that the rookie took the lead in blocking Fengnao, and the ultimate goal was to switch SF from Tencent Cloud to Aliyun.

The contradiction between Cainiao network and express delivery companies has been spread out in the sun, but for most delivery companies, most of their business comes from BABA e-commerce, so partnering with Cainiao network is a better choice. After the public bad relationship between Shunfeng and Cainiao Network, the pattern of Cainiao Network dominated by BABA, JD Logistics, Inc. built by JD.com and Shunfeng standing side by side at the top of the hill appeared.

Shunfeng's alienation did not stop the progress of the rookie network.

On the one hand, BABA strengthened his control over the express delivery company through investment. after serving as the chairman of Cainiao again in March 2018, Zhang Yong quickly promoted the capital action of the express delivery company. at present, BABA is the largest shareholder of BEST INC. It is the second largest shareholder of Shentong Express, Yuantong Express and SUNING, and the third largest shareholder of ZTO Express. For Yunda, Zhang is looking for investment opportunities to buy shares.

On the other hand, through investment card world, express delivery, Vientiane logistics, Xinyi Technology, Beiling Technology, Express Warehouse, delivery Sifang and other enterprises, Cainiao network has successively enriched its own regional transportation, intelligent express cabinets, warehousing operation, cross-border logistics and other businesses. In 2016, Cainiao Network successively bought shares in Vientiane Logistics, Shengbang Logistics, Sesame door and other landing distribution companies, and acquired them wholly in 2018 to form Cainiao New Retail Distribution Alliance, which is the predecessor of Danjiao. The proportion of shares held by rookies to Daniao reached 50.7%.

After continuous expansion, todayCainiao network has become a huge enterprise covering warehouse distribution network, express delivery platform, logistics cloud, Cainiao post station, supply chain finance and other business.

From the pace of Cainiao network business expansion, we can see that the positioning of its service BABA has always been clear. At present, BABA's core e-commerce business has expanded from Tmall and Taobao to new retail business mainly composed of Box Horse, Tmall supermarket, import business and Yintai, facing the new logistics demand of the new retail business. Cainiao network immediately followed up with the launch of Danjiao brand.

It is not difficult to see that the Cainiao network has become an offline infrastructure for BABA's online business and one of the underlying operating systems for BABA.BABA once again brought the platform thinking to the extreme.

Unstoppable logistics war

This "Singles Day", thanks to Dan Bird, BABA provided logistics services sufficient to match JD.com on some orders. once BABA breaks the gap, JD.com 's moat self-logistics will be greatly challenged.

Unlike BABA's means of building an alliance through a rookie network and then gradually closing the net, JD Logistics, Inc. has done his own warehousing and distribution from the very beginning.
In 2007, in the face of the current situation that the service quality of third-party express companies seriously affected the user experience, and based on the judgment of the extraordinarily high cost of China's logistics industry, Liu Qiangdong rejected public opinions under the background of opposition from investors and other senior executives of JD.com. JD Logistics, Inc. was founded.

The main business link of traditional express companies is "parts-distribution-distribution" (such as "three links", "Shunfeng"). Because there is no warehouse, it pursues the rapid flow of goods among many outlets. The transit point of the express company is used to sort the goods, and each express point receives and delivers goods, and the logistics network is complex.

JD.com 's logistics model is relatively simple, the business link is "warehousing-transportation-distribution", that is, directly delivering goods from the warehouse to consumers' homes.The core of this model is to reduce the number of times the goods are moved. A commodity is distributed through a traditional express company and needs to be tossed around from site to site, while JD Logistics, Inc. does not need to do so to ensure the speed of distribution.However, JD.com 's logistics model requires high warehousing capacity, which requires sufficient coverage and density to make goods closer to customers and form economies of scale.

In early 2009, JD.com set up a logistics company and began to lay out the logistics system across the country. JD.com 's seven major logistics centers in North, East, South, Southwest, Central, Northeast and Northwest China cover major cities in China, and have set up secondary warehouses in Hangzhou and other cities, with a storage area of more than 1 million square meters by the end of 2012.

After listing, JD.com continued to increase logistics investment. In 2014, JD.com announced that his first "Asia No. 1" modern logistics center (Phase I) in Shanghai had been officially put into use on the eve of the "Singles Day" promotion. The construction area of the first phase of the "Asia No. 1" project in Shanghai was close to 100000 square meters. the warehouse height reached 24 meters. This year's "Singles Day", all of JD Logistics, Inc. 's 25 "Asia No.1" have been put into use.

In addition to warehousing, distribution is also self-run by JD.com. According to JD.com 's 2018 financial report, JD Logistics, Inc. had 95138 couriers and 29139 warehouse staff by the end of 2018, a total of 124277 people. In addition,JD.com Guan Peisheng training period must be in the logistics warehouse front-line rotation, but also need to fight in person during the promotion period.

JD Logistics, Inc. has been a behemoth with the development so far, and the C-end logistics service that people are most familiar with is just the tip of the iceberg. Fu Bing, head of JD Logistics, Inc. Comprehensive Planning Group, said JD Logistics, Inc. 's supply chain and warehouse allocation system includes both To C and To B, covering a full range of products, cold chain, cross-border services and other services, so it is a comprehensive service body.

At present, JD Logistics, Inc. has become a moat for JD.com. JD Logistics, Inc. 's distribution quality is well-known, but its high-cost proprietary model has always been controversial in terms of business prospects.

According to JD.com 's prospectus when he went public in 2014, JD.com 's investment in logistics construction from 2009 to 2013 was 144 million yuan, 477 million yuan, 1.515 billion yuan, 3.061 billion yuan and 4.1 billion yuan respectively.

Behind the strength is heavy losses. This year, JD.com 's adjustment of couriers' pay caused an uproar. Liu Qiangdong explained in an internal letter that JD Logistics, Inc. lost more than 2.3 billion yuan in 2018, the 12th year of loss. The main reason is that there are too few external units and too many internal units, and the funds raised by JD Logistics, Inc. are only enough to lose money for two years.

In the face of difficulties, JD.com is also making adjustments.

In 2016, JD.com officially announced the opening of logistics business to the outside world to provide services to third-party merchants. At that time, Wang Zhenhui, former senior vice president of JD.com Group and head of the operating system of JD.com Mall, proposed that it would take JD Logistics, Inc. five years to increase the proportion of foreign single income to 50%, with the overall scale reaching the income level of 100 billion yuan.

According to Wang Zhenhui's thinking, JD Logistics, Inc. 's foreign orders mainly come from two aspects, one is the third-party merchants on JD.com Mall, these merchants can directly store the goods in JD.com 's warehouses all over the country, and then deliver the goods through JD Logistics, Inc. 's distribution; second, other e-commerce companies that do not have a self-logistics system.

An interesting phenomenon happened:JD Logistics, Inc., who started his own business, is gradually opening up, while the platform-started rookie network is gradually closing down. Although the paths are different, the two goals are the same: to make the logistics business bigger while serving its own e-commerce and new retail business.

The goal of the Cainiao network is "24 hours in the country and 72 hours all over the world." to achieve this goal, the ability of landing matching is indispensable, and this is the hinterland of JD Logistics, Inc.. It is not difficult to see that as the territories of the two e-commerce giants increasingly cross each other, the friction between the two sides will gradually escalate.

Although the performance during the "Singles Day" period brought some surprises, compared with JD Logistics, Inc., who has been ploughing for many years, Dan Bird, as a new business, is still immature, and bad reviews related to it are not uncommon.

According to the information disclosed on JD Logistics, Inc. 's official website, at present, JD Logistics, Inc. 's large and small-sized network has achieved 100% coverage in administrative districts and counties in the mainland, and proprietary distribution services cover 99% of the country's population.More than 90% of proprietary orders can be delivered within 24 hours.

According to Zhou Lifang, head of the JD Logistics, Inc. experience guarantee Center, JD Logistics, Inc. reached 90% of the districts and counties 24 hours a day this year. With the huge coverage network and the first integrated warehouse model, JD Logistics, Inc. has occupied the brand awareness of high-end logistics services. After fully opening up and operating independently, JD Logistics, Inc. entered a period of expansion. Scale effect, model innovation and the application of unmanned technology may become the way for JD Logistics, Inc. to break through.

meanwhile,The rise of Pinduoduo, an upstart in e-commerce, has also added new variables to the logistics industry.During the earnings call in the second quarter of this year, Pinduoduo founder and CEO Huang Zheng revealed that Pinduoduo is developing a "new logistics" technology platform, which will adopt a light-asset and open model and focus on providing solutions for businesses and users through technology. He also mentioned that the "new logistics" platform will remain open.

This idea is quite similar to the Cainiao network, but as BABA gradually brings in important players in the logistics industry, there are not many options in front of Pinduoduo, and self-built logistics will face extremely high cost investment. Therefore, with the continuous expansion of e-commerce business, logistics bottlenecks will become more prominent. In the face of common competitors, whether Pinduoduo will form an alliance with other players is the biggest variable in the industry.

The end of logistics has not yet been revealed, and it is precisely under the fierce competition from e-commerce platforms that the time for Chinese consumers to receive parcels has been shortened by one second.

Futu is ready to go. Starting from today, we will open an appointment to participate in "group play new activities". If you succeed in group buying, you will get a lucky draw and have a better chance to win.8888 red envelopes in cash。

3 people can form a group, and if you join the group, you may get a lot of rewards such as interest-free financing card, BABA stock card, Hong Kong dollar cash and so on. 10-member group and 20-member group will be rewarded more richly.