The sheer volume of packages from these fast-fashion giants has led to increased air freight costs from key Asian hubs, creating capacity shortages and eliminating traditional off-peak seasons.
What Happened: According to Reuters, e-commerce giants like Shein and Temu — owned by PDD Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PDD) — are reshaping the dynamics of air freight. The two companies, alone, send nearly 600,000 packages to the U.S. every day, as reported by the U.S. Congress in June 2023.
Even TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of ByteDance, has emerged as a major player in the shipping space due to the substantial volume of products directly from Chinese factories to consumers worldwide via air cargo.
"The biggest trend impacting air freight right now is not the Red Sea," says Basile Ricard, director of Greater China operations at freight forwarder Bollore Logistics, referring to the ongoing conflict in the Red Sea disrupting the cargo industry. "It's Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein or Temu."
Data from Cargo Facts Consulting shows the daily tonnage shipped:
Why It Matters: Global expansion further intensifies the pressure on air cargo capacity.
Temu, for example, will continue to disrupt traditional markets and reshape consumer expectations as it expands across Korea and Japan.
In Korea, Temu's strategic marketing tactics, including discounts of up to 90%, free returns, and enticing rewards, have led to a tenfold increase in subscribers, reaching 5.7 million in January.
In Japan, Temu's monthly user base reached a staggering 15.5 million in January 2024. That's more than the combined user base of Japan's three major mainstream e-commerce platforms: Amazon Shopping, Rakuten Market, and Yahoo! Shopping.
As the air cargo industry grapples with this new reality, it becomes evident that the biggest trend impacting air freight today is the unstoppable force of Chinese fast-fashion e-commerce platforms.
這些快時尚巨頭的龐大包裹量導致亞洲主要樞紐的空運成本增加，造成運力短缺，並消除了傳統的非旺季。
發生了什麼：據路透社報道，PDD Holdings Inc（納斯達克股票代碼：PDD）旗下的Shein和Temu等電子商務巨頭正在重塑空運的動態。根據美國國會2023年6月的報告，僅這兩家公司每天就向美國發送近60萬個包裹。
甚至ByteDance的電子商務部門TikTok Shop也已成爲航運領域的主要參與者，這是因爲大量產品通過航空貨運直接從中國工廠運送給全球消費者。
貨運代理商Bollore Logistics大中華區業務董事巴西爾·裏卡德說：“目前影響空運的最大趨勢不是紅海，” 他指的是紅海持續的衝突擾亂了貨運業。“是像Shein或Temu這樣的中國電子商務公司。”
來自Cargo Facts Consulting的數據顯示了每日裝運噸位：
爲何重要：全球擴張進一步加劇了航空貨運能力的壓力。
例如，隨着Temu在韓國和日本的擴張，Temu將繼續顛覆傳統市場並重塑消費者的預期。
在韓國，Temu的戰略營銷策略，包括高達90％的折扣、免費退貨和誘人的獎勵，使訂閱人數增長了十倍，在1月份達到570萬。
在日本，Temu的月用戶群在2024年1月達到驚人的1,550萬。這超過了日本三大主流電子商務平台的總用戶群：亞馬遜購物、樂天市場和雅虎！購物。
隨着航空貨運行業努力應對這一新現實，很明顯，當今影響空運的最大趨勢是中國快時尚電子商務平台不可阻擋的力量。
