Pinduoduo enters the express terminal market The "last 100 meters" dark war has started again?

Financial Associated Press | New Consumption Daily (reporter Gao Mengyang, Chen Mei, Li Danyu) news, with the entry of Pinduoduo, the express terminal market that has been silent for a long time has made waves again.

After the Spring Festival, some sources said that Duoduo will have to lay out the end market of express delivery, and the specific model is similar to the rookie station. At the same time, the reporter of the New Consumption Daily also found that Duoduo buying vegetables was named Duoduo Station, and has begun to recruit qualified stations to settle in.

For a time, industry controversies abounded.

On February 17, the Xiamen Postal Administration of Fujian Province issued the "Regulatory Tips on the Suspected Illegal Operation of Express Delivery Business of "Duoduo Buying Vegetables" on its official website. On the same day, the Postal Administration of Henan Province also issued a regulatory notice, pointing out that "a certain e-commerce platform enterprise" was suspected of being unqualified to engage in express delivery business activities, and put forward a solemn warning to relevant enterprises.

At the same time, there have been recent market rumors that a number of rookie stations have received cainiao news that they are required to prohibit the station from accessing third-party collection service systems such as Pinduoduoduoduoduoduo.

For the controversy of the industry and related departments, some relevant people of Pinduoduo previously told the media that Pinduoduo did not carry out express delivery collection business at all sites of Duoduoduo, but provided a "duoduoduoduo" collection service system for sites with express delivery business qualifications.

In fact, in the terminal market, in addition to the third-party rookie station, in order to alleviate the pressure of terminal distribution, major express delivery companies have built their own terminal store system, such as Zhongtong Tuxi, Yunda Express Supermarket, Shentong Meow Station, Yuantong Mother Station, etc. In the third-party station and collection platform, there are also players such as Quick Treasure Station, Panda Fast Collection, and Small Soldier Station.

With the entry of more groceries, the end market of express delivery, which is becoming more and more explosive, has begun a new round of dark warfare.

Buy more vegetables with high subsidies into the express terminal market

"The subsidy for buying more vegetables is indeed very large." Zhang Qiang runs a convenience store in Guangzhou and also works part-time as the head of several community group buying platforms. Recently, he and many regiment leaders have found that the regimental commander who buys more vegetables has more options for express delivery.

After the introduction of customer service, Zhang Qiang found that the threshold for applying for the service system of buying more vegetables is not high. Only need to pay a deposit of 1000 yuan.

Zhang Qiang told the "New Consumption Daily" reporter that the first batch of settlement can enjoy high subsidies, including a settlement subsidy of 3,000 yuan, a parcel subsidy of up to 500 yuan per day, free SMS and intelligent voice notification, and a PDA and printer that are sent when stationed.

It is worth noting that the promotional poster also suggests that Duoduo buys vegetables to collect points and has achieved system access with express delivery companies such as Zhongtong, Yuantong, Shentong, Yunda, Postal, and Jitu.

However, Zhang Qiang also told the New Consumption Daily that it is easy to join the collection point service system of buying more vegetables, but there is still a threshold to get subsidies.

"New Consumption Daily" learned from some sites that have joined the Duoduo grocery collection service system that within a certain period of time to become a cooperative site, the terminal system of Duoduoduoduo should be used to operate the daily parcel in and out of the warehouse, and the number of parcels out of the warehouse can only get the corresponding subsidies.

The settlement subsidy of 3,000 yuan is also issued according to 1,000 yuan per time, which is issued on the 30th, 60th and 90th days of the effective days of operation of the site.

A courier brother told the "New Consumption Daily" reporter that when the express delivery, if the user does not answer the phone, it is often also informed in the form of a text message. "When there are many packages, hundreds of text messages are sent a day, and sometimes the courier industry only sms fees are not a small expense."

Obviously, the franchise subsidy policy for buying more vegetables on behalf of the collection point, such as free text messages, is formulated for the current business pain points of the terminal market.

The smell of gunpowder in the express terminal market is getting stronger

From the threshold of subsidies, it is not difficult to see that the current collection point service system of buying more vegetables is more to strive for the end of express delivery such as the station.

Li Wei, who runs a rookie station in Kaifeng, Henan Province, told New Consumption Daily that in addition to the franchise fee, the monthly cost of operating the station includes rent, labor, SMS fees, and other miscellaneous expenses such as water and electricity.

However, the income structure of the express station is relatively simple, which is linked to the average daily storage volume, mainly relying on the collection and delivery fees of express delivery.

A logistics source, who did not want to be named, said that the daily volume of 500 parcels is the level of profit and loss of the station. "Generally speaking, a package placed in the station will deduct 0.5 yuan from the courier brother, 500 packages a day, equivalent to more than 200 yuan, a month down only the station package, at least 6, 7 thousand yuan of flow."

"This flow of water basically feeds a station, plus hardware investment such as outlet PDA, and printers are sent, then the upfront cost is very low." The logistics person said.

Li Wei said that the cost of express delivery and delivery every month is relatively stable, so many sites will try to do community business such as community group buying.

"Seeing the subsidy policy of buying more vegetables, I am really a little moved." Li Wei revealed to the New Consumption Daily that there are already some rookie stations around him that need to be replaced by collection points for buying more vegetables, and recently the staff related to buying more vegetables has also taken the initiative to go to his station to do publicity.

"The day before yesterday, the regional manager of Cainiao Station told me that if there were more people who bought more vegetables to promote, I told him, and after I told him, I directly told me that I couldn't cooperate, otherwise I would be cleared." In Li Wei's view, Duoduoduo has only done a third-party collection service system at present, and has not directly built its own station, but it has made Cainiao feel the pressure.

In fact, during the Spring Festival, Cainiao Station once released a "Reminder of Precautions for Resuming Work during the Spring Festival". This "reminder" shows that according to the relevant provisions of the "Cainiao Station Cooperation Agreement", the use of a third-party receiving system to enter the warehouse is a breach of contract; once found, Cainiao has the right to deduct 12 points according to the agreement, and has the right to terminate cooperation with the station, and the account associated with the same cooperation entity cannot be re-settled in the Cainiao Station within one year.

A number of rookie station managers have also reacted that rookie stationers emphasize in the new learning content that it is not allowed to buy more vegetables into the warehouse station, and will be permanently withdrawn after being discovered. The contest between Duoduo buying vegetables and rookie stations also reflects the glue competition in the last kilometer of the express delivery industry.

In the 10 years from 2011 to 2021, the volume of express delivery business increased by 26.2 times, while the number of couriers increased by less than 5 times. Behind this data discrepancy is the huge development space of the express terminal market.

In fact, in the third-party stations and collection platforms of the terminal market, in addition to the rookie station, there are also players such as quick treasure station, panda fast collection, and small soldier station. At the same time, in order to alleviate the pressure of receiving and distribution, major express delivery companies have also built their own terminal store systems, such as Zhongtong Tuxi, Yunda Express Supermarket, Shentong Meow Station, Yuantong Mother Station, etc.

Although this reminder does not specify which third-party receiving system, some insiders said that under normal circumstances, the station's site and the system are definitely integrated, and under normal circumstances, access to third parties is normal business competition.

A panda fast collection staff revealed to reporters that various express delivery companies tend to support their own terminal store brands, and many panda fast collection outlets no longer cooperate with Yuantong and Zhongtong, and turn to the development of their own brands.

And buying more vegetables is also facing this situation. At present, Ali has shares in Shentong, Yuantong, Zhongtong, etc., and whether it can continue to cooperate in the future is a mystery.

However, the biggest controversy in the industry about buying more vegetables to enter the terminal market is whether the practice of buying more vegetables needs relevant qualifications?

"Qualification" disputes for third-party service systems

However, despite the recent promotion of the third-party service system of Duoduoduo, it has received a roll call from the local POSTAL Administration.

On February 17, the Xiamen Postal Administration of Fujian Province issued the "Regulatory Tips on the Suspected Illegal Operation of Express Delivery Business of "Duoduo Buying Vegetables" on its official website.

The "Regulatory Tips" mentioned that "buy more vegetables" has not yet obtained a courier business license in Xiamen, and enterprises and individuals in the city should strengthen the examination of business qualifications in the process of joining cooperation and business entrustment, and must not operate express delivery business without permission, nor can they entrust enterprises that have not obtained express delivery business licenses to operate express delivery business.

At about the same time, although the enterprise was not specifically specified, the Henan Postal Administration also issued a market supervision notice: enterprises without express delivery business license qualifications must not be entrusted to operate express delivery business.

For a time, the industry set off a discussion about whether third-party service systems need qualifications to enter the end market.

According to the Interim Regulations on Express Delivery, which came into effect on May 1, 2018, the express delivery industry belongs to the national access industry and can only be engaged in the express delivery industry after approval. Otherwise, it is illegal to operate. Article 17 stipulates that to operate express delivery business, it shall obtain a business license for express delivery business in accordance with law. In addition, according to the provisions of the Postal Law, if you engage in express delivery business without approval, you can be fined more than 50,000 yuan and up to 200,000 yuan.

In this regard, a few days ago, a relevant person from Pinduoduo told the media that Pinduoduo did not carry out express delivery business at all sites of Duoduoduo, but provided a "duoduoduoduo" collection service system for sites with express delivery business qualifications.

Li Wei told New Consumption Daily that for a long time, there have been differences in supervision between temporary storage and collection services and express delivery services.

In his view, the key to whether there is a violation or not is whether the three hundred percent have been implemented: 100 percent unpacking and inspection of the mail; 100 percent real name; and 100 percent security inspection.

It is worth noting that Article 18 of the Interim Regulations on Express Delivery has specific provisions on the terminal outlets of express delivery: enterprises in the express delivery business and their branches may open express delivery terminal outlets according to business needs, and shall file with the local postal administration department within 20 days from the date of establishment, and the express delivery terminal outlets do not need to apply for a business license.

That is to say, if the merchant only opens a courier terminal outlet to engage in express delivery collection, it only needs to go to the local postal administration department for the record, without applying for a business license.

Li Wei said that in the current reality, many express delivery collection points have not yet applied for any corresponding licenses or filings. "Especially in the collection point in the community, this situation does not exist."

In fact, because the station is still a new format of the express delivery market, the degree of industry standardization is not high.

Head players such as Cainiao Station also obtained service station operating business licenses issued by Zhejiang and Fujian Postal Administrations after June 2019, setting a precedent in the industry.

At present, if you buy more vegetables, if you build your own station system like a rookie station, you need a business license. However, if the practice of only cutting in from a third-party system is illegal, it also depends on the specific situation.

"If you just do community e-commerce such as vegetables, daily necessities and other collection services, it does not belong to the category of express delivery business." Li Wei said.

Buy more vegetables to find a way out of the "station", caused by the cooling of community group buying?

In the view of Zhao Xiaomin, an expert in the express delivery industry, it is helpless to buy more vegetables and choose to enter the express terminal market at this time node.

In fact, behind the end stores of the express delivery, there are also concerns about the bottleneck of the growth of community group purchases. Although meituan preferred and duoduoduo, which is in the first echelon, has won most of the market share, the overall development of the industry is becoming more and more obvious.

In the second half of 2021, regulatory intervention, the entire community group buying industry began to calm down, from the main pursuit of GMV (total commodity transactions) to the pursuit of profits, moderate pursuit of scale. At the beginning of 2021, Meituan Preferred and Duoduoduo achieved an average daily sales scale of 180 million yuan and 160 million yuan respectively, and put forward the GMV target of 2000 and 150 billion yuan, but according to media reports, as the state's supervision of community e-commerce becomes stricter, the annual target of the head platform may be lowered.

"At present, Pinduoduo is facing great pressure in terms of customer growth and market position." Zhao Xiaomin believes that in the past two years, after Pinduoduo has experienced changes in leadership succession, the strategic layout in the entire terminal logistics field is not clear, because the current self-built logistics is too difficult for it. Pinduoduo hopes to improve its services by mobilizing express logistics resources through the use of third-party service systems, and eventually become long-term cooperation.

In fact, there are already "pathfinders" in the field of community e-commerce.

Previously, the "Ali" community group buying platform had proposed to give full play to the advantages of Cainiao Station in the community, and the station manager was responsible for the promotion and service of community services, while Cainiao Station used the commission system to motivate the station manager. This "webmaster" is directly transformed into a "group leader" model, which has become one of the supports for the rapid development of the "Ali system" community e-commerce platform.

"Ali hopes to create a cross-express delivery through Cainiao Station, bid farewell to a single service, and expand commercial space for the trillion-level market of community commerce and family consumption." Retail industry analyst Ling Feiyu told reporters.

In 2021, Cainiao Station launched the "Delivery to the Door", and Cainiao clearly pointed out that this service scope is "Taobao, Tmall Package" in a specific area. A rookie station manager, who did not want to be named, told reporters that although the regulations are inclined to Taobao and Tmall packages, we will also send packages on the Pinduoduo and Jingdong platforms.

"We are not allowed to accept orders from Duoduo and Meituan, but we can access the Taocai platform." As far as my community is concerned, the single amount of more groceries, Meituan preferred, and Taocai dishes is not much different", the above-mentioned webmaster told reporters that if you can buy more vegetables as a station, it should affect some loyal users of Pinduoduo, and increase the purchase frequency of buying vegetables and Pinduoduoduo.

"In this mode, the flow of people picking up can often be converted into traffic in the store." Zhao Xiaomin believes that Duoduo hopes to improve the stickiness of users and 'group leaders' by developing express terminal stores.

The direction of the express terminal market in 2022 is likely to be related to the next action of buying more vegetables.

"Whether there will be a new war in the industry next depends on whether Pinduoduo will come forward to solve the problem of express delivery qualifications." Zhao Xiaomin said.

(At the request of the interviewee, Zhang Qiang and Li Wei are pseudonyms)