Crossing the river by touching Meituan, SF Express entered the Hong Kong instant distribution market in the same city, recruiting riders with an hourly wage of up to HK$300

Times Finance

2024-06-28 08:22Times Finance official account

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01SF will launch intra-city instant delivery service in Hong Kong under the brand "SoFast" from July 2024, and recruitment information has been published on multiple platforms in Hong Kong.

02The real-time delivery market in Hong Kong is fiercely competitive, and Meituan's KeeTa order volume has a market share of 44%, making it the largest food delivery platform in Hong Kong.

03SF City Riders can earn up to HK$300 per hour, which is competitive with other food delivery platforms.

04However, SF's business in the Hong Kong market will mainly focus on non-meal delivery such as documents and small parcels, avoiding direct competition with Meituan.

05Entering the Hong Kong market is an important step for SF's overseas expansion, and the company will continue to evaluate and study markets such as the Middle East and Europe.

Technical support is provided by Tencent Hybrid Model

Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Lin Xinlin

SF Express "killed" the Hong Kong market in the same city.

Image source: Tongworm Creative

On the evening of June 26, SF Express announced that in order to further leverage the industry experience and operational advantages accumulated in the instant delivery industry for many years, the company will launch intra-city instant delivery services in Hong Kong under the brand name "SoFast" from July 2024.

At present, SF City is actively recruiting troops in Hong Kong. According to the recruitment information, SF City Riders can earn up to HK$300 per hour.

At present, Hong Kong is one of the new battlefields for logistics and distribution companies. In the field of instant distribution, Meituan entered Hong Kong with a high-profile KeeTa brand in May last year. According to data released by Measurable AI, a market research agency, KeeTa has a market share of 44% in terms of the number of orders in March 2024, jumping to the largest local food delivery platform.

SF City is not far behind, can it also tear a hole in the Hong Kong instant distribution market?

Hourly wages can reach up to HK$300

Riders are important players in just-in-time delivery fulfillment.

When Meituan entered the Hong Kong market last year, it offered a monthly salary of HK$35,000 to recruit full-time riders. The first step for SF to enter the new market is also to recruit people with high salaries.

According to Times Finance learned from SF City, SF City has published recruitment information on multiple platforms in Hong Kong, recruiting a large number of infantry (i.e., foot delivery), bicycles, motorcycles (i.e., motorcycles), private cars and van rider partners, and the special App "SoFast Rider" for riders in Hong Kong has also been launched in major app stores.

The recruitment conditions of SF City are not harsh.

For example, an infantry/bicycle delivery person is only required to be aged 18 or above, qualified to work in Hong Kong, and possess a communication device of the appropriate model with front/rear camera functioning. In addition to the above requirements, motorcycle/private car/van delivery workers must also possess a valid driving licence, driving licence and motor vehicle third party liability insurance. This is basically in line with Meituan's requirement to recruit riders in Hong Kong last year.

In addition, in Hong Kong, SF City Riders are also required to be equipped with a series of equipment with the "SoFast" logo, including T-shirts, vests, suitcases, backpacks, sun-protective clothing, raincoats and rain pants, etc. The first to sign up will receive free basic gear (T-shirt or vest), and the Pioneer rider will have the opportunity to receive the full set of "SoFast" for free.

At present, the price of equipment has not been announced, and for reference, a set of basic equipment including summer uniforms and suitcases in the mainland is about 179 yuan.

In terms of salary, SF said that the income per kilometer delivery of riders in Hong Kong is twice as high as that of other food delivery platforms, and the hourly income of riders can reach up to HK$300. According to SF's overseas social accounts in the same city, riders earn between HK$100 and HK$300 per hour, and the more orders they run, the higher their level, and the more they earn.

It is understood that on the takeaway platform, if it is an infantry, that is, to deliver food on foot or by transportation, the hourly salary is about 50-70 Hong Kong dollars; If you are a driver, the hourly wage can generally reach about 80-150 Hong Kong dollars. Among them, Meituan KeeTa riders have higher hourly wages, and some of them were even close to more than HK$200 when they were first launched last year.

In this comparison, the salary offered by SF Express in Hong Kong is attractive.

Zhao Xiaomin, an expert in express logistics, pointed out that according to his understanding of the salary structure of other cities in the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong, the hourly salary offered by SF Express in the same city is very competitive in Hong Kong, and such a salary should belong to the middle and upper level among delivery workers.

SF City also pointed out that the riders can flexibly choose delivery tasks according to their own time, there is no fixed online time limit, they can also freely choose the number of tasks, and they can also participate in a generous reward plan.

A Hong Kong KeeTa part-time rider pointed out to Times Finance that the hourly wage of 300 Hong Kong dollars is believed to be tried by many part-time riders. According to its understanding, most of the delivery riders have registered with multiple delivery platforms such as Foodpanda, Deliveroo, and KeeTa at the same time.

However, it is worth noting that although SF has cultivated full-scenario coverage in the mainland, such as food delivery, intra-city retail, near-field e-commerce and near-field services, in Hong Kong, the ready-to-deliver business it provides will mainly be non-meal delivery such as documents and small parcels.

This also means that SF will avoid direct competition with Meituan.

Entering Hong Kong is just a springboard to the sea

In recent years, the ready-to-match market has grown rapidly.

iResearch predicts that by 2028, the scale of the mainland instant distribution industry will exceed 810 billion yuan. According to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, between 2012 and 2020, the revenue of local courier business in Hong Kong increased by 116% to HK$2.253 billion.

SF pointed out that the company's successful experience in the past is an important advantage in entering the Hong Kong instant distribution market, and it is believed that it will be effectively applied to the Hong Kong market and bring more impetus to the Hong Kong instant distribution market.

In 2023, SF City will achieve full profitability for the first time, recording a net profit of 64.9 million, taking the lead in making a profit in the instant distribution industry, sweeping away the haze of several years of losses. However, there are many differences between Hong Kong and the mainland market, including labour costs, consumer habits, and the degree of development of express delivery.

Cultivating user habits is an inevitable problem for SF City to gain a foothold in the Hong Kong market.

When Times Finance communicated with a number of consumers living in Hong Kong, they found that they were relatively unfamiliar with the so-called intra-city errand services or platforms. Some migrant workers in Hong Kong pointed out that Hong Kong's express delivery service is not perfect, and the delivery fee is high, with takeaway delivery fees basically starting at 20 Hong Kong dollars, and express delivery to the door must pay an additional 20 Hong Kong dollars for "home delivery".

Another person who settled in Hong Kong also told Times Finance that due to the high cost of delivery, if there are urgent documents or packages that need to be delivered immediately, most of them will choose to "deliver them themselves", "Hong Kong is not large, and it is more cost-effective to send it by yourself than to pay for freight, and you can take the subway or minibus." In Hong Kong, many delivery workers also deliver food on foot. It also pointed out that if it needs to be delivered on the same day, it can also use SF Express (SF Holding Express Service), and the cost of parcels under 3 kg is 20-58 Hong Kong dollars.

According to Times Finance, some consumers will also use Lalamove, GoGoVan, the overseas platforms of Lalala and GoGoVan to place orders and run errands. However, due to the fact that it is a freight platform, the delivery fee is relatively expensive, and the starting fee is often more than 40 Hong Kong dollars.

In addition, Meituan's fierce rivals in Hong Kong, such as Foodpanda, also have supermarket delivery and intra-city flash delivery businesses. According to Measurable AI data, Foodpanda's market share in Hong Kong was 41% in March this year, surpassing KeeTa's 32% share, based on the caliber of all ready-to-serve services including F&B and non-F&B scenarios.

In addition to the many competitors, some people in the logistics industry who did not want to be named also pointed out that the composition of Hong Kong's food delivery industry is relatively complex, including not only the local population, but also foreigners from Nepal, India, Pakistan and other countries, which may bring some challenges to business management.

However, for companies such as Meituan and SF Express that go to Hong Kong Island to pan for gold, the significance of entering the Hong Kong market is far from competing for one-third of an acre of land here.

Meituan's founder, Wang Xing, mentioned when Meituan entered Hong Kong that Hong Kong was a good testing ground for testing Meituan's global-based infrastructure and practices. This means that if the model runs through the Hong Kong market, Meituan's journey will be overseas. At the recent earnings conference, Wang Xing revealed that Meituan is evaluating and studying markets in the Middle East and Europe.

SF Express also said that the expansion of the instant delivery business to Hong Kong is an important step for the company to expand overseas and embark on a springboard.

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