The impact of the April epidemic on the express industry is directly reflected in the operating data of express companies in April. On May 19, Yunda, Shentong, Yuantong and other express companies released the April Business Briefing. According to the business briefing, the number of orders completed by all express companies that released data fell to varying degrees in April.
Among them, Yunda was the most affected. In April, the number of orders completed by express delivery decreased by 19.37% year-on-year. However, Yunda's single ticket revenue gradually increased, with a year-on-year increase of 24.02% in April. Therefore, Yunda's express service revenue in April was 2.859 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.03%.
Another affected express company is SF. According to the data, SF express completed 747 million tickets in April, a year-on-year decrease of 10%. SF's single ticket revenue in April was 15.4 yuan, up 1.65% year-on-year. Under the two data changes, SF's express business revenue in April was 11.506 billion yuan, down 8.47% year-on-year.
In addition, the business volume of Shentong and Yuantong in April was 791 million votes and 1246 million votes respectively, down 7.68% and 4.83% year-on-year respectively. However, benefiting from the increase of single ticket income, the revenue of the two companies still increased year-on-year in April. Among them, the single ticket revenue of Shentong increased by 20.66% year-on-year to 2.57 yuan, and the revenue in April increased by 11.42% to 2.033 billion yuan. Yuantong's single ticket revenue increased by 16.41% year-on-year to 2.51 yuan in April, and its revenue increased by 10.78% year-on-year to 3.122 billion yuan in April.
On the one hand, affected by the epidemic, the single volume of express companies generally declined in April. SF said in its business briefing that the revenue of express logistics business decreased year-on-year in April due to two main reasons: first, the company took the initiative to optimize the product structure since the second half of 2021, and the number of low gross profit products decreased year-on-year; Second, the company's business volume fluctuated due to the closure and control of the epidemic in some domestic cities.
Affected by the epidemic, express delivery in some sealed areas was suspended in April. Affected by the layout of express companies, many logistics cycles have been extended under the epidemic. In addition to the above express companies, JD logistics and other platforms are also affected. Previously, Xu Lei, CEO of jd.com, said that the overall logistics performance cycle of warehousing in the core area was prolonged due to sealing control. The cancellation rate of orders on the platform increased significantly in April, and the situation improved in May, but it was still higher than last year. With the recent resumption of work and production of logistics enterprises, the problem of express order quantity will be improved.
On the other hand, the single ticket income of express continued to rise. Taking Yunda as an example, Yunda's single ticket revenue has increased year-on-year since November last year. Previously, express companies were deeply involved in a price war.
The most sensitive to the change of express price is the e-commerce business. Some merchants told China first finance and economics that the delivery price of the same express in Yiwu this year is about 2.4 yuan to 2.5 yuan, almost doubling compared with the same period in previous years. Therefore, businesses are worried that the price of 618 and double 11 express delivery may continue to rise. At that time, businesses can only increase the price to ensure profits.
In this regard, pan Helin, CO director and researcher of the digital economy and financial innovation research center of the International United Business School of Zhejiang University, told China first finance and economics that at present, there is still oversupply in express companies, so low price competition has always existed. The price increase in the express industry may be unfavorable to the e-commerce industry and weaken the competitiveness of express companies. He said that the best way for express companies to get out of the dilemma is to optimize the logistics system to make the logistics system more efficient and operate at a lower cost, so that they can participate in the competition at a lower cost. In the future, the ultimate competitive focus of the express industry, whether SF, JD, or four links and one Da and Jitu, will be to compete for the efficiency of logistics.
Pan Helin also said that under the epidemic, express companies want to adjust their strategies and gradually sink from long-distance distribution to local front warehouse business, but this requires investment and logistics construction time, which is difficult to achieve without years of high-intensity investment. The current profit margin of the express industry is not enough to support the express companies to optimize logistics, so the express companies are currently facing a stock market competition, and the survival of the fittest is inevitable.