Do you prefer courier or home delivery?

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As China's annual express delivery business volume has entered the era of 100 billion pieces, the diversified terminal delivery service pattern composed of door-to-door delivery, intelligent express box delivery, and public service station delivery is being further improved. What is the current status of end express delivery? On the occasion of the first anniversary of Cainiao Station's opening of Tmall Taobao parcel delivery service, Southern Metropolis Daily carried out terminal collection and dispatch service evaluation and research on the mainstream express delivery companies and station brands in the market through field visits, questionnaire statistics, user interviews and other forms.

The survey results show that the proportion of daily delivery and collection is 40% and 54% respectively, and 62% of users hope to choose the receiving method, and the terminal service characterized by "on-demand delivery" is gradually popularized.

1 Nearly half of the users have an average of more than 10 pieces of express delivery per month

According to statistics from the State Post Bureau, in 2021, the business volume of express delivery service enterprises nationwide will reach 108.3 billion pieces, an increase of 29.9% year-on-year, equivalent to an average of 6 parcels per person per month. At the same time, the terminal service system has been continuously improved, and the scale of smart express boxes has risen steadily, with 161,000 public service stations, a net increase of 46,000 in a year.

Nandu surveyed more than 20,000 users on average monthly receipts of packages in the past three months and found that as many as 49% of users received more than 10 couriers per month, an average of 3 per week. Nearly 30% of users receive 6 to 10 couriers per month, and receive packages at least once a week. Under the impetus of the strong market, various terminal services to meet the needs of the "last mile" receiving came into being, constituting a diversified express delivery method. Our survey found that 61% of users are more accustomed to receiving mail in or near the neighborhood where they live. This shows that the residence is the highest frequency and common receiving scene at the end.

If you are not restricted by the conditions of receiving goods at the community/office building, which kind of delivery method will you expect more? According to the survey, 40% of them chose "home delivery or family members signed in person", 38% said that they "want to put it in cainiao station, express station, small supermarket, property and other collection points", and 16% "can be put into the self-pick-up cabinet express cabinet". That is to say, under ideal conditions, the proportion of tendentious delivery and collection is 40% and 54% respectively, reflecting the significant diversification of terminal receipt methods.

2 Diversified needs give birth to express stations On-demand delivery is the most popular

Our evaluation found that in many scenarios where users are inconvenient to deliver to their homes, "no one at home/not at home" accounted for the highest proportion, reaching nearly 30%. Secondly, 13.4% of the "do not want express delivery to disturb the door". In addition, there are factors such as "feeling that the express delivery is not safe" and "confidential/private items, I don't want my family/roommates to know", so that some users are more willing to choose to collect packages through terminal facilities and arrange time to pick up them independently.

In view of the complex delivery scenario and the changeable demand, in the survey interview, more users called for not only one way to receive and dispatch at the end.

Nandu reporter combined with evaluation and interviews to learn that for the complex terminal receiving scenario, the services provided by various e-commerce express delivery brands are becoming increasingly diversified: the services provided by SF are delivered to the door, delivered to the Fengchao cabinet or the service point for collection; the services provided by Jingdong Express are delivered to the door and contactless distribution (smart cabinet/service point); the services provided by Cainiao Station include station collection, delivery to the door, smart cabinet collection, and more than 200 college rookie stations in the country are equipped with unmanned delivery vehicles. These are conducive to meeting the diversified receiving needs of users. However, there are still many brand stations that currently only provide one way to collect. "We do not provide door-to-door service, if necessary, please call the courier directly", the staff of many brand stations replied in response to the nandu reporter's inquiry, and the reasons they gave were mostly "insufficient manpower and busy." ”

3 Most e-commerce couriers can only collect on behalf of 40% of respondents expect home delivery

After the user places an order on the e-commerce platform, which express delivery brand is used to carry it often depends on the merchant. The cost of good express delivery services is also higher, and there are very few express deliveries that take into account both cost performance and service quality. SF and Jingdong Express are the earliest brands in the industry that can provide door-to-door service, and the service quality currently has a high reputation. However, in addition to jd.com's personal receiving and shipping services, orders on JD.com's self-operated platform must reach a certain amount before they can be shipped, otherwise they have to pay additional basic freight. The commodity orders carried by SF, in the public perception, the overall unit price is higher than that of other brands in the same industry.

Based on the above reasons, at present, e-commerce express parcels are generally carried by "four links and one arrival", and the market share exceeds 70%. However, correspondingly, the advantages of these brands in express delivery timeliness and service quality are not obvious, and many packages will be placed in various collection points or express delivery cabinets, becoming the main reason for couriers to be complained about and punished.

Our survey found that among the various ways of receiving goods, the daily more inclined to "deliver to the door or family to sign in person" is the most, accounting for 40%. Of the packages that were not delivered to their doors, 54% of users had initiated a door-to-door request.

4 The demand for home delivery is large, forcing brands to optimize terminal services

The increase in demand for door-to-door delivery is forcing some express delivery brands to make changes, so "on-demand delivery" has gradually become a trend.

In April 2021, Tmall Taobao and Cainiao Station announced the opening of Taobao parcel delivery service at the sites of three cities in the north, Shanghai and Hangzhou, so that even the public can enjoy free home delivery after placing an order for low-cost goods. At the end of 2021, Yunda and Yuantong have successively launched high-end products, highlighting labels such as timeliness priority, door-to-door delivery, and on-demand delivery.

Nandu reporter evaluation found that at present, the stores of various brand stations are still mainly express delivery, and only Cainiao Station has launched a certain scale of door-to-door delivery services. According to statistics, as of last year's Double 11 period, cainiao station home delivery coverage of more than 100 cities.

Some insiders analyzed the Nandu reporter that the opening of the door-to-door service of the station is actually a self-change of the joint e-commerce platform to continuously gain insight into consumer needs and innovate the service model, which can also supplement the ability of the express delivery company to come to the door and help the express delivery brand to perform the contract efficiently at the end.

However, the Nandu reporter's investigation found that for a long time, after the e-commerce order payment, consumers basically have no choice about what type of express delivery service they can enjoy. In order to complete the delivery volume on time and in quantity, the courier will put the package at the station and the courier cabinet to collect it.

In our survey, we found that as many as 62% of users "accept collection, but must inform me in advance and give me the right to choose", and only 11% of users hold the view that "must be delivered to the door and do not accept other methods". This shows that the current public's willingness to choose the way of express delivery is significantly enhanced.

5 Service Battle Upgrade: Delivery methods open up the right to choose

In the past two years, some express delivery brands have begun to try to return the choice of receiving goods to consumers. Nandu reporter evaluation found that in the various express delivery brands, SF Express, Jingdong Express, Cainiao Station, Rabbit Joy Express Supermarket ("Rabbit Joy Convenience Service") of the official Mini Program, APP all provide "receiving preference" function, users can choose to door or collection, as well as weekday or non-working day delivery. At the same time, in order to ensure the user's right to know, the express delivery, pickup, delivery, and successful signing stage will also push prompts.

When the parcel is sent and will be delivered, the SF Express Mini Program will provide the delivery method in the pop-up window for users to choose. Jingdong Mall has a delivery method and time in the "Delivery" column of the self-operated goods order page, but most of the non-self-operated goods cannot be selected, and the "Delivery" column only shows "Express Delivery". Cainiao APP launched the receiving preference function, gradually upgrading the service from free storage to on-demand delivery (self-pick-up/home delivery/smart cabinet receipt), and can make an appointment for on-site time to meet the personalized and diversified needs of users. According to Cainiao, since the launch of the "home delivery" service in April last year, users' awareness of independent choice of services has become stronger and stronger, and the online delivery choice methods have gradually enriched and improved.

Nandu reporter commented that after placing an order on Taobao Tmall, the logistics details page will send out a separate inquiry when the parcel is waiting to be picked, delivered, and signed: "Do you need all the Taobao parcels to be delivered to your door" on the package. However, when the Nandu reporter evaluated the terminal station brands such as Yunda Express Supermarket, Mama Station, Kuaibao Station, And Station Receipt, etc., it was found that these brands generally cannot choose the delivery method, only default to collection, and cannot make an appointment for delivery time. When the Nandu reporter visited the above-mentioned store users, he found that because the user could not choose to deliver to the door, he could only pick up after receiving the delivery TEXT message.

Anxin Transportation research report analysis believes that the end of the multi-level service demand has been placed in a very important position, express delivery is no longer blind price competition, but switch to service competition. The upstream e-commerce platform intervenes to promote the upgrading of terminal delivery, and then promote the product stratification of express delivery enterprises, which is conducive to improving the user experience and customer stickiness for their own platforms.

Producer: Nandu Business Data News Department

Written by Fu Xiaoling, reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Agency

Planner: Zhen Qin Tian Aili