At the 2017 Global Smart Logistics Summit, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma was invited to give a speech.
Looking at Chen Dejun, chairman of Shentong, Yu Weijiao, chairman of Yuantong, Lai Meisong, chairman of ZTO, Nie Tengyun, chairman of Yunda, and Zhou Shaoning, chairman of Best Logistics, and other express industry bigwigs.
Ma Yun said something that made these bigwigs have mixed words: "I tell everyone, 1 billion packages a day, it will not take more than 8 years, and it is estimated that it will be achieved in about six or seven years." But the market share earned by squeezing the physical strength of couriers and overtime labor will be lost sooner or later. In the future, big companies will compete with good companies with quality data and technology! ”
Ma Yun's speech was also interpreted by the media as a signal that Alibaba intends to enter the express delivery industry.
Sure enough, soon after, Shentong Express issued an announcement that Alibaba would acquire a 49% stake in Deyin Investment's new company A, Shentong's controlling shareholder, and pay a consideration of RMB 4.66 billion. After the completion of the transaction, Shentong will further explore cooperation with Alibaba in the fields of logistics technology and new retail logistics.
Although the actual controller of Shentong has not changed, the stock market is still stimulated by this positive news, and the stock of Shentong Express opened with a limit on the same day, which led to the overall rise of the express delivery sector.
One
Speaking of China's express delivery industry, we have to mention the name of a woman - Chen Xiaoying.
In December 2007, Chen Dejun, a 37-year-old native of Tonglu, Zhejiang Province, and his younger sister, 29-year-old Chen Xiaoying, jointly invested 50 million yuan to establish Shentong Express Company. Among them, Chen Dejun contributed 27.5 million yuan, with a shareholding ratio of 55%;
Chen Xiaoying invested 22.5 million yuan, holding 45% of the shares. Just nine years later, when Shentong officially landed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on the last trading day of 2016, the market value of Shentong Express shares held by Chen Xiaoying had risen to about 27.38 billion yuan.
Chen Xiaoying's real wealth is far more than that, in addition to holding the equity of Shentong Express, Chen Xiaoying also controls 9 enterprises such as Jiande Tiantian Express Co., Ltd., from the perspective of business scope, its industries cover industry, investment, real estate, IT and other fields.
Andersen once created a famous woman "Cinderella" in fairy tales who seized the opportunity to change her destiny.
If "Cinderella" is virtual, then Chen Xiaoying's self-made experience is far more wonderful than "Cinderella". This woman who was born in poverty, dropped out of school to work, and lost her husband at a young age, finally overcame fate with her own efforts and completed the transformation from "Cinderella" to "Princess".
Chen Xiaoying was born in 1976 in Zhongshan Township, western Tonglu County, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Although Zhejiang is now the richest province in the country, in the era when Chen Xiaoying was born, it was a barren mountain village, and the life of ordinary people was difficult.
When Chen Xiaoying was in middle school, her father died of illness, losing the pillar of the Chen family, and she could no longer afford Chen Xiaoying's schooling, so she was forced to drop out of school to work in a printing and dyeing factory in Hangzhou.
During the part-time job, Chen Xiaoying met Nie Tengfei, a fellow from Tonglu, and the two soon fell in love and became a couple. At that time, Nie Tengfei was working in a printing and dyeing factory, and by chance, the factory sent Nie Tengfei to Shanghai Wharf to deliver the customs declaration, and Nie Tengfei keenly discovered that this "transaction of delivering goods for others" actually had great business opportunities.
After discussion, the little couple decided to enter this "delivery business". Because for every business completed, there is a fee of 100 yuan. Excluding costs, there is a net profit of 60 yuan.
Such a "profiteering" industry, once a systematic transportation system is formed, and then expand the scope of business, how big a business opportunity will it be? It was seeing this that Chen Xiaoying and his wife chose this industry without hesitation.
After choosing the direction, Chen Xiaoying came to his brother Chen Dejun, and Nie Tengfei called his younger brother Nie Tengyun and jointly funded the establishment of a courier company. Because the company's main business is concentrated in Shanghai, when naming the company, they combined the nickname "Shen" in Shanghai and the "Tong" character in the hope that the company "extends in all directions" to form the company's name "Shentong".
When the company was first established, Chen Xiaoying suffered a lot. In order to win business, she has to make thousands of calls a day, often falling asleep while calling. Later, when Chen Xiaoying recalled that time, she still remembered it vividly: "At that time, I felt that my life was very fulfilling, and I felt that the future was full of hope."
Two
After the establishment of Shentong, it just caught up with the development of China's private express delivery. At that time, there were many foreign trade enterprises in Hangzhou, and it was very frequent to send foreign trade customs declarations to Shanghai, and if it took several days to take the post, the cost of the enterprise to send it was too high. Chen Xiaoying's Shentong keenly grasped this business opportunity, and soon after Shentong was established, it pulled a lot of lists.
At this moment, fate once again teased Chen Xiaoying. In 1998, Nie Tengfei died unexpectedly in a car accident on a business trip. After losing Nie Tengfei, Shentong's internal chaos fell into chaos, partners and employees left one after another, and Chen Xiaoying once again came to the crossroads of life.
What makes Chen Xiaoying most sad is that when she needed help the most, Nie Tengfei's younger brother Nie Tengyun left Shentong to found Yunda; And Zhang Xiaojuan, who has always been regarded as a girlfriend by Chen Xiaoying and is in charge of finance in Shentong, also left Shentong and founded YTO Express with her husband Yu Weijiao.
Another fellow villager Lai Meisong who joined Shentong when he was first founded. also left Shentong to establish ZTO Express.
During that time, Chen Xiaoying was so anxious that he couldn't sleep every day. But she knows that if she continues to be depressed, Shentong is likely to face the fate of bankruptcy.
With the help of his brother Chen Dejun, Chen Xiaoying took over Shentong in its entirety and carried out drastic reforms to the company. She changed the original franchise system to a "two-level franchise system with a total score", the original contracting network became a "first-level franchisee", and the delivery staff could become a "second-level franchisee" through the contracting area.
The primary franchisee pays a deposit to the headquarters, and the secondary franchisee pays a deposit to the primary franchisee, and the income belongs to them.
This model pioneered by Chen Xiaoying later became the model used by China's private express delivery industry to this day. Under this model, Shentong has developed rapidly, and its business volume has increased by more than 50% every year.
With the rise of online shopping, China's express delivery industry has ushered in a real spring. Chen Xiaoying keenly grasped the business opportunities of online shopping on the Internet, and took the lead in cooperating with Alibaba, grabbing 40% of the market share of Double 11 at a price of 2.7 yuan per order in 2010.
At that time, the minimum cost of express delivery was 4 yuan, and Chen Xiaoying's price of 2.7 yuan per order shocked the jaws of his peers. They all think that this woman is crazy, and Shentong is going to lose a lot this time. But later it turned out that Chen Xiaoying's decision was very correct, because as long as the market share came up, it was impossible to lose money.
With this handwriting, Shentong soon became the leader of the national express delivery industry. In 2007, Shentong's revenue was 670 million. In 2008, Shentong's revenue increased to 980 million yuan, and its net profit was 150 million yuan. On Singles' Day in 2010, the Shentong family occupied 40% of the entire Taobao market share, and the net profit was close to 100 million.
Three
While Shentong is growing, Chen Xiaoying acquired Tiantian Express for 160 million yuan in 2012 and appointed Xi Chunyang, former president of Shentong, as the chairman of Tiantian Express.
Chen Xiaoying did not look at the wrong person, after Xi Chunyang took over Tiantian Express, Shentong's annual output business reached 2.8 billion pieces, a record high.
Due to work reasons, Chen Xiaoying and Xi Chunyang were in contact more and more frequently, and the two gradually became secretly in love, and finally came together and formed a new family.
In 2016, China's private express delivery companies are listing or preparing to go public, and Shentong, as the "big brother" of the industry, is no exception. Chen Xiaoying believes that in addition to bringing the capital needed for the rapid development of the company, listing can also promote internal integration of the company, enhance the cohesion and sense of belonging of existing shareholders and franchisees, and remove the influence of family to become more standardized.
On December 30, 2016, Chen Xiaoying and Chen Dejun rang the bell of Shentong Express listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Chen Xiaoying promised that from 2016 to 2019, the company promised to deduct the net profit of the non-attributable parent company of not less than 1.17 billion yuan, 1.4 billion yuan, 1.6 billion yuan and 1.9 billion yuan respectively, and in the next three years, the company will maintain an annual growth rate of at least 14%. If the performance does not meet the standard, Chen Dejun and Chen Xiaoying will be compensated in the form of shares and cash.
It has been said that Chen Xiaoying and her Shentong Express can be called a microcosm of the development of China's private express delivery industry, these entrepreneurs relied on sending letters and newspapers to build a courier network in the early stage, and then took advantage of the rapid rise of online shopping, and the cake became bigger and bigger.
On the day of the listing, Chen Xiaoying was interviewed by the media. When preparing for the development of Shentong Express after listing, Chen Xiaoying said that Shentong will walk on "two legs" and leverage future development through the two major sectors of industrial capital and financial capital.
In terms of industrial direction, Shentong will carry out diversified layout in the fields including express delivery, express transportation, cold transportation, warehouse and distribution integration, and the company will also expand to international business and rural fields.
At the time of Shentong's listing, the express service network included more than 1,370 independent outlets and branches, more than 10,000 service outlets and stores, and more than 200,000 employees. In the year of listing, Shentong Express completed nearly 2.4 billion pieces of business, a year-on-year increase of 50%;
The number of parcels completed accounted for 17% of the national total, and the highest single-day volume reached 43 million during the "Double 11" period that year. From the perspective of the two indicators of express delivery weight and express delivery volume, Shentong Express is in a leading position in the industry. For every 6 parcels in the country, 1 parcel is sent by Shentong Express.
Relying on the success of Shentong, Chen Xiaoying also successfully appeared on the "Hurun Global Self-made Female Rich List".
In the "2019 Hurun Global Self-Made Women Rich List", there are only 5 self-made female entrepreneurs under the age of 45 in the world, of which 4 are from China. The youngest is Wu Yan, 38 years old of Handing Yuyou, followed by Chen Xiaoying, 43 years old of Shentong Express, followed by Chen Liying, 44 years old of Yunda, and Wu Lanlan, 45 years old of Yutong Packaging.
Four
Just as Shentong was making great strides, Chen Xiaoying made a surprising decision: to sell her shares in Shentong. Among them, 14.6% of the shares of Shen Express were sold for 4.66 billion yuan, and 31.35% of the shares were sold to Jack Ma Alibaba for 9.982 billion yuan.
In other words, in March 2019, Chen Xiaoying sold all of his 45% stake in Shentong to Alibaba and successfully cashed out 14.6 billion yuan.
The reasons why Chen Xiaoying left the express "kingdom" that she worked hard with all her youth at the golden age of 43 are varied, but most of them are chasing the wind, and it is not convenient for us to speculate here.
According to the announcement issued by Shentong, after the completion of this transaction, Shentong will further explore cooperation with Alibaba in the fields of logistics technology, express terminal, and new retail logistics.
Alibaba said that the logistics industry is an important infrastructure for the country's economic development, and Alibaba hopes to reduce logistics costs from the current 16% of GDP to 5% through the joint efforts of all parties, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire manufacturing industry.
Shen's hard performance is an important reason for Alibaba's favor. The 2018 performance report released by Shentong Express shows that in 2018, Shentong Express's revenue increased by 34.42% and net profit increased by 37.46%.
Prior to the acquisition of Shentong, Alibaba commissioned TF Securities to conduct an investigation on Shentong's financial status.
Tianfeng Securities pointed out in the research report that in the first half of 2018, the growth rate of Shentong Express lagged behind several other companies in the industry, but it began to rebound in the second half of the year, and the growth rate gradually exceeded the industry average, and by the end of 2018, Shentong became the company with the highest monthly business volume among A-share express companies, and the inflection point of the company's single volume growth rate has appeared and stabilized.
In the research report submitted to Alibaba, Tianfeng Securities' evaluation to Shentong is: under the background of the gradual withdrawal of second-tier express delivery from industry competition, the company's high growth momentum is expected to continue. After successfully investing in Shentong Express, it will add an important puzzle to Alibaba's intelligent logistics network.
Five
After getting 14.6 billion, Chen Xiaoying did not choose to "lie flat", but started his second business.
She first tried to enter the oral medical industry, and then tried to invest in some Internet finance projects, but Chen Xiaoying was not optimistic about these industries, either it was close to saturation, or it was a "sunset industry" that did not have much development prospects.
After a detailed investigation of the market, Chen Xiaoying returned to her hometown of Tonglu and decided to enter the umbrella industry. For her decision, many people are not optimistic and do not understand.
There are at least thousands of manufacturers specializing in the production of umbrellas in China, and in people's impressions, umbrellas do not need much scientific and technological content, nor are they the current hot industry, investing in the umbrella industry, Chen Xiaoying is not crazy?
Chen Xiaoying did not explain these doubts. This is also her consistent style: as long as she recognizes something, she must go all the way to the dark.
A few years later, Chen Xiaoying used practical actions to make those who questioned her shut their mouths. Because she found a "breakthrough" in the ordinary industry of umbrellas that no one else expected.
This "breakthrough" is not complicated, Chen Xiaoying has developed a "quick-drying umbrella", which solves the problem that traditional umbrellas are wet and inconvenient to carry after use.
This new type of umbrella dries after shaking a few times after use, and Chen Xiaoying also intimately installed a flashlight for night use on the handle of each umbrella to meet people's night use. This seemingly inconspicuous innovation has made Chen Xiaoying a great success in the umbrella market.
After the launch of this new type of umbrella, sales were very hot, and Chen Xiaoying also made a lot of money in a short period of time. In the "2020 New Fortune 500 Rich List" released on May 12, 2020, Chen Xiaoying ranked 224th with a wealth of 15.4 billion yuan. In other words, in just one year, this umbrella brought her a fortune of 800 million yuan.
Six
While making money, Chen Xiaoying has not forgotten the social responsibility of an entrepreneur.
On November 28, 2016, Chen Xiaoying donated 40 million RMB to Zhejiang University to establish the "Zhejiang University Education Foundation Chen Xiaoying Medical Education and Teaching Award Fund".
The donation will be received annually over 2 million over twenty years. The funding direction is divided into 7 categories: Chen Xiaoying Medical Education Award, Chen Xiaoying Medical Teaching Achievement Award, Chen Xiaoying Medical Textbook Construction Award, Chen Xiaoying Medical Freshman Scholarship, Chen Xiaoying International Exchange Scholarship, Chen Xiaoying Medical Competition Award, and support for participation in major national and international medical-related competitions.
In the interview, Chen Xiaoying told reporters that her original intention in establishing this fund is to attract the best students to study medicine at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and through incentives, promote the spirit of rigorous study, stimulate teachers and students to attach importance to medical education related work and continue to invest, and train the best medical students to become the best doctors.
In the annual China charity list compiled by Forbes magazine, Chen Xiaoying is also a regular on the list, and it ranks quite high. This stems from her passion for public welfare and her presence in various charity activities.
Chen Xiaoying is a migrant girl who lost her father at a young age in a printing and dyeing factory, and later found business opportunities in the express delivery industry and established Shentong with her husband.
When the company was just on the right track, the death of her husband caused the partners and business backbones to leave them, and they were able to revive themselves and lead the company to glory.
Finally, when the love career was harvested, he chose to retire successfully, and while devoting himself to charity, he inadvertently created a new industry, Chen Xiaoying's life can really be said to be full of legends.
According to media reports, Chen Xiaoying is currently interested in the health management industry again and is investigating this industry. Perhaps in the near future, we can see the birth of a queen of "health management", because a woman like Chen Xiaoying, with a strong will and extraordinary wisdom, and at the same time has a keen eye.
Resources:
Sina Finance: "Jack Ma, come to get Shentong Express!" 》
"South Wind Window": "Poor thinks about change, life counterattack: "Cinderella" Chen Xiaoying"
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Author: Wish
Editor: Lin Yan