On June 21, Shanghai had just cleared, and the first financial reporter saw at a courier site near a residential community in Shanghai's Xuhui District, where there were piles of express deliveries inside and outside the house. The couriers in the house kept sorting and marking small pieces, and three or four courier brothers outside the house were busy sorting and loading trucks, and the delivery cartons of different sizes were stacked in a small open space.
Near noon, the courier brothers skillfully divided the labor and transported the goods under the sun, and the reporter saw that every delivery tricycle bound for the community was full. A courier brother who works here told reporters that in the past half a month, sorting and delivery began at 7 a.m. every day, and he has been busy until 12 p.m.
Although the 618 promotion has basically ended, the express delivery industry is still feeling the "residual temperature" brought by the e-commerce carnival. The busy express delivery industry uses "foot power" to feel people's enthusiasm for shopping, and also feels the pace of China's gradual recovery of consumption power. Recently, Yicai visited a number of express delivery stations and couriers to take a look at the first 618 after the epidemic from their perspective.
"busy" "busy" "busy"
Ms. Wang, who lives in Chaoyang Dougezhuang, Beijing, received a call from Cainiao Station on June 20, informing her that "there are too many 618 express deliveries recently, and I can't be busy, and if the delivery is delivered to my home, it may take two or three days, so it is best to go and pick it up yourself."
At 3 p.m. on the 20th, Ms. Wang arrived at the station and found that there were five or six people standing in line to pick up the goods in the small rookie station. A Shentong Express employee told Ms. Wang that the volume of express delivery increased by more than three times during the 618 period, and the personnel arrangement was indeed tight, and the areas that did not have time to deliver to the door could only unload the goods together to Cainiao Station.
The owner of the aforementioned Shanghai express station told the first financial reporter that the volume of express orders for 618 this year is two to three times that of usual. The express station usually has about 1,000 orders a day, and this period is basically 2,000 to 3,000 orders. "The express we receive comes from all directions, and compared with usual, the order volume has really exploded recently."
Couriers and couriers have a more detailed perception of the 618.
"Since around May 20th, there has been a lot of deliveries." The staff of a Beijing express station was very busy throughout the 618 period, and his post station undertook most of the express delivery except Yunda, and the express delivery had filled the shelves.
The owner of a Shanghai ZTO Express outlet revealed to First Finance and Economics that during the first wave of 618 pre-sales (June 1-4) this year, the daily delivery business volume of the outlet was 60-70% more than usual, and the second wave of delivery volume was 30-40% more than usual.
"The busiest time was from June 1 to 8 this year, when I started work at five or six in the morning and was busy until two or three in the morning." A courier in Shanghai also confirmed that Shanghai is the busiest shopping during the pre-sale period.
According to data from Yunda Express, the volume of 618 express delivery orders in 2023 has a steady increase compared with 618 in 2022, and during the 618 period, Yunda pickup volume was the highest in the first wave, and the first wave of unit volume growth was mainly concentrated on Taojie e-commerce platforms and Douyin e-commerce platforms. The delivery products are mainly concentrated in daily chemical care products, paper towels and other daily necessities.
A staff member of an express station in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, told First Finance and Economics that he felt a relatively concentrated small climax of the second wave of 618. For three days before and after June 18, his post station would receive two more truckloads of goods every day, 100-200 more goods.
Delivery goods in the express delivery industry also change with people's shopping preferences. The owner of the aforementioned ZTO outlet felt that during the 618 period, pet supplies including cat litter and cat food were obviously bought, daily consumables such as paper towels were also shopping hot spots, and clothes were much less.
YTO Express data shows that during the 618 period, the main categories sent by YTO Express were FMCG, home improvement, food, clothing and fashion.
SF data shows people's enthusiasm for seasonal fruits and fresh food. Combined with the statistics of the peak volume in the middle of last year, SF found that from the beginning of May to June 18 this year, SF's fresh fruits, rice dumplings and other characteristic economic pieces increased by 32% year-on-year, and increased by 50% compared with the off-season. In addition, this year is the big year of lychee, and the overall output of various production areas obtained by SF is expected to exceed 3 million tons, an increase of more than 60% compared with last year. Since the beginning of this year, SF's lychee shipments have increased by more than 200% year-on-year.
There are "temperature differences" in different regions
However, although 618 has made the express delivery industry much busier than usual, compared with 618 in previous years, express delivery practitioners feel a limited degree of "hotness".
The express sorting staff of a rookie station in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, revealed to First Finance and Economics: "This year's 618 express deliveries, compared with last year, are generally similar, (in terms of quantity) than usual, about one-third more." Performance pay has not yet been calculated, but the principle of performance statistics is that the individual performance of the dispatch is linked to the total number of pieces. That is to say, the more total number of deliveries, the more expensive the performance of individual pieces, and the more work and more reward. ”
The staff of the aforementioned Quzhou Express Station said that the total amount of express delivery received by the 618 station this year has increased a lot compared with the previous year, but there is not much change compared with last year.
A courier who delivered door-to-door in Beijing felt the rapid fading of the 618 boom, "Compared with the past two years, the 618 order volume is less, and this year's 618 express delivery has been delivered almost the same yesterday." ”
The webmaster of Shentong Express Beijing Tuanjiehu site revealed that the overall order volume of 618 this year is the same as last year's Double 11, "This year's 618 daily average order volume on our side is almost 11,000 to 12,000 orders, and the average site courier delivers about 400 orders per day, which is similar to last year's Double 11." He revealed that the average daily orders during the site's 618 period this year increased by 50% compared with usual, and the income of couriers also increased by 50%. At the same time, during the 618 period last year, Chaoyang District was greatly affected by the epidemic, and the single volume was not stable.
Regarding the recovery of consumption, the above-mentioned webmaster said: "From the perspective of single volume, 618 this year is a relatively normal level, and it is not said that the consumption explosion is felt." Consumption is indeed recovering, but it is not as exaggerated as expected, and the unit volume is not as high as the expected peak for us, in fact, we have also made relevant preparations in 618, and we can easily cope with it at present. The webmaster said that it was originally expected that the daily orders of the site would reach 13,000 to 14,000 during the 618 period, but the current order volume is less than estimated. In terms of work, the webmaster is expected to return to daily levels by June 23.
From the data of the express side, the purchase desire of consumers in different regions of 618 this year seems to show a "temperature difference".
According to data from Shentong Express, during the 618 period, the overall order volume of Shentong increased year-on-year, and the top 5 provinces and regions with year-on-year growth rates were: Inner Mongolia 129%, Chongqing 101%, Sichuan-Tibet 81%, Shanxi 69%, Guizhou 69%. During the period of YTO Express 618, the provinces with a significant increase in port entry volume than usual are Tianjin, Shandong, Fujian, Hubei, Shenzhen and other regions, indicating that these regions buy more. Yunda's data shows that during the 618 period this year, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu and other places were in the forefront of the peak volume of pick-up volume, and the unit volume of the three eastern provinces, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places increased significantly compared with last year, with obvious changes.
Overall, 618 in Beijing, Shanghai and other regions has not changed much compared with previous years, while many relatively remote provinces and cities that were not e-commerce hotspots in the past have shown stronger growth in consumer desire.
(Reporter Luan Li and Jie Shuyi also contributed to this article)