The new express delivery regulations have been implemented for more than a month, and the topic of whether the "home delivery" service should be charged continues to arouse heated discussions, especially the focus of close attention of the courier group.
Nowadays, many people have found that JD took the lead in breaking the situation on this issue, and officially started the promotion process of providing paid home delivery services to third-party merchants by issuing the "Announcement on the Launch of JD's Open Platform Door-to-door Service Products". The announcement clearly pointed out that from April 9, JD.com will guide merchants to open this service independently in stages, and make it clear that merchants need to bear the corresponding door-to-door costs when enabling the door-to-door delivery option. According to the plan, the service will be rolled out quickly in the next two weeks, and it is expected to achieve full coverage of all merchants by April 28.
According to the announcement, door-to-door delivery orders are divided into two types: small and medium-sized door-to-door orders and large-scale door-to-door orders, different orders implement different charging standards, among them, the charging standard for small and medium-sized pieces is 1 yuan within 5 kilograms, and 0.2 yuan for additional weight 1 kilogram, merchants pay to carriers through the Jingdong platform, and merchants can only use designated logistics (Zhongtong, Yuantong, Shentong, J&T, Yunda) to ship. In this way, the cost of home delivery will mostly be concentrated in about 1 yuan.
For large door-to-door delivery orders, the merchant and the carrier will agree on the fee standard.
If you don't come to the door, JD has also set up compensation rules, such as for small pieces, non-merchant liability will be paid by the carrier to consumers 300 JD, equivalent to 3 yuan of compensation coupons.
It is worth noting that the announcement is mainly for non-self-operated orders on the JD platform, and the self-operated orders are mainly carried by JD Logistics, Debang, Yueyue and Dada of the JD system. This move undoubtedly strengthens the JD.com platform's commitment to high-quality services, providing consumers with more flexible, diversified and personalized home delivery options.
Is home delivery entering the paid era?
Industry insiders believe that although in the Jingdong announcement, whether it is a 1 yuan door-to-door delivery fee for small orders or a large-scale order with the carrier to agree on the door-to-door delivery fee, on the surface, these costs are borne by the merchant, but such costs will eventually be integrated into the commodity pricing system by the merchant to achieve indirect transfer to consumers. As a large-scale domestic e-commerce platform, JD.com's charging strategy is very likely to trigger a demonstration effect and guide other e-commerce platforms and even logistics service providers to follow suit, thereby opening the floodgates of the era of door-to-door payment.
In fact, Douyin e-commerce has launched a "door-to-door" logistics service before the new regulations - Yinxuda, the platform has been connected to Zhongtong, Yuantong, Yunda, SF, Jingdong Logistics and other express companies, supporting 198 cities across the country, for Zhongtong, Yuantong, Yunda's carrier, merchants need to pay 0.8 yuan per order, for SF, Jingdong logistics, merchants need to pay 0.01 yuan per order, if the end is not according to the user's needs, resulting in consumer dissatisfaction and customer complaints, etc., the platform will issue 10 yuan / single coupon to compensate consumers.
Although Douyin e-commerce is the same as JD.com, the cost of home delivery is currently paid by the merchant, but it will eventually be added to the price of the product. In the early days of the new regulations, with the increasing demand for home delivery, some online shoppers noticed that some merchants had set prices for the same product with two different delivery methods, namely "home delivery" and "post station pick-up". On a product page, we can see that consumers who choose the "home delivery" service will have to pay an additional fee, with a minimum amount of 15 yuan.
In addition to these e-commerce platforms and merchants, various express delivery companies represented by SF Express and Zhongtong are also actively exploring to support consumers to freely choose the way to receive goods. Taking Zhongtong as an example, after the consumer confirms the order on Taobao, the consumer enters its receipt method page through the applet, and can choose different receiving methods such as home delivery, collection point or express cabinet, and the platform system will then push this selection to the courier. It is understood that at present, Zhongtong through its quality express delivery products - Zhongtong good fast delivery, the system is still displayed free, but it is not ruled out that the future will be clearly marked.
According to previous data, about 30% of consumers prefer to choose "door-to-door" delivery services, and this service model constitutes the mainstream demand.
In this regard, industry experts pointed out that express delivery companies represented by Tongda are fully capable of implementing differentiated pricing strategies for "door-to-door" services and on-site pick-up services according to the actual needs of consumers. At the operational level, as long as the enterprise clearly publicizes the specific content of various services and their corresponding prices at the beginning of the transaction, and ensures that consumers can be fully informed and make their own choices at the stage of placing orders, this pricing practice based on service differences not only meets the requirements of laws and regulations, but also is a legitimate embodiment of the enterprise's exercise of operational autonomy.
However, it is worth noting that companies must prudently respond to market competition while implementing differentiated pricing. If competitors adopt a unified pricing system that covers all delivery methods without additional charges, companies that implement differentiated fees may risk consumers switching to more cost-effective services, resulting in a loss of market share.
According to the requirements of the new regulations, express delivery companies should obtain the consent of users before delivery, and deliver in the manner agreed with users, so as to protect users' right to know and choose, and not to force couriers to deliver goods to their homes. Therefore, as e-commerce platforms continue to optimize the service process and give users the right to choose, express delivery services and products will be further refined and stratified, and the pricing system will be increasingly enriched. While there is a clear signal that the gradual introduction of a charging mechanism for door-to-door pick-up services has sent a clear signal, full adoption is likely to be a slow process.
Door-to-door delivery, how much does it cost?
With the pricing of home delivery services on e-commerce platforms, the question arises, how much is the right price, and how much is it directly credited to the courier's wallet or to the courier's hand?
Take the paid door-to-door delivery service opened by Jingdong to third-party merchants as an example, according to relevant news, the carriers are all high-end express delivery services of the Tongda Department, such as Yuantong Yuanzhunda , J&T Rabbit Youda, Zhongtong Haokuai, Yunda Zhicheng Network.
According to the Zhongtong courier, after undertaking some orders on the Jingdong platform, Zhongtong Haokuai will receive a minimum reward of 0.8 yuan per ticket.
As for the others, I don't know about it, but the income of multiple couriers in a certain place is presented, Yuantong Yuanzhunda and Jitu Rabbit Youda have a minimum reward of 0.8 yuan a vote, and the minimum reward of Yunda Zhicheng Network is 0.5 yuan a vote, which may reward some slight differences according to the city coefficient.
Therefore, judging from the general situation of Tongda rabbit, the additional cost of home delivery is mostly below 1 yuan / ticket (small and medium-sized pieces).
Of course, some couriers have reported that there is no increase in the delivery fee for door-to-door delivery, and their superiors even bluntly said that "reducing fines is increasing income".
Do you think that home delivery should be charged, what standard should be followed, and how much should be charged?
Author | Logistics Mahjong Hu
Source | Logistics Salon
This article is the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of Logistics Salon