There is no doubt that informatization has improved and supported traditional industries. Almost any industry will undergo earth-shaking changes after informatization, and the same is true for the logistics and express delivery industry.
Li Mu started the informatization road before he even started to build logistics hardware. The current logistics management system of Taobao Logistics is not only the first logistics information management system in China, but is even better than the one in his previous life around 2010. Not weak at all.
Brother Liu has always been on the front line of Taobao logistics, so he has a special understanding of Taobao's logistics management system. In his opinion, this system is simply an artifact. As long as a code scanning gun is added to the key nodes of logistics, express delivery Every step from receipt to transportation to delivery can be recorded very clearly on the server, which greatly improves the efficiency of the entire logistics.
At this time, Li Mu asked Senior Brother Liu: "In addition to our own land transportation network, how are the current aviation resources?"
Brother Liu said: "I have started cooperation with Ms. Lin Lin. All the belly cargo resources of China Southern Airlines have been exclusively contracted by our joint venture company. We have also taken the belly cargo resources of several other airlines. Quite a lot, and the proportion is getting bigger and bigger.”
Li Mu nodded and asked Senior Brother Liu: "What is the current specific time limit for Taobao Express?"
Senior Brother Liu said: "Currently, if there are route supports, we can deliver goods within 24 hours from mainline cities to mainline cities. Generally, we receive the goods before 6:30 pm, and complete the sorting and packaging from 9 to 12 pm. , unified installation, basically it will land in the destination city before 12 noon the next day, and the delivery will be completed before 6:30 pm the next day.”
"From trunk cities to non-trunk cities, if there is route support, it will be delivered within 36 hours. The first half is the same as what I said before, first to the trunk distribution center within 24 hours, and then within the remaining 12 hours through land transportation from trunk lines to branch lines Served and dispatched.”
"From non-trunk cities to non-trunk cities, if there is route support, it can be delivered within 48 hours. Basically, it is from non-trunk cities to trunk cities, then from trunk cities to trunk cities, and then from trunk lines to branch destinations."
"If there is no route support from non-mainline cities to non-mainline cities, delivery within 1,000 kilometers can be guaranteed within 48 hours, and delivery within 72 hours for distances exceeding 1,000 kilometers can basically be guaranteed."
"If it is very remote southwest and northwest areas, users have two options. The timeliness of air transportation is also within 48 hours, but the price will be higher. Land transportation will be much cheaper, but the time will be slightly longer. Generally, we promise 5 Same day delivery.”
Li Mu nodded and said, "This timeliness is already very good and deserves praise."
In the future, Tongfeng, which will be number one in the domestic express delivery industry, will basically have the same express delivery time in the country. Therefore, in terms of timeliness, Taobao Express will basically be on par with Tongfeng in the future, but the difference lies in transportation capacity.
Although the national express delivery throughput has greatly improved, it has not yet entered the golden period of e-commerce. Taobao Express can guarantee this kind of timeliness under the current market demand, but if the transportation volume is doubled, it will definitely not be able to play. In the future, Tailwind will have the largest express freight fleet in China, but in the face of huge market demand, even Tailwind will be difficult to guarantee timeliness, so Taobao Logistics still has a long way to go.
Thinking of Shunfeng, Li Mu asked Senior Brother Liu: "How is the Shunfeng Express in Guangdong Province?"
Li Mu once gave an order to Senior Brother Liu that small businesses like Shunfeng, which rely on express delivery from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, must be severely punished, because although it has not yet grown in scale, it has already developed a stable profit without losing money. If the gold mine is not destroyed, as its capital accumulation becomes stronger and stronger, it will one day accumulate and have an impact on the entire industry.
Brother Liu said: "We have previously acquired several fleets in Hong Kong that have two-place transportation qualifications. In addition, we have been poaching Shunfeng's employees and engaging in price wars with them. Now we have dragged them to death. At present, Our express delivery time for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao is a little faster than that of Shunfeng, and the overall salary of our couriers in Guangdong Province is at least 30% higher than that of Shunfeng. It is also equipped with stronger welfare support. More importantly, our pricing on the market side The pressure is also very low. At present, our express delivery to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao is operated at a loss, and Shunfeng does not dare to start a price war with us. It should be in the zero-profit operation stage now. I heard two days ago that they can no longer sustain it and are seeking financing. "
"Financing?" Li Mu snorted and said disdainfully: "A local express delivery company still wants to raise funds to fight a price war with us? With Taobao Logistics and Taobao Technology here, which investor will invest in it? This dream is a bit too unrealistic."
Senior Brother Liu nodded and said: "I think they are basically out of business. If they persist for a month or two at most, they will be almost disbanded. There is no market, no profit, and they have no advantage in front of us."
As he spoke, Senior Brother Liu added: "Actually, with our current operating model, in the domestic express logistics industry, it has become an existence beyond the reach of all enterprises. Not only Shunfeng, but other express companies are also the same. They are now trapped in A huge whirlpool has emerged. Although they also want to launch automatic sorting systems, logistics management systems, efficient fleets and aviation resources like us, they simply do not have enough capital to operate such a huge project. This threshold is really high. It’s too high, so they can only desperately lower the price, and the profit margin has been reduced to the extreme, almost on the edge of the limit of endurance.”
Li Mu asked him: "Is our comprehensive cost higher than theirs?"
"Yes." Brother Liu said, "Our overall cost is at least 30% higher than that of ordinary express delivery companies. This is mainly reflected in the large initial hardware investment, high depreciation rate, and high personnel costs."
Li Mu was silent for a moment and said: "In other words, because our overall costs are high, our blade against other express delivery companies is basically unable to cut them to the bottom, and will leave a little room for them to survive."
Senior Brother Liu said: "Yes, for example, with the same route and the same weight, other express companies can bite the bullet and reduce the cost to 10 yuan, but our unit price can only be reduced to the lowest unit price of 13 yuan. This three yuan The space is the living space left for them.”
Li Mu smiled slightly: "That's fine. After all, we want to develop the industry as a whole. It is impossible to squeeze out all the express delivery companies. Neither the government nor the law will allow us to have a monopoly in this industry. However, we can pass We use our own means to achieve hierarchical monopoly."
Senior Brother Liu asked curiously: "What does hierarchical monopoly mean?"
Li Mu said: "For example, we only monopolize the mid-to-high-end express delivery market, leaving the low-end express delivery market blank for other companies. From the perspective of the entire express delivery industry, we are not in a monopoly position at all, nor are we involved in any monopoly operations, but from From a user perspective, all mid- to high-end express delivery needs will be absorbed by us.”
Senior Brother Liu nodded: "I understand what you mean. This is indeed most in line with our current overall situation. With our huge asset-heavy operating model, it is difficult to keep costs to a minimum and go to the bottom to compete with those companies. , The sea is very deep, and there are places where we can’t go down.”
Leader Lei, who had been silent for a long time, spoke at this time: "Mr. Li, Lao Liu, I think it is not enough for us to only focus on the mid- to high-end market. Judging from the domestic conditions, no matter what industry, the mid-to-high-end market will always be It cannot become the mainstream. Take the clothing market as an example. More than half of the domestic market is supported by the mid-to-low-end market. The same is true for home appliances, mobile phones, and fast-moving consumer goods. I have previously investigated the market share of daily chemical products. , although the daily chemical brands we see on TV and in shopping malls every day in Yanjing are all well-known brands, but after a real investigation, we realized that most of the market is supported by small brands that we are not aware of, and the market It is huge, covering almost the vast majority of the 890 million rural population, and also covers a small part of the urban population. A large bottle of shampoo produced in Guangdong Province that costs 5 yuan has a higher sales volume than well-known brands such as Pantene and Head & Shoulders. If we sell all the low-end express delivery market to these companies, we will most likely sell more than half of the market volume to them in the future. This loss will be very huge!"
Leader Lei's words made Li Mu wake up instantly.
I am indeed a little overly superstitious about Shunfeng in my previous life. I always feel that it is really amazing that Shunfeng can achieve that scale, that service, and that timeliness. But in the final analysis, although Shunfeng is unique in the industry, looking at the entire industry, it is the best in the industry. Its market share is far from as strong as its reputation. There are a large number of low-cost and cheap express delivery companies in China. Three links and one express delivery are just some of the larger ones, but there are countless unnamed express delivery companies that are encroaching on this market. Industry share, if you just want to make Taobao Express Shunfeng, your imagination will be very limited. Shunfeng's market value is only 200 billion yuan at most, but the market value of top giants like UPS has long been floating in the range of 600 to 700 billion yuan.
If you want to become a world-class logistics company, you must have sufficient guarantee for market share. Only doing mid-to-high-end products does have obvious shortcomings. When Li Mu recalled his previous life, at least 80% of the orders he placed on Taobao did not use Shunfeng Express. , that’s because on the one hand, sellers are reducing costs, and on the other hand, buyers are also reducing expenses. Many sellers have long-term cooperative relationships with an ordinary express company. The starting price for express delivery by large customers is as low as three or four yuan. In this case, the price of Shunfeng is probably twice as high, so most sellers will not choose Shunfeng. If the user insists on choosing Shunfeng, the buyer will have to bear the extra cost.
Many times when buying an item worth tens of yuan, the seller will cover ordinary express delivery, but the buyer will need to pay an extra 15-20 yuan to send it to Shunfeng. So if most buyers are not very anxious, they will never specify Shunfeng Express. This is Shunfeng lacks control over the low-end market.
Li Mu has never really been involved in industry and does not understand the meaning of the low-end market. Brother Liu is obsessed with the self-built logistics system, so he also ignores the low-end market. But Master Lei is different. The reason why he can make Xiaomi bigger and stronger is It relies on a keen sense of the mid-to-low-end market. Whether it is a purely low-priced, purely low-end model, or a lower-priced, higher-spec mid-to-low-end cost-effective model, Xiaomi mobile phones are very good in the product line. 6. Many "Mijia" products derived from Xiaomi basically rely on these two dimensions to compete with their opponents.
Li Mu got this very important inspiration from his words. We must do both the mid-to-high end and the mid-to-low end. This is the direction of comprehensive development. Otherwise, the tailwind in the previous life will be the future of Taobao Express, and there will be no bigger pattern.
Immediately, Li Mu said sternly: "Lao Lei is right, we cannot completely give up on the mid- to low-end market, otherwise it will be very easy for this gang of people to make the water muddy. If we don't have the ability to fish in muddy water, or don't want to If we are fishing in muddy waters, we must suppress these guys. Once they muddy the water, we will have no fucking food!"
With that said, Li Mu thought about Xiaomi's path and said to Senior Brother Liu: "Brother, I give you two tasks. First, compress our costs further and push the blade further down. You just said they can do it. 10, we can only achieve 13. This is inaccurate, because once they really start to struggle for survival, they can continue to go down on the basis of 10, and maybe they will play a wild way. , maybe we can push this value to 5 in one breath. By then, we will be at 13 and they will be at 5, and the space left for them in the middle will be too big!"
Senior Brother Liu also realized the seriousness of the problem and nodded repeatedly: "I understand, and then I will find ways to further reduce our operating costs."
Li Mu said: "Operation costs and service timeliness are higher than others. Although we can provide users with the highest timeliness now, we do not rule out that many users will choose the former when choosing between cost and timeliness in the future. The same express delivery costs 20 yuan within 24 hours, 15 yuan within 48 hours, and only 10 yuan within 72 hours. There are always many users who will choose the 10 yuan range, so you not only have to find a way To reduce operating costs, we must also better integrate our logistics system, not only to improve timeliness, but also to reduce costs.”
With that said, Li Mu asked again: "In order to ensure the timeliness of express delivery, how much space and capacity can be utilized for each packaged express delivery, or container, or belly cargo warehouse?"
Senior Brother Liu thought for a while and said: "Except for very popular lines, which can reach about 90%, most others are around 70%. For example, tonight we have to send a trailer from Yanjing to Jinling. In order to ensure timeliness, at 12 o'clock in the evening If the train leaves on time, then even if it is only 50% loaded, we will still send it out on time."
Li Mu nodded: "That's the problem. From a cost perspective, the more full the vehicle is, the more profitable it is. But if you want to wait for it to be full, you will waste time. If you don't want to waste time, you have to load as much as you can within the specified time." , so that we have a lot of waste of transportation capacity, then we will simply develop a low-end product line in the future. The packages of this product line will automatically reduce its timeliness in the system from the moment they are sorted. For example, It is a package from Yanjing to Jinling. Goods that choose fast products will be sent out if they are not filled within the specified time, but goods that choose slow products will be stranded in the sorting center and wait until they are full, or almost full. When will they be released? In this way, the overall cost of this batch of slow products will naturally drop a lot."
Senior Brother Liu nodded immediately and said: "OK, I will start working on this matter immediately. I will go to Fang Xudong in the evening to communicate the needs in this area and upgrade our system."
"It must be as soon as possible!" Li Mu said: "In addition to this, we also need to further improve the cost-effectiveness of our products. The so-called cost-effectiveness refers to performance on the one hand and price on the other. What I just mentioned is price, and then we will talk about performance. Think about how we can improve performance while lowering the price!”
(End of chapter)