Order food on the mobile phone and deliver it to home immediately. This model has become a common operation for many urban residents. After several years of development, the scale of instant delivery users has already exceeded 400 million, and instant delivery orders have long since expanded from food delivery to diversified delivery services.

　　During the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, what opportunities does the instant delivery service usher in and what changes have occurred?

From delivering food to delivering everything

Instant delivery users have exceeded 400 million

　　Since the beginning of this year, due to the epidemic, many people have reduced the number of shopping in shopping malls and supermarkets, and their demand for daily necessities has begun to choose the method of placing orders through mobile phones, while the non-contact delivery method of takeaway cabinets and fixed-point order pick-ups. Also dispelled the concerns of consumers.

　　Since the beginning of this year, the proportion of food delivery orders has fallen, and more and more consumers are choosing to buy fresh food online for cooking at home. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2020, the fresh food industry has grown by 104.8% over the same period last year. In addition, instant delivery orders for cakes, flowers, medicines and other categories have also increased significantly.

　　Zhang Xinyu, Director of Public Relations at Hema Xiansheng, said that online orders increased to nearly 300% year-on-year, especially the growth rate of people’s daily necessities such as rice, noodles, grains, oils and fruits.

　　Compared with the traditional express delivery mode, most of the instant delivery is intra-city express delivery, which emphasizes timeliness, and the delivery time is calculated by the minute.

　　Yu Lei, CEO of Dingdang Kuaiyao, said that during the epidemic, their orders have increased significantly, more than 30 times the usual.

Specialized urgent delivery refused to put together orders

Enterprises explore multiple performance models

　　In order to meet the diversified and all-round needs of consumers, instant delivery merchants are also exploring new fulfillment models and delivery service methods, but they are also facing cost pressure.

　　Compared with the traditional catering takeaway ordering model, there are also instant delivery platforms that focus on personal intra-city business, and one-to-one urgent delivery refuses to order orders. Ms. Sheng is an administrative staff of a company. She often has to deliver documents, contracts, invoices and other information with partner companies. Although one-to-one delivery costs about 40 yuan per order, she thinks this method is safer.

　　Du Shangjun, vice president of Beijing Shansong Technology Co., Ltd., said that their orders have grown at a rate of about 300% in the past three years, with an average daily order of about 600,000 orders per day.

　　In order to improve efficiency, the distribution platform is also using big data to allocate capacity, and put the warehouse in front to shorten the time for goods allocation. However, increased investment in riders and store warehouses has also brought cost pressures to enterprises. According to industry insiders, the rent of a good store front warehouse can reach one million yuan. In terms of labor costs, the rider's salary is about 10,000 yuan. In 2019, Dada paid the rider's salary of 2.677 billion yuan, accounting for 54.39% of the total cost. A large amount of investment has made it difficult for leading companies like Dada and Meituan to make profits.

　　Li Yongjian, a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Dada’s revenue last year was about 3.1 billion yuan, and it paid about 2.7 billion to riders. This is the biggest cost of it. To make a profit, it must break through this problem. The first is to increase the unit price, the second is to rely on technical forces, and the third is to expand the market. For example, if the original one-time delivery of 1 order becomes one-time delivery of 5 orders, the cost will come down.

Influx of giants

The immediate delivery industry may usher in the "golden decade"

　　Although it is still difficult for the industry to see stable profits, it does not prevent giants from swarming. What is the future development prospect of the instant delivery industry? What are the problems that need to be solved urgently?

　　In addition to the early Meituan, Hummingbird, and Dada, Didi, Gome, and Zhongtong Express have also deployed. According to expert analysis, the growth rate of instant delivery in 2020 will probably be between 20% and 30%.

　　Wan Ying, secretary-general of the E-commerce Logistics and Express Branch of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said, “We judge that the market size of the industry in 2020 will be around 250 billion. From the perspective of the development of the entire industry, the next 10 years will be the immediate delivery industry. 10 years of gold'."

　　As the instant delivery market matures, more business models that can meet the segmented needs of urban consumers will continue to emerge in the near future.

　　Professor Yang Xuecheng of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications believes that there are still many subdivision opportunities, such as the distribution of wine and medicine, which are highly dependent on time sensitivity. This type of industry may have great opportunities.

　　Although the industry prospects are gratifying, the scale of instant distribution is growing rapidly, but it also faces many problems. Including the concentration of order demand and high volatility, the peak supply and demand balance is difficult to match; personnel mobility is large, management is difficult, and the service evaluation and complaint system is not sound. In addition, instant delivery puts pressure on road safety. 

　　Experts suggest that distribution companies should implement the main responsibility for traffic safety, scientifically dispatch orders, and reasonably specify the delivery time. Relevant departments should also increase their rectification efforts, strictly investigate and strictly control the serious traffic violations such as red light running and retrograde by delivery riders, and the serious ones will be included in the record of dishonesty, and the measures of clearing and prohibiting entry will be implemented.