Profit model of smart parcel lockers is still to be found
Posted: 02/19/2019 04:05:02 Hits: 888
The Ministry of Transport recently drafted the Administrative Measures of Smart Express Delivery Service (draft for comments) and publicly solicited opinions in order to standardize the smart express delivery service and promote healthy development of the market.
In recent years, China's express delivery market is in a state of soaring. The number of express deliveries increased from 9.19 billion pieces in 2013 to 40.06 billion pieces in 2017, that was a 335.9% growth. According to the database of the China Commercial and Industrial Research Institute, by 2020, it is estimated that the volume of China's express deliveries will exceed 60 billion pieces based on the recent growing trend of China's express delivery business. In the rapid expansion of the domestic express delivery market, in order to do a good job in the final delivery service, the parcel locker industry began to derive and continue to grow and develop.
In 2010, China Post set up the first smart parcel delivery terminal, and the smart express delivery lockers began to enter the public. In 2012, China Post launched the first smart parcel locker. In the years that followed, the market expanded rapidly. In June 2015, SF Express joined with Shentong, Zhongtong, Yunda, and GLP and created Hive-Box. In July 2017, China Post owned 50% interest of it.
Then in April 2018, Cainiao Network introduced service stations called Cainiao Yizhan. According to the report issued by the State Post Bureau, in the first three quarters of 2018, the establishment of smart parcel lockers by major Chinese enterprises reached 250,000. Based on the current growth rate, China's smart parcel locker market is expected to be nearly 30 billion yuan by 2020.
At the same time, from the central to the local, the favorable policies of the smart express delivery locker industry are also constantly being introduced. In 2013, the State Post Bureau officially issued documents to encourage and support postal, express delivery enterprises, and invested in the construction and promotion of self-service facilities such as smart express boxes. In 2015, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Actively Promoting "Internet Plus", encouraging the development of new community-based distribution modes such as lockers for self-picking-up parcel, cold chain storage cabinets, and collection service spots. Last year, the public property of the smart parcel locker was officially clarified for the first time.
However, sometimes the presence of the smart parcel lockers is a bit embarrassing. For example, expressmen putting parcels into the lockers without asking the user for consent happens frequently. And many complaints have shown up against this situation. This administrative measures (draft for comments) also noted this issue and made a request, emphasizing the priority of home delivery, indicating that companies that use smart lockers should obtain the approval before using them to deliver parcels.
In addition, the aspect of profitability is a long-term stagnation in front of the enterprises in this market. In the current market, basically every enterprise is still in a state of loss, and it is difficult to earn back the cost of equipment input, post-maintenance, and site rent. What's more, nowadays, with the increase in the number of terminals installed, the pressure on the enterprises is also increasing, and the profit bottleneck of the industry needs to be broken.
Some time ago, an express delivery locker company tried to seek profits by means of charging, but the news triggered discussions among consumers who were accustomed to the free service model and who showed strong dissatisfaction with the move. Recently, there are those that try to earn profits by recycling packaging such as waste paper and cartons. This approach has also been encouraged by the administrative measures. However, the final effect remains to be seen, and the express locker companies need to continue to explore the direction in order to seek profit.
