The explosive growth of China's express delivery volume has provided fertile soil for the "growth" of express delivery enterprises. After experiencing the rough development of "price for volume", the problems of express delivery enterprises are gradually becoming prominent: either shortage of funds, backward technology, chaotic management, lack of professional talents, or gradually decreasing market share... These problems are all crises that express delivery enterprises are facing at present. And what managers need to do is to make adjustments as soon as possible based on the situation of the enterprise and take precautions.

1、 Leader crisis

At a forum at the end of June, Wang Wei, the head of SF Express, bluntly stated that the openness or conservatism of the top leaders is important for the development of the enterprise. "If the top leaders of the enterprise still remain complacent and self righteous, refusing to cooperate or communicate with other enterprises, then their enterprise will eventually be marginalized by the market." He admitted that his "one thought gap" has led to the difference between SF Express and Tencent, which is currently 200 billion and 2 trillion yuan.

Although large enterprises nowadays adopt a flat and open management model, by reducing administrative management levels to establish a compact and capable flat organizational structure, this has indeed improved the efficiency of management and work to a certain extent. However, it cannot be denied that the mindset, abilities, patterns, and openness of the leaders or managers can all affect the development of the enterprise.

As Wang Wei said, "My idea is to focus on making my own products. Ma Huateng not only creates his own internal environment, but also actively creates the entire external ecological environment to win more opportunities." Therefore, whether it is the head of the enterprise or department, an open mindset and strong team management ability can greatly promote the development of the enterprise.

2、 Service Crisis

With the continuous improvement of consumption ability, consumers' demand for high-quality express delivery services is increasing, mainly reflected in service attitude and level, availability, timeliness, information technology level, convenience, safety, and other aspects. Therefore, many express delivery companies are making every effort to provide consumers with comprehensive services in order to expand market share.

But there is always a certain gap between reality and expectations. According to the statistics of the National Postal Administration, in 2016, the effective appeals of express delivery enterprises were 263000, accounting for 95.1%, a decrease of only 4.7% compared to the same period last year. Among them, express delivery services, delays, and missing items are the focus of consumer complaints, accounting for 37.7%, 28.8%, and 20.1% of the total effective complaints, respectively.

In addition, the service provided by the express delivery industry has a serious tendency towards homogenization, with few differentiated services. The competition in the express delivery industry is mainly focused on pricing, and most express delivery companies show a trend of "micro profit, no profit, and loss". Meanwhile, homogeneous services also make it difficult for consumers to have loyalty to major express delivery brands.

3、 Capital crisis

In recent years, the express delivery and logistics industries have been highly favored by capital, and the already listed "Express Five Stocks" do not need to say much about the accessibility of capital. It is worth mentioning that the financing situation of non first-line express enterprises has also become very optimistic. Quanfeng has received 1.25 billion yuan of investment from Youth Travel (and will gradually complete 2 billion yuan of working capital), and Express Express has received 133 million yuan of investment from Shentong Express; Su'er Express announced in June last year that it had jointly invested billions of shares from five institutions, including China Merchants Capital, China Merchants Wealth, Jiuding Investment, Qianhai Gurong, and Deshengren; Last June, Yousu Express completed a round A financing of over 300 million yuan.

For these enterprises that have already incorporated capital, what they need to consider is how to make good use of this capital, so that investors have money to earn, which is also a major crisis they need to face, after all, there are many cases of enterprises that are burdened by capital. And those enterprises that have not yet kept up with the pace of capital will not only lose at the starting line of the capital market, but also face difficulties in keeping up with technology and equipment due to a lack of financial support, and service quality will also be affected.

4、 Talent crisis

The combined effect of the business scale exceeding 30 billion items in 2016 is that the daily average service exceeded 250 million people, supporting online retail sales exceeding 4 trillion yuan, and the number of employees in China's e-commerce and logistics industry increased by more than 30% year-on-year. It is not difficult to find that the express delivery industry plays a significant role in economic and social development, effectively alleviating the employment pressure in China.

However, traditional logistics business models, infrastructure, and equipment are no longer able to support the rapid development of modern logistics. The logistics and express delivery industries are entering a new stage of informatization represented by network technology, e-commerce, and sharing economy. At this stage, integrating professional talent resources is particularly important.

However, the current talent situation is characterized by a serious imbalance in the proportion of personnel in the first, second, and third lines, with a considerable shortage of high-end talents who understand operational planning, strategic management, and supply chain solutions. Although many enterprises are actively carrying out school enterprise cooperation, providing practical training venues for university teaching, and providing employment opportunities for fresh graduates, after several years of practice, it has been found that the effect is not significant, and there are still problems such as high talent turnover rate and serious professional talent differentiation. Therefore, the lack of high-quality talents is constraining the rapid development of current express delivery and logistics enterprises.

5、 Mode crisis

Express delivery companies represented by the Tongda system have been using e-commerce as their main source of business for many years, and through the "price for volume" approach, they have also made a lot of money in recent years. As they develop and grow, problems gradually become apparent. For example, under the franchise model, the low price competition between branches in the same region and system, as well as the "special relationship" between headquarters and branches, make the survival situation of branches even more difficult. And the loss making branches have directly led to the loss of express delivery personnel, stock shortages, and other phenomena.

As is well known, the franchise model is prone to the disadvantage of sacrificing brand and service quality for short-term benefits. However, due to the convenience of low-cost network deployment, many express delivery companies are still using the franchise model at this stage. Many express delivery companies are well aware of the drawbacks of the franchise model and are eager to transform it into a direct sales model. However, because the direct sales model requires a huge investment in manpower, hardware, and hardware systems, many express delivery companies are often unable to meet their expectations, resulting in difficult transformation.

6、 Market saturation crisis

In recent years, more and more logistics companies and e-commerce platforms have begun to cross border and "play" with express delivery services. The three companies that have recently obtained national express delivery licenses are the traditional logistics company "Yuancheng Express", Vipshop's self built logistics company "Pinjun Express", and regional distribution company "Shengbang Logistics". New players will join based on their existing business, which will introduce traffic and generate linkage effects.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that international express delivery giants such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL have "eroded" China's express delivery market share. They not only aim at the "cake" of express delivery, but also focus on small and medium-sized enterprises with unlimited potential, in order to provide them with full process supply chain solutions.

The emergence of new players and the "food sharing" of international express will definitely squeeze the Lebensraum of express enterprises and speed up the survival of the fittest in the industry, so the express industry is facing a crisis of diminishing market share.

7、 Endpoint crisis

The "last mile" in terminal services has always been a hot topic in the industry as the final stage of express delivery. To solve this problem, from government agencies to express delivery and logistics enterprises, various forms of improvement have been taken to improve the delivery methods and enhance the level of express end services.

Among them, express delivery cabinets, self built convenience stores, or franchise convenience stores have become emerging formats that have emerged in recent years. In response to the needs of express delivery enterprises and e-commerce development, they are known as the main channels to solve the "last mile" or even the "last hundred meters" of express delivery.

However, the terminal delivery of the "last mile" has become a bottleneck restricting the development of the express delivery industry and an obstacle to improving the quality of people's livelihood services due to its huge business volume, low profits, and continuously rising costs. SF Express once invested heavily in building its own "Heike" convenience store, but incurred a loss of 600 million yuan; According to announcements from SF Express and Yunda, in the first three quarters of 2016, Fengchao's operating revenue was approximately 4.8 million yuan, with a net loss of 157 million yuan... Obviously, how to achieve profitability in terminal distribution has become a headache for enterprises at this stage.

8、 Cost Crisis

In the "2016 Express Delivery Market Supervision Report" released by the National Postal Administration at the end of June this year, it was shown that in 2016, the per capita express delivery expenses were 287.4 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.7%; The average unit price of express delivery is 12.7 yuan per item, a decrease of 0.7 yuan compared to 2015, and a further decrease of 1.25 yuan compared to 14.65 yuan in 2014. The year-on-year decrease in average revenue per package indicates that the development model of "price for volume" in the express delivery industry has basically not changed, and the profitability of express delivery enterprises is showing a downward trend.

Obviously, the gradual compression of profit margins has become a major pain point faced by express delivery companies at this stage, especially for some franchised branches of private express delivery companies that have encountered operational difficulties, and for some medium-sized express delivery companies, headquarters losses continue to persist.

The courier industry is facing severe micro profit, and homogeneous competition is a major factor. Indeed, the homogenized competition between express delivery companies has intensified the 'price war'. On the other hand, the rapid increase in oil prices, labor, equipment, land and other costs has led to a significant compression of the profits of express delivery companies. How to break through the situation and make small profits, and "exchange price for quantity" has become a major issue for current express delivery enterprises.

9、 Cooperation crisis

Recently, the conflict between JD and Suning caused a storm in the city. The reason is that JD will close the interface service of Tiantian Express, which means suspending cooperation with Tiantian Express. JD attributed the reason to the last ranking of Tiantian Express service quality and complaints, as well as violations. Regarding this move, both sides have responded, and Suning, as the owner of Tiantian Express, has also participated in the battle.

Although this incident has been quelled in the future, it leaves the express delivery industry with a thought: relying on platforms may be kicked out at any time for some reason. Because in the face of e-commerce platforms, the weak position of express delivery is too obvious. The foundation of cooperation between both parties is based on mutual benefit. Once interests are imbalanced, being kicked out is a matter of time. This is the case with SF Express being shut down by Cainiao, as well as being "banned" by JD every day. So, the crisis of cooperation is becoming increasingly prominent with the continuous growth of the platform.

10、 Trust crisis

The real name system has been highlighted in recent times, and relevant departments across the country have expressed their intention to fully implement the real name system for express delivery. In fact, as early as a year ago, the National Postal Administration issued the "Safety Production Operation Standards for Express Delivery", which clearly stated that in addition to presenting valid documents such as personal ID card, the package must be sent with a real name, and the package must also be inspected and verified by the courier first.

So why hasn't it been implemented well for over a year? We can't help but ask, what exactly went wrong with the real name system process? In addition to inadequate supervision and inactive branches, another important reason is that consumers do not cooperate. What are the reasons?

In fact, this is not that consumers have a bias against couriers, but rather a concern about personal privacy leakage. And as people increasingly value privacy and security, consumers will resist such real name input. After all, when consumers present their ID cards, they are more of a trust in the country's rule of law and enterprises.

However, crises and business opportunities often coexist. In the business world full of crises, some people panic and complain in the face of crises; Some people are good at using their brains and diligent in thinking, turning crises into opportunities, turning opportunities into business opportunities, and opening up another avenue. So, when the crisis comes, will it be complaining and waiting for mergers and acquisitions, or will it be working hard to break through? The winner is currently painstakingly exploring the hidden business opportunities in the crisis!