According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the total import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce in China will reach 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 15.6%. Among them, exports amounted to 1.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.6%; Imports amounted to 548.3 billion yuan, an increase of 3.9%.

With the deepening of globalization layout of Chinese enterprises, the demand for fast supply chain services has surged, bringing business dividends to logistics enterprises going global. As a downstream industry, logistics serves as a barometer for international trade in the commercial upstream. Chinese enterprises inevitably require logistics related services when going global.

In addition, relevant government departments also encourage the express delivery industry to go global. The "Express Shipping Overseas" project proposed by the State Post Bureau not only supports and guides express delivery companies to develop their business towards neighboring countries, but also strengthens policy communication with the express delivery authorities of "Belt and Road" countries, paving the way for express delivery to go overseas.

On March 22, the relevant person in charge of SF International said in an interview with the reporter of China Logistics and Procurement magazine that the "the Belt and Road" and cross-border e-commerce development have provided opportunities for China's express enterprises to cross borders. "With the implementation of the" the Belt and Road "construction, China has frequent trade exchanges with countries along the line, driving the rapid growth of logistics business demand. In addition to the multi-directional logistics and freight infrastructure construction by sea, land and air, the huge investment in new infrastructure such as industrial Internet, 5G, big data and artificial intelligence undoubtedly benefits the logistics industry, making freight costs lower, more intelligent and digital. ”

Logistics companies accelerate overseas layout

On March 15, JD Logistics announced that its "international express delivery" service has been further upgraded, covering most districts, counties and cities in China, including remote Xinjiang and Xizang, to provide consumers with domestic delivery and overseas delivery services. In addition, JD Logistics has also expanded its overseas services, covering the vast majority of countries in Europe and America, and achieving the fastest "3-day delivery" worldwide.

At the same time, in order to meet the growing demand for precise services from Singaporean consumers, SF Express has launched a "scheduled delivery" fulfillment service in * * * Singapore, continuously improving the service experience on the basis of daily services, and * * * applying the "scheduled delivery" service to the release of new products from a high-end 3C electronics brand.

Alibaba plans to invest $1.1 billion in South Korea within three years to build logistics centers and expand its business.

The successive departures of logistics giants have presented a prosperous scene of "Huashan Debate" in cross-border logistics.

The relevant person in charge of SF International told reporters, "The market demand and favorable policies have enabled SF to take international business as a new strategic development direction. In terms of overseas layout, logistics companies can take action earlier to gain an advantage. In 2023, SF's overall cross-border business revenue increased by nearly 130%, which is the fourth consecutive year of growth since 2020.

On March 21st, Guo Dong, CEO of Di Sifang, stated in an interview with China Logistics and Purchasing magazine that from 2023 to present, the rise of local Chinese platforms, known as the "Four Little Dragons of Going Global", can clearly feel the surge in packages from Chinese e-commerce platforms. Benefiting from the rapid growth of commercial demand, cross-border e-commerce logistics will also enter a new stage of development.

Comprehensive efforts in speed and service

In recent years, domestic express logistics have been accelerating, and "same day delivery" and "half day delivery" have become standard. With the rapid pace of cross-border delivery, how to improve the speed of cross-border express delivery has become a must compete area for logistics enterprises.

On March 25th, the person in charge of JD Logistics stated in an interview with China Logistics and Purchasing magazine that in recent years, JD Logistics has continued to adopt encrypted transportation schedules, reasonable planning of routes, and other methods to promote the acceleration of international express delivery. At present, JD Logistics has nearly 90 overseas warehouses, bonded warehouses, and direct mail warehouses worldwide. Except for "international express delivery", JD Logistics can achieve local express logistics delivery within 1 day.

SF Express has continuously increased its investment in overseas resources, especially in improving its service capabilities to Asian countries, such as increasing international flight encryption, and investing in local service personnel and facilities in major Asian countries; The ability to fulfill obligations in a timely manner continues to improve, with increased international flights from major overseas countries and daily flights from destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. * * * Express can arrive within 48 hours.

According to the different needs of customers, DiSifang has launched various timely express delivery services. Taking the UK as an example, using the "late delivery compensation" service to send parcels to the UK can achieve a delivery time of 3-5 working days, with compensation for late arrivals; The "priority type" service has a delivery time of 3-5 working days; The 'standard' service takes 6-8 working days; The 'economic' service takes 9-10 working days; The 'super economic service' takes 11-12 working days.

The "scheduled delivery" fulfillment service launched by SF Express in Singapore represents that express logistics companies not only pursue "speed" in cross-border e-commerce, but also have new ideas in service quality. The person in charge of SF International told reporters that "scheduled delivery" refers to accurately delivering goods within the time range specified by customers, which is also a product launched to meet the growing demand for precise services among Singaporean consumers. The differentiated service experience has received unanimous praise from customers and consumers

Building software and hardware infrastructure for cross-border transactions

In order to make cross-border logistics smoother and faster, logistics companies have started the "acceleration mode" in terms of basic hardware, software construction, and other aspects.

For the development of overseas market business, we vigorously invest in logistics infrastructure construction and make long-term and valuable investments, "the person in charge of SF International told reporters.

At present, SF Express has established independent self operation capabilities at multiple customs clearance nodes. Although its cost in the entire cross-border chain is not high, it is an important link that affects customer experience. SF Express has obtained customs clearance qualifications at core airports in countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, built its own stations, established a customs clearance self operated team, and established an independent customs clearance system. SF Express has about 70 customs clearance ports worldwide, serving major regions such as the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and Europe. It also has 9 AEO advanced certification qualifications and licenses in China, enhancing its import and export customs clearance and end-to-end service capabilities.

In terms of trunk resources, global air routes are becoming increasingly dense. Taking SF Express as an example only, the 99 all cargo planes currently operated by SF Express have a total of 120 operating routes worldwide, with an international shipment volume of over 100000 tons. There are also over 3000 international routes with scattered air resources, and the international shipment volume exceeds 160000 tons.

JD Logistics, on the other hand, has put a lot of effort into software.

At present, numerous automated equipment and systems independently developed by JD Logistics have been applied in multiple overseas warehouses. Among them, JD Logistics' self-developed iWMS can fully dispatch various overseas intelligent devices, promote the overall automation operation efficiency of overseas warehouses by more than three times, and help local traders achieve SKU fine management. By distributing products to warehouses closest to consumers in advance, it helps merchants shorten the order fulfillment time from 7 days to 2-3 days. In addition, JD Logistics has built multiple automated warehouses worldwide, including nearly a thousand AGVs, CTUs, sorting robots, sorting and conveying equipment, etc. In multiple overseas warehouses, innovative service models such as PSP (Power Picking) and forward reverse integration have been applied, which have increased efficiency by more than three times compared to traditional manual labor. The independently developed iFOP (International Supply Chain Order Fulfillment and Scheduling Platform) has also appeared overseas, which can help merchants and brands connect with mainstream e-commerce platforms and independent websites with just one click. Through the assembly of abstract models based on multi process and multi link fulfillment data, it supports intelligent scheduling and splitting of various types of logistics resources according to service capabilities, prices, timeliness, and other dimensions, providing merchants with supply chain solutions for complex business scenarios.

Cross border logistics challenges depend on interdependence

We believe that the compound annual growth rate of cross-border e-commerce is expected to reach 16% in the next three years, "Guo Dong analyzed.

But even in the face of such a rapidly developing market, there are still many problems that urgently need to be solved.

The investment cycle for overseas warehouses is very long. The investment return rate of overseas warehouses is influenced by various factors such as market conditions, business volume, and operating costs, so it is important to see a 10-15 year cycle, "said Guo Dong.

Secondly, the management of overseas employees is relatively complex. The protection of employees in Europe and America is relatively complete, including overtime restrictions or labor rights stipulated by laws and regulations; In addition, involving multicultural management, it is necessary to respect and adapt to local market rules, which poses great challenges to the management of overseas logistics.

The third is compliance risk. Cross border e-commerce enterprises may face intellectual property risks related to patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property issues of others during their production and sales processes; And in the entire process of cross-border transportation, there are compliance risks caused by multiple participating entities and third parties involved.

In addition, the prominent bottleneck of transportation resources has become a consensus in the industry. It is understood that due to the limited and uneven distribution of global transportation resources, cross-border logistics companies may face the problem of tight transportation resources. In addition, so-called black swan events such as the Red Sea crisis may lead to increased transportation costs, low transportation efficiency, and transportation delays.

In response to the problems in the development of cross-border logistics, logistics companies have also put forward their own appeals.

One is to hope that the government and relevant industry associations can guide and strengthen the alignment of China's relevant standards with international standards, in order to promote participation in the international circulation; Secondly, we hope that national standards or landmark related industry standards can be implemented and implemented to enhance the interchangeability and universality of China's industrialization system, promote economic efficiency, and reduce operating costs; Thirdly, we hope that logistics companies will not compete with each other at low prices to grab customers, which will make cross-border logistics, which is already facing numerous challenges, even worse.