Is the reconciliation of the rookie SF Express? This "palace drama" in the logistics industry is not over yet

　　In the early morning of June 1, SF Express closed the logistics data interface to Cainiao Network, resulting in the data being unable to be returned to merchants on Taobao and Tmall. Cainiao canceled the option of SF Express as a logistics provider on Taobao and Tmall platforms. However, both sides have different opinions on the cause of the incident.

　　Subsequently, the "allies" of their respective camps spoke out to take sides. Tencent, JD.com, Meituan, and NetEase support SF Express, while Suning, YTO, Guotong, Quanfeng Express, Yiguo Fresh, etc. are in the same team as Cainiao.

　　When the war was in full swing, the State Post Bureau quickly took action. On the evening of June 2, the State Post Bureau issued an announcement stating: "The State Post Bureau convened senior management of Cainiao Network and SF Express to Beijing to coordinate the closure of the interoperable data interface between the two sides."

　　The result of the coordination is that the two parties agreed to fully resume business cooperation and data transmission from 12:00 on June 3.

　　Multiple "Rashomon"

　　Disputes are not complicated. But who caused the incident first and why? The incident fell into multiple "Rashomon".

　　Since the incident involves merchants and consumers, Cainiao chose to first inform the public of the incident and issued the "Statement on SF Express's suspension of logistics data interfaces" at 14:32 pm on June 1.

　　This statement describes the incident as follows: At 6 pm on May 31, we received a notice of the suspension of data interface sent by SF Express. In the early morning of June 1, SF Express closed the data information of the self-pickup cabinet. At noon on June 1, SF Express further closed the return of logistics information on the entire Taobao platform. This has led to information confusion among some merchants and consumers, which may cause significant losses to merchants and consumers.

　　Four hours later, SF Express Group made an official response and gave another statement: Cainiao unilaterally cut off Fengchao information interface at 0:00 on June 1.

　　Who turned off the information interface of Fengchao pickup cabinet first? Both sides talk to themselves, and this is the first "Rashomen".

　　The cause of the incident was even more important, and this was the second "Rashomen". The explanation given by the novices is that it arises because of information security. Cainiao's first official statement explained: "Before this incident, in order to protect consumer privacy and telephone information security, Cainiao was carrying out information security upgrades to the entire network logistics data according to the suggestions of the security team. We will strengthen the ecological friction behind the dispute over logistics data such as overseas shopping and express cabinets.

　　Putting aside the dispute, one thing is clear: the focus of the conflict between the two sides is on logistics data.

　　The essence is to compete for data, because the logistics we are talking about now are all big data-driven logistics. Due to Alibaba's huge business order volume, it is necessary to ensure that Cainiao's logistics data is full-link, from upstream to downstream, including the express cabinet at the end, so that Cainiao can optimize the entire supply chain and realize its function as a big data-driven smart logistics supply chain platform. This is Cainiao's demand.

　　Cainiao was founded in 2013. Alibaba has joined hands with almost all third-party logistics partners that its e-commerce platform can gather to form Cainiao Network. Founding shareholders include Alibaba, Intime, Fosun, Fuchun Investment, SF Express and Santong Yida (Shentong, YTO, ZTO, Yunda), etc.

　　The rookie doesn't want to do express delivery by himself. Cainiao Network CEO Tong Wenhong said more than once that Cainiao does not do express delivery, does not grab the job of logistics companies, and does to do things that logistics companies want to do but cannot do themselves.

　　As the integration capabilities of Cainiao Network become increasingly enhanced, vigilant voices begin to appear

　　As the most important competitor of Taobao platform, in July 2016, JD founder Liu Qiangdong commented when he was a guest on CCTV's financial column "Dialogue" that Cainiao Network essentially needs to build a data system on several express delivery companies. To put it nicely, it is to improve the efficiency of these express delivery companies. To put it bluntly, in the end, most of the profits of several express delivery companies will be absorbed by Cainiao Logistics.

　　He also predicted, "Only one SF Express refuses to do this. I believe that in the future, there will be only one SF Express that can exist in an independent express delivery company for a long time."

　　Liu Qiangdong's foresight was quickly verified. In fact, many media have found that the friction between the two sides has long been traceable.

　　In May 2014, SF Express voluntarily suspended its cooperation with Taobao merchants, no longer delivered ultra-low logistics parts, and turned to cooperation with other emerging e-commerce platforms.

　　May 28, 2015 is the second anniversary of the founding of Cainiao Network. At the Cainiao Partner Conference held by Cainiao Network President Tong Wenhong, SF Express said it was busy with work and could not participate.

　　In March 2016, Tmall officially announced that it would cancel the "SF Express free shipping" service.

　　On May 22 this year, at the 2017 Global Smart Logistics Summit, when Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma delivered a speech on the stage, the audience was filled with heads of the most important express delivery companies in China such as Santong and Yida, but there were no employees of SF Express and its head Wang Wei.

　　SF Holdings completed its backdoor listing in early 2017. Its 2016 annual report shows that the express delivery business volume in 2016 was 2.58 billion tickets, a year-on-year increase of 31.00%; Express Logistics' tax-excluding operating income was 57.141 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.75%.

　　Based on this estimate, SF Express’s express delivery business volume accounts for 8% of the industry and 14% of the revenue. SF Express also firmly occupies the mid-to-high-end express delivery market, and its service price is also the highest among all market-oriented express delivery companies. The average revenue of express delivery tickets in 2014, 2015 and 2016 was RMB 23.61, 23.83 and 22.15 respectively, which was far higher than the industry average.

　　Is the reconciliation of the rookie SF Express? This palace drama in the logistics industry is not over yet

　　Therefore, some netizens lamented, "There are two types of express delivery companies, one is SF Express and the other is other express delivery."

　　In fact, SF Express’s “ambition” is not satisfied with building a express delivery company. In addition to the express delivery business that started, SF Express has made all-round layouts in the entire logistics industry chain, e-commerce, fresh food, property, finance and other fields. Just a few days before this incident, on May 26, SF Express announced that it would join forces with global logistics giant UPS to establish a joint venture in Hong Kong to focus on cross-border goods "This dispute broke out very timely."

　　Yang Daqing tends to look at SF Express’s vigilance more neutrally. He believes that the core of the friction between SF Express and Cainiao lies in data, but in this era, "data is not the core competitiveness, and the ability to control data is the core competitiveness."

　　In his opinion, SF Express’s core competitiveness lies in its ability to control big data in "things", and the core competitiveness of rookie lies in its ability to control big data in "flow". SF Express sells items and transports items, but the rookie does not sell items but does not transport items. The two sides should interact and coexist, rather than fight each other.

　　In the view of Liu Jianxin, deputy secretary-general of the Express Branch of the China Transportation Association, the express delivery industry is becoming increasingly weak in the face of e-commerce giants.

　　The reasons come from two aspects: one is the control of the supply. Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall have become well-known suppliers of the express delivery industry in China, accounting for 70% of the entire express delivery business volume in China. Especially in the "Tongda Series", it is as high as 80%, and its dependence on Alibaba's e-commerce platform is self-evident.

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