Front line: Yiwu is silent, and the world is waiting for express delivery
The following article source / business (ID: bbtretail)
Author / he Qian
Editor / Kong Yaoyao
From August 11, Yiwu began to implement three-day silence management. On the 14th, Yiwu adjusted the quiet management period of town streets. Futian sub district, Houzhai sub district, Jiangdong sub district and other towns and sub districts continued to implement quiet management. Although some towns and sub districts removed the quiet management, they still need to carry out closed-loop management according to the management measures of low-risk areas.
In this way, Yiwu's e-commerce business was forced to press the pause button due to the epidemic. Because of the sudden incident, the production and logistics rhythm of the merchants were disrupted. As the "capital of small commodities in the world" and the "important express town", Yiwu can be said to lead the whole body. Behind the anxiety, a supply chain guarantee action is also in progress.
On August 14, a number of businesses in Yiwu were contacted about the business. They all said that they had indeed encountered difficulties in production and delivery at present, especially in the autumn new products and Christmas order season. The sudden epidemic situation suddenly put pressure on production, so they had to adjust the production pace.
A Yiwu daily necessities manufacturer told Xiaobian that at present, all employees work at home, and production and delivery are suspended. At this stage, it is mainly to deal with and appease the delivery of customers' orders. September will usher in the peak season for the beginning of the school year, and the purchase volume of stationery supplies for students will also increase. In addition, some autumn and winter products such as hair gluers, foot soaking barrels and storage boxes are also in production. "The three-day silence period has a relatively small impact on orders, and the purchasers will not transfer to other factories, but if the closure time is extended, it is difficult to say."
How big is the impact of the epidemic on Yiwu?
According to the data of the State Post Office, from January to July this year, the express business volume of Jinhua (Yiwu) reached 6.47 billion pieces, ranking the first in the country. The average daily express business volume was about 30 million pieces.
On August 2, an epidemic occurred in Yiwu City. On the following day, a total of 38 local novel coronavirus positive infections were reported, including 9 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 29 asymptomatic infections of COVID-19. On August 3, the express delivery volume of Yiwu port exceeded 26 million pieces, and the impact was not great compared with that of peace day. However, on August 4, the delivery volume dropped sharply to 1.6 million pieces, of which 300000 pieces were blocked by the closure.
Up to now, according to our understanding, Yiwu outlets of Shunfeng, Jitu express and other enterprises have suspended receiving and dispatching services.
However, there are still some Yiwu merchants trying to find ways to deliver goods. It is understood that before the implementation of the whole area silent management in Yiwu, some merchants transferred some goods to Jinhua transit center for shipment in advance.
Mr. Li (not his real name), a merchant specializing in socks, is one of them. He told Xiaobian that although some goods were transferred in advance, the situation changed too quickly, which still caught people off guard. The volume of goods sent out was just a drop in the bucket.
He frankly said that September and October were originally the peak season for autumn clothing production, and the sales volume could account for more than 50% of the company's annual sales. However, after the factory and logistics suspended their operations due to epidemic control, they can only make dynamic adjustments according to changes in epidemic prevention policies. In terms of trade business, due to the relatively weak demand in the European and American markets this year, the Yiwu epidemic has little impact on the company's orders. However, for the manufacturers of Christmas products, according to the logistics cycle, they usually need to ship goods to overseas markets at the end of September, and prepare the goods to overseas warehouses in advance. However, production is suspended now, and it is not known when the seal can be released, so the pressure is not small.
The picture shows Yiwu merchants carrying goods live
In order to alleviate the anxiety of merchants, some cross-border e-commerce and logistics enterprises have also taken corresponding measures in advance to dispatch resources and minimize the obstacles to delivery.
Zhang Yang, manager of Sifang Yiwu Branch, said that their company handled the vehicle pass for the transportation of key materials in Zhejiang Province at the first time and carried out trans city transfer. On August 11, the goods in Yiwu warehouse were transferred to Hangzhou port, and on August 12, some goods were sent to Shanghai transfer center. At present, there are no goods left in Yiwu.
"Normally, the average daily orders of the company in Yiwu can reach about 10000. Since the implementation of silent management, it has a certain impact on the business. We will implement the arrangement of the government when the closure is lifted and the collection begins." Zhang Yang said.
It is understood that on August 11, the Yiwu post office issued 176 passes, and the major express companies sent 2.2 million express parcels left in the previous period out of Yiwu to the whole country. As of August 12, Jinhua city had handled 2212 vehicle passes for transportation of key materials in Zhejiang Province, and established a bayonet docking mechanism for guaranteed supply vehicles to ensure the timely and smooth entry of guaranteed supply vehicles into the market to carry out material supply work.
The relevant person in charge of aliexpress said that Yiwu preferred warehouse is located in Jinhua city near the edge of Yiwu administrative district, not in the quiet area. At present, the delivery and warehousing are normal, and the package will be transferred to Hangzhou Distribution Center. For the merchants who originally used the Yiwu cross-border distribution center, if the warehouse is not in the quiet area, they can send it to the Hangzhou distribution center instead. Merchants can note "cross warehouse assistance" on the package to ensure that the package is processed quickly.
Xiaobian found that in the face of silent management and control, logistics enterprises now seem much more relaxed.
Qin Lei, vice president of Shentong, said: "after the Shanghai epidemic, the company is no longer at a loss." He introduced that currently Shentong has summarized a set of effective epidemic prevention experience, including allowing employees to live in a centralized manner, regularly doing 24-hour nucleic acid, and laying disinfection blankets. "Yiwu's outlets are large in size, mature in operation, and have strong pressure resistance and viability. It is believed that with the alleviation of the epidemic, the volume of goods will rebound rapidly."
Some express outlets in Yiwu
Qin Lei further pointed out that since the average daily turnover of parcels in some large-scale transfer centers of express enterprises is in the order of millions, once there is a shutdown situation, the losses will also be in the order of millions, and a series of problems such as reputation damage and cargo compensation will also be caused. Therefore, enterprises will pay more attention to epidemic prevention and control, and constantly improve and precipitate epidemic prevention capabilities. During the period of epidemic prevention and control, the service link of receiving, transferring and dispatching by express enterprises is controllable. At the same time, the enterprise will continue to work hard on details, such as improving the living and health conditions of employees.
Xiang Feng, vice president of Yuantong, suggested that emergency materials such as vegetables and food can be sorted at the place of origin and loaded properly, so as to reduce the heavy unloading and sorting work for volunteers in the destination city, and thus improve the efficiency of epidemic prevention.
It is understood that in view of the Yiwu epidemic, many e-commerce platforms such as pinduoduo, Taobao, jd.com and shopee have also recently issued corresponding time limit and exemption policies for merchants' delivery.
Source / business (ID: bbtretail)
Author / he Qian
Editor / Kong Yaoyao