Debate about opening times Shop on Sundays until Christmas?

Status: 19.06.2021 2:58 p.m.

Brick-and-mortar retail suffered a lot in the pandemic, while online retailing gained tremendously. DIW, Städtebund and the trade association HDE are now calling for more flexible opening times to help stimulate the economy. The union ver.di warns. The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, calls for opening hours to be relaxed in view of the difficult situation of many retailers. “A liberalization of the shop opening times is urgently required so that the stationary retail trade can assert itself in the competition against the online trade and secure jobs,” said Fratzscher to the “Handelsblatt”.

Flexibility required until the end of the year

The economist stood by the side of the trade association HDE. He had suggested leaving the shops open on Sundays at least until the end of the year. This gives retailers the chance to make up at least part of the sales lost during the lockdowns and would also be a signal to people that the city centers are open again. In addition, there should be more reliable rules for a legally secure occasional Sunday opening.

The Association of Towns and Municipalities also spoke out in favor of it. “We now have to do everything we can to ensure that our inner cities and town centers do not become deserted,” said managing director Gerd Landsberg to the “Handelsblatt”. “It would be a positive signal to allow additional Sunday opening hours.” Landsberg referred to the threatening situation of the trade and the danger for hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“Small but important signal”

Over 100,000 retail stores could close or not open at all, Landsberg said. This would put almost 500,000 jobs at stake. The online trade, on the other hand, was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and was able to increase its sales to over 72 billion euros last year due to the pandemic. Additional Sunday opening hours would therefore be “a small but important signal that the city centers and town centers have a future”.

“Development cannot be reversed”

Fratzscher explained: “Due to the pandemic, there was a massive shift towards online trading, which will not be completely reversed even after the pandemic.” However, fair competitive conditions did not mean that people could shop online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but stationary retail trade had a “tight corset” and had to be closed on Sundays.

“Instead of sanctions or charges for online trading, politics should make stationary retailing more attractive,” said Fratzscher. In addition to more flexible shopping times, this also includes modern urban concepts that make inner cities more attractive again. “This not only has an immediate economic value, it is also very important from a social and societal perspective that people meet and come into contact with one another.”

Ver.di sees “general attack”

The FDP already supported the HDE’s advance as a suitable economic aid for the retail sector. The trade union ver.di, on the other hand, rejected him as an overly short-sighted “general attack on the trade workers, their families, but also on the Basic Law”.

Since the beginning of 2021, the world has experienced a series of large-scale cyber attacks. (Source: Reuters) In an age where technology is creeping into every aspect of life, the term cyberattack is not new. Many people think simply that a cyber attack is an attempt by a hacker to steal data or money by infiltrating a computer network, databases, network infrastructure, websites, and devices. individual or organization. But now, hackers have found a way to make a lot of money illegally by attacking physical infrastructure targets, disrupting essential services, affecting not only to a person, a company that can spread to an entire city, even a country. Cyberattacks on the rise Over the past time, the US has continuously suffered from ransomware attacks targeting large companies, non-governmental organizations and government agencies. Most recently, on June 2, a ferry terminal operator service in the US state of Massachusetts became the target of a cyber attack, partially disrupting the ferry service payment system. Previously, hackers attacked the world’s leading meat processing group JBS SA, a branch in the US. In early May, the largest US oil pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline was also attacked by ransomware and forced to shut down some systems, disrupting supplies and pushing gasoline prices to record highs. green. Not only the US, the targets of hackers are very diverse. According to data from cybersecurity company BlackFog, from the beginning of 2021 to the present, US organizations and businesses have suffered 52 ransomware attacks, three times higher than the second-ranked country, the UK (16 (16). competition), followed by France (7), Canada (7), Australia (4), the Netherlands (4) and India (3). The rest of the world suffered only 39 attacks by hackers. Danger wave According to CNN, hacker groups have found that attacking critical service infrastructure can easily make them more money, in less time. These types of attacks have the potential to cause chaos in life, which can lead to product scarcity, push prices higher… The bigger the disruption, the quicker the hacked companies pay the hacker to fix the problem soon. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has listed 16 industries as critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, healthcare, financial services, water, etc. Attacks, disruption of these industries can have a dramatic impact, undermining the US economy and security. More dangerously, most companies in this industry do not consider themselves technology-focused companies, leaving the operating system defenseless against increasingly sophisticated attacks by hackers. In addition, it is no coincidence that cyber attacks have increased sharply in the context of the raging Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of people move to remote work, including employees with access to critical infrastructure, while ransomware is deployed simply by enticing victims to click a link in an email. . Eric Cole, a former cybersecurity official under President Barack Obama, said that in order to promote automation, the internal networks of critical infrastructures are now networked and make the risk more risky. higher attack. In particular, hospital systems and healthcare providers are often targeted because they are busy dealing with Covid-19 and have little time to update their defenses. In response to this new wave of danger, on June 3, the White House sent an open letter, asking essential service companies to “consider ransomware as a threat to our core business.” themselves, rather than simply risk data theft.” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on June 6 asked the private sector of the country to be vigilant against the increasing wave of cyber attacks, and said that the threat is always present and even present. may become more severe. In order to protect your safety as well as your wallet, according to CNN , not only the US, companies, organizations and agencies also need to quickly close potential vulnerabilities in the system, update software and ensure that the most important functions are “immune” from damage. network attacks. Individuals also need to be cautious and alert before clicking on any link on the internet.

After inspection, the maintenance staff said that a small part was broken, and it would cost more than 900 yuan to replace it. Mr. Li didn’t care, and he paid all the costs. A week later, Mr. Li came to pick up the car again, this time the refrigeration system was no problem, and the gearbox broke again. On the way back to Zhoushan from Ningbo, the instrument panel prompts “The gearbox is faulty, there may be no reverse gear, and you can continue driving.” Mr. Li didn’t dare to continue driving and stopped by the roadside waiting for the trailer to be rescued. This time the 4s shop said that the repair cost 120,000 yuan.

Mr. Li could not accept and raised doubts. Every time the vehicle was delivered to the 4s shop, the whole vehicle was inspected and it showed that everything was normal. When the vehicle was picked up, the staff also said that it had been repaired. He couldn’t understand how to scratch, and finally repaired the gearbox. Is it an internal injury? Because the two parties have never agreed on the proportion of responsibilities, the vehicle is still parked in the maintenance room of the 4s shop. Mr. Li does not know what the vehicle has gone through during the maintenance process. He does not want to spend money for no reason. statement.

In this regard, Manager Lu of the after-sales department of the Porsche Centre explained that the first failure of the vehicle was caused by the aging of the vacuum valve, which caused the vacuum system to fail to operate normally. The reason behind the gearbox damage is still unclear, and it can be investigated only after disassembly. Judging from the phenomenon and experience alone, it may be caused by the internal sensor unable to monitor the gear change normally. There was no necessary connection between the two failures. The customer had doubts and it was understandable. The company also organized a negotiation. The company was willing to bear part of the maintenance cost of 120,000 yuan, but the customer did not accept it.

As for the maintenance process, Manager Lu said that the entire process was operated in accordance with the norms and standards, and the vehicle had not left the workshop. If the customer has any questions, the vehicle can be disassembled to see where the fault is. Faced with such a statement, Mr. Li said that even if no one has driven the car, it may be due to the connection of other electronic auxiliary equipment, which affects the sensor accessories and causes the gearbox to malfunction. Next he will seek a third-party appraisal and is making further plans. So do you think the 4s shop is responsible for this matter?

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However, Bieber doesn’t seem to care about the market when he keeps his hairstyle and with his wife – model Hailey Baldwin – went out to dinner on May 4. Justin Bieber’s braided hair. Photo: PeBu/BACKGRID. He tied his braided locks into two bundles and used a black bandana. In addition, the male singer chose to wear a hip hop-style outfit including a red sweatshirt and jeans. Accessories such as eyeglasses, necklace, bracelet… contribute to complete his look. Under the image of Bieber’s braided hair, some famous artists left comments praising. Rapper Quavo wrote: “Beautiful hair”. Meanwhile, Jaden Smith found Justin Bieber’s hair “cool”. Besides, some netizens continued to disagree when the male artist wore this hairstyle. User Brielle Andrews commented: “He looks very handsome, but when will he take off his braided hair?”. “It’s disappointing to see Justin Bieber with braided hair. I thought he had learned,” another user shared. Justin Bieber appeared at iHeartRadio Music Awards 2016 with controversial hair. Photo: Film Magic. In 2016, the Canadian male singer faced similar criticism. At that time, he replied: “Being like no other is fun. If you’re not weird, I don’t like you.”

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. Photo: al-Ghad Particularly for this year’s Eid al-Fitr holiday, the event that marks the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan, Egyptians will have a 5-day break from May 12 to 16, however, prayer activities during the This occasion is only held at churches without children accompanying them. In addition, beaches and parks are also closed during the holiday. The Egyptian Prime Minister added that the country is trying to provide the largest number of Covid-19 vaccines to the people. He revealed that Egypt will receive more large batches of vaccines this May and vaccine reception centers are also being expanded.

According to the J-CAST News , the video of DiVa – a project that celebrates the distinctiveness of women. The campaign features model Mitsuki Kimura (Koki), actress Quan Xiaodong and Son Ye Jin. Valentino was criticized for letting model Koki wear heels on her obi waist. Photo: Kotaku. In the controversial video, model Koki walks on a canvas with red and yellow motifs. Besides, other photos show her sitting on a fabric pattern printed in detail with flowers. The netizens of cherry blossoms said that Koki stepped on the obi waist. Many comments on the actions of the Italian brand offend Japanese culture and traditional clothing. Many comments showed the anger of the people here: “This is an act of disregarding Japanese culture”, “I feel this video is making fun of Japanese culture and traditions”. Some of the comments were directed towards model Koki. However, many people advocate for the model when she thinks she is only following the request of the director. Another promotional photo by Valentino shows Koki sitting on an obi-like cloth. Photo: Valentino. In response to the negative comments of Japanese netizens, Valentino apologized with the content: “We have no intention of insulting Japanese culture”. In addition, the fashion house claims that the obi belt used in the advertisement is not an accessory from a kimono. In the fashion sense, HuffPost Model has stepped on the obi belt.

The world has exceeded 147 million Covid-19 patients, of which more than 3.11 million people died. The report also found that more than a billion doses of the vaccine have been injected globally. Sheet New York Times “Even though one billion doses of vaccine have been injected, Covid-19 has spread to almost every country in the world”. Because the number of one billion doses is not enough compared to estimated nearly 8 billion people in the world. According to the data of Our World in Data (Oxford University, UK), 82% of the dose of vaccine administered is in high-income and middle-income countries. Only 0.2% of the dose is allocated to low-income countries. “Fire pan” Covid-19 in India Data of New York Times This shows that India is the country with the number of Covid-19 cases accounting for only one third of the world. On average, this country has an additional 260,000 people infected with nCoV every day. The unusual increase in India is attributed to the double mutation. More than 2,000 people die from Covid-19 every day, bringing the total number of fatal illnesses to over 200,000. Experts say these numbers could in fact be more and more terrible. The luxury thing for India right now is oxygen, oxygen tanks. Thousands of patients died on the way to the hospital or lack of oxygen to breathe, the medical facilities were overwhelmed, the crematorium was burning everywhere. The Indian Serum Institute is the largest producer of vaccines in the world, but the proportion of people in the country vaccinated against Covid-19 is surprisingly low. Approximately 8.6% of the population received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Health experts are concerned that transforming the COV strain in India could create a “domino storm” for other countries around the globe. The double mutation was more contagious, while the vigilance in many places began to let the guard down. Another hot spot in Asia is the Philippines. After Indonesia, the Philippines became the second country in Southeast Asia to have the number of Covid-19 cases exceeding the one million mark. According to the AP The Philippines’ Ministry of Health recorded 8,929 new cases on April 26, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 1,006,428, including 16,853 deaths. Philippine health officials are looking at the possibility of prolonging the blockade in the Manila metropolitan area. A Covid-19 patient awaits admission to hospital in South Delhi, India. Photo: Atul Loke / The New York Times. Many new strains appeared Data from New York Times shows that more than 50% of Israel’s population has been vaccinated with 2 doses of Covid-19 vaccine. It is the country with the fastest immunization rates and speeds in the world. Israel is also expected to be the first country globally to achieve public immunity. In the UK, where the virus strain B.1.1.7 was found, nearly two-thirds of people 18 years of age and older were vaccinated against at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Compared to its population size, the UK is the country with the lowest proportion of people with Covid-19 in Europe. In the US, the country’s officials have just confirmed that they will aid India with the Covid-19 vaccine, after the tragedy that this place is suffering. According to the Guardian, The US will share 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine because it has enough demand for the people. Professor Barry Bloom, former rector of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said: “India has been caught off guard when the number of Covid-19 cases has decreased and they subjectively believe that the epidemic is over. The US and other countries should learn from this when deciding on all policies during a pandemic. Dr. Robert Murphy, Executive Director of the Institute of Global Health, Northwestern University, believes that the United States has a great responsibility for sending unused vaccines to other countries. “We have to think globally and how we can help other countries. If not, we will never be able to put out the whole fire. ” The number of new US nCoV infections every day in the US is falling sharply, but still at an alarming rate. Experts found this trend to be similar to last year when the US seemed to have suppressed the translation, when it suddenly spiked the number of cases again. One was vaccinated by AstraZeneca at Milan Military Hospital. Photo: Alessandro Grassani / The New York Times. Last week, scientists at Texas A&M University (USA) also discovered 3 new virus strains: BV-1, BV-2, and BV-3, analyzed from samples of students and lecturers in the school. . In particular, strain BV-3 is a mixture of more than one strain of SARS-CoV-2. Experts are still not clear about their virulence, but they fear this will be the cause of the upcoming outbreaks. The proportion of new cases of SARS-CoV-2 in most South American countries is high. In Brazil, the number of new patients has begun to decline but remains at an alarming rate, especially since the country has not been able to control the processing of the highly contagious strain P.1. By the morning of April 27, Brazil had recorded more than 14.3 million people suffering from Covid-19, nearly 391,000 deaths. In Europe, the vaccination rate is slower than that of the US and Canada, the number of nCoV infections is still especially high in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden … In particular, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has just issued an injunction. spread across the country from the evening of April 29 to the end of May 17 in order to limit the spread of Covid-19. Turkey has recorded a sharp decrease in the number of new daily nCoV infections from 63,000 (recorded on April 16) to below 39,000 (statistic on April 25). However, the daily number of deaths from Covid-19 has remained above 300 people in the past week. In addition, on the evening of April 26, the European Union (EU) announced a lawsuit against vaccine pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca because it said that the company did not keep the vaccine supply agreement. According to the Bloomberg, AstraZeneca recently delivered 25% of the Covid-19 vaccine that the EU is expected to receive by the first quarter of 2021. At the same time, the company also plans to provide the EU with about 70 million doses in the second quarter, compared with 180 million. expected in the contract, according to the statement dated 12/3.

Produced | Sohu Health

Author | Hu Hong, People’s Hospital of Wuhan University

Edit | Jiang Li

After yelling and crying for a long time, he went hoarse. The 5-year-old boy Jiejie became a “duck voice” and was diagnosed with vocal cord nodules. April 16th is World Voice Day. Dr. Wang Yan, head of the Voice Clinic of Wuhan University People’s Hospital (Hubei Provincial People’s Hospital) and deputy director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery III, reminded that the voice is called the “second business card” of people, and the health of the child’s voice is more worthy of attention. Parents Both the teacher and the teacher should provide correct guidance and good demonstration for children’s language habits.

Children often yelling can damage the vocal cords

On April 15, 5-year-old Jiejie was taken by his parents to the Voice Clinic of Wuhan University People’s Hospital. Doctor Wang Yan found that the child’s vocal cords were congested and edema accompanied by vocal cord nodules. Jiejie’s parents said that the child usually has a loud voice and talks a lot. Hoarseness is already the norm. They thought that drinking more water to “moisturize the throat” would relieve them, but unexpectedly, the “duck voice” lasted for almost a year.

According to Dr. Wang Yan, in this case, Jiejie’s wrong use of his voice led to the formation of a vocal cord summary, commonly known as “screaming summary.” The voice is produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. Most children are noisy and full of energy. In addition, improper use of the sound will cause the vocal cords to hit too hard and friction each time they vibrate, causing mechanical damage to the vocal cords, resulting in hoarseness of the child’s voice. , Difficulty in vocalization, which will directly affect the child’s study, life and physical and mental health.

In recent years, the number of children visiting the Voice Clinic of the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University has continued to increase, and a considerable part of them are preschool children aged 3-6. Dr. Wang Yan reminded that the child’s vocal organs are developing in early childhood and are very delicate and easy to fatigue. At this stage, if you do not pay attention to the protection of the vocal organs, you may become “male duck voice” and affect your life.

Boys are more likely to suffer from “screaming summary”

“Shouting summary” This type of disease occurs mostly in children aged 3-12, especially in boys. Because boys are usually more active than girls and are easily affected by emotional and environmental factors, they like to scream and shout, which are all wrong behaviors of using the voice.

Dr. Wang Yan emphasized that parents should help their children develop good habits and use their voices scientifically. In infancy, parents should be careful not to let the baby cry out loud for a long time; older children should try to avoid shouting loudly, or yelling while running. Teach children to sing, the starting key should not be too high, the range should not be too wide, and do not teach children to sing adult songs. When children suffer from respiratory tract infections and physical fatigue, they should speak as little as possible, and use body language to express their needs.

In addition, repeated respiratory infections, throat reflux, and sinusitis are also causes of “duck throat”. “Generally speaking, when the vocal cord nodules are in a period of edema, the hoarseness of the voice will get better through vocal rest and medication. However, sometimes the vocal cord nodules have not completely disappeared. At this time, it should not be taken lightly, especially the vocal behavior of children. Correct.” Dr. Wang Yan reminded that the treatment of children’s vocal cord nodules should be treated as directed by the doctor.

When the child has the following symptoms, he should go to the voice clinic as soon as possible

Dr. Wang Yan reminded parents that if the child has a hoarse voice for more than two weeks, the hoarse voice cannot be recovered after a cold or crying loudly, the voice suddenly becomes very thick, the crispness of the child’s voice is lost, the speech is laborious, and the voice is prone to fatigue and repetitiveness. If you clear your throat or even suddenly lose your voice, you should go to the Voice Clinic in time.

Judging from the case data collected by the Voice Clinic of the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University, most children’s voice problems are behavioral, mainly caused by hoarseness caused by improper voice methods, and “hoarseness of shouting” caused by vocal cord nodules. However, attention should also be paid to the identification of diseases such as laryngeal papilloma. Therefore, in addition to the examination of voice quality, electronic rhinopharyngoscope, dynamic laryngoscope and other examinations are also required to understand the shape and movement of the vocal cords, and then conduct targeted treatment after comprehensive evaluation.

According to Dr. Wang Yan, non-surgical treatment is currently recommended for such “screaming” children’s voice diseases. In daily life, parents need more care and patience to actively guide their children to use their voice correctly; at the same time, they should also pay attention to creating a peaceful and relaxing environment for their children. As children get older, their self-control ability increases, and they master the correct way of vocalization, the vocal cord summary can fade away after puberty.

Following the one-digit limit on Friday, SF Express once again dropped the limit on April 12, and its market value has nearly halved since its historical high on February 18, evaporating more than 200 billion yuan.

There is no warning about the huge loss.

On April 8, SF Express released its financial report for the first quarter of 2021. The financial report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the company is expected to lose 900 million to 1.1 billion yuan, while in the same period of 2020, the company will make a profit of 907 million yuan under the epidemic. Just last month, SF Express released its 2020 financial report data showing that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 7.326 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.39%.

SF Express Image Source/Visual China

For this reason, on April 9th, Wang Wei apologized to shareholders at the general meeting of shareholders: “First of all, I apologize to shareholders, because I think the first quarter really did not manage well.” He admitted that he had negligence in management, similar The problem does not appear a second time.

Why did SF Express, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, also start to lose money? Various market rumors have been circling around, trying to explain this unexpected incident. Among them, the most gimmicky, and at first glance, the most “ultimate answer” is that taxation and government affairs have brought a fatal blow.

Industry Viewpoint Source/Weibo

But this is not the core of the problem, and it has greatly misjudged the real competitive landscape of the express industry.

What is the real answer? What kind of changes will the express delivery industry, which is mired in price wars, usher in? What is the logic for the decent top student SF Express to choose to join the “introduction”? How to judge the future of SF Express?

What happened to SF Express?

After the financial report was released, Wang Wei publicly explained the losses of SF Express.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange released SF Express loss announcement source/official website

On the one hand, due to the slower-than-expected growth rate of time-sensitive parts in the first quarter, the expected profits did not appear; the growth of superimposed economic parts caused false high costs and was also part of the reason for the losses.

Prior to this, the fundamental advantage of SF Express’s stable business lies in its “time-sensitive parts”, which are stable, efficient, and safe, and are basically a must-choice for commercial products. It has always contributed a high profit margin to SF Express.

There is a view in the industry that due to the conversion of electronic invoices and electronic contracts, the number of corporate orders used for SF Express’s distribution has been greatly reduced.

In this regard, Zhao Xiaomin, deputy director of the Post and Express Special Committee of the Shanghai Transportation Commission, believes that electronic invoices and electronic contracts will not have much impact on SF’s business.

From the beginning of the pilot program of electronic invoicing in 2012, to the end of 2019, the nationwide unified electronic invoicing public service platform was built, and the country has accelerated the promotion and application of electronic invoicing. This process is constantly advancing and the impact will not suddenly be reflected in this year’s A certain fiscal season.

In the 2020 annual report, SF Express’s time-sensitive parts still achieved revenue of 66.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.41%. The growth rate in the first quarter was not as fast as expected. According to the analysis of various securities firms’ research reports, there were also reasons why the demand for time-sensitive parts increased sharply during the epidemic last year, and the base number therefore increased abnormally.

Regarding the slowdown in this quarter, Wang Wei gave two solutions. One is to continue to explore “time-sensitive” customers; the other is to use data to reflect specific scenarios in the supply chain, so as to make more refined for different customers. Operations. In the next step, SF Express will further optimize the upgrade of time-sensitive products-forming a new product system including SF Express, Express and Standard Express.

If there were obvious decision-making errors in the first quarter, it was a waste of labor costs during the Spring Festival.

In response to the government’s policy of in situ New Year, the Spring Festival overtime subsidy was close to 1 billion yuan, which was three to four billion yuan more than expected. Wang Wei particularly emphasized that the cost of guaranteeing capacity during the Spring Festival is relatively high, and the lack of business volume of time-sensitive products has resulted in a high cost input.

It is worth noting that the 2021 Spring Festival, including Ali, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Four Links, are all promoting “not closing”. Delivery as usual during the Spring Festival holiday.

As far as Quanxian understands, during the Spring Festival, many express outlets left enough couriers, but the total number of orders has not soared compared with previous years. More people stay in place, but the workload is not saturated, which undoubtedly increases the company. cost.

“This year’s Spring Festival is not closed during the Spring Festival, but the results are so great. Each company should match according to demand. Otherwise, e-commerce and logistics will be “involved” together.” Bailian Consulting founder Zhuang Shuai believes.

On the other hand, the rapid growth of “economy” in the first quarter was behind the price of participating in a bloody price war. After the proportion of economic items in 2020 exceeds the time limit, SF Express’s revenue per ticket in 2020 will be 17.77 yuan, compared with 21.94 yuan in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 18.99%. In the first quarter of this year, e-commerce products continued to exert strength, and the gross profit margin fell from 17.42% to 16.35%.

“Economic parts” in SF’s financial report mainly refers to “special express mail” mainly based on e-commerce parts. However, the competition for e-commerce parts is fierce, and SF has no choice but to participate in the war with a low price model. As a result, although there are many “economic parts”, the profits are not high. .

Finally, Wang Wei also explained that another reason for the loss is the investment in new businesses, such as the purchase of new aircraft, the construction of airport capacity centers, and the adjustment of the transportation network to undertake economical businesses and optimize cost efficiency.

“More than one logistics company” is a story that SF Express has been trying to tell. In addition to the basic plate of time-sensitive parts, e-commerce parts are indisputable. New businesses such as express delivery, cold delivery and medicine, intra-city express delivery, international express delivery, and supply chain are also new battlefields for SF Express. It can be seen from the financial report that the growth rate of new businesses such as international express delivery, intra-city express delivery, and supply chain is very impressive.

Source of development expenditures in SF Express’s 2020 annual report/official website

“How to better match the product operation model with resources, and how to form economies of scale between the entire links.” Wang Wei stated, “In the first quarter, it happened to be the flash point for these issues to collide with each other, and the company will form a better prevention mechanism. And countermeasures, we will not have this kind of problem in the future.”

SF Express pointed out that the cost input in the first quarter was difficult to “stop bleeding” quickly, and it is expected to gradually improve in the second quarter and beyond. “A more complete track and product matrix will bring SF Express a broader user base, larger market space, and better scale synergy. With the rapid growth of new businesses, it will gradually release pattern dividends and scale dividends.”

Profitable students who were “involved”

Taking orders for “time-sensitive parts” from major companies does not allow SF Express to sit back and relax.

Beginning in 2018, SF Express entered the e-commerce market and launched a “special offer”. In grain-producing areas such as Zhejiang and Guangdong, SF Express’s preferential price has dropped to about 3 kilograms and 3 yuan. For an average weight of more than 2 kilograms, SF Express has taken away many customers who originally belonged to the Tongda department.

E-commerce parts were originally a world of three links and one access, but Cainiao and JD Logistics appeared later. While deploying e-commerce, they also continued to impact SF Express’s high-end customers. Previously, when JD Logistics submitted its prospectus, its valuation had exceeded US$50 billion, second only to SF Express in the logistics industry. At the same time, JD Logistics also emphasizes supply chain solutions for 2B business.

“SF Express entered the e-commerce software too late. Not only was it less than the three links and one connection, but also caught up with Pinduoduo and JD.com’s entry node. The original advantage was greatly weakened.” Zhuang Shuai believes.

In fact, in the field of e-commerce parts, express companies represented by three links and one delivery have never stopped price wars. Yiwu, a place where the express industry is anxious about competition, has repeatedly exploded the tragic situation of price wars. After the rising star Extreme Rabbit entered the game, the “1 yuan” express was once launched in Yiwu, and the bloody level of the price war set a new record.

Extreme Rabbit Express spoils the “e-commerce piece” Source/Vision China

At the time of the rise of Taobao, small and medium-sized e-commerce companies blossomed everywhere in Yiwu; Pinduoduo’s rise, and small commodity e-commerce ushered in heavy growth; last year, the epidemic accelerated the popularity of live broadcast and promoted online sales. The rise of national e-commerce has triggered a new era. Poland’s express industry turf battle.

SF Express, which has repeatedly failed in the e-commerce market, can no longer miss the opportunity in this wave. In order to expand the business of “e-commerce parts”, SF Express, which has never participated in the express price war, will also join the game of express price war in 2020.

SF Holdings Secretary General Gan Ling once revealed that the cost of special offers was more than 10 yuan in the past, and the cost in 2019 has been reduced to less than 10 yuan, but there is still a distance from the 5 yuan unit price for customers. In early 2020, the target positioning cost will be reduced again. 50%.

Behind the continuous price reduction, SF Express’s overall profit and single ticket revenue have been affected.

SF Express’s overall gross profit margin in 2019 decreased slightly by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year to 17.42%; in 2020, SF Express’s overall gross profit margin dropped to 16.35%.

From January to February 2021, the business volume of the three links and Yida achieved a year-on-year increase, but the profitability was reduced: the express delivery revenue of SF Express, Yuantong, Shentong, and Yunda was 17.26 yuan, 2.38 yuan, 2.51 yuan, 2.23 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.4%, 19.3%, 23.9%, 22%.

Although Zhongtong did not separately disclose the single ticket revenue, CFO Yan Huiping said: In 2020, the price of a single ticket for Zhongtong has dropped by about 20%.

In order to further reduce costs, SF Express opened its test and opened up direct sales, pulling up another low-priced franchise “Fengwang.” In the second half of 2020, “Fengwang” will enter the testing phase. SF Express revealed at the 2020 financial report that Fengwang broke the daily average of 1 million orders during Double Eleven in 2020, and its current business volume is around 1 to 2 million daily. “However, Fengwang needs to reach an average of 8 million orders per day to achieve a stable scale, and it is expected to take another 6 to 12 months to continue to advance.” Wang Wei said.

According to user feedback, the price of Fengwang Express has been lowered than that of the three links, but the speed is slow, and it takes 3-5 days to arrive. If you need to speed up the efficiency of e-commerce parts, you can choose another product-e-commerce express .

The variables that sink the market include technology and hardware in addition to price.

After 2020, the continuous outbreak of Pinduoduo and live broadcast e-commerce has caused Tongda to increase investment in technology and hardware. At present, Zhongtong is the company with the largest number of factories with independent property rights, self-owned vehicles and automatic sorting equipment in the industry. In 2020, the express delivery industry has experienced “the most invested year over the years, which may be the sum of the previous two years”, Zhao Xiaomin believes.

And SF’s previous play style has been difficult to bear pressure. For example, SF Express’s “special preferential distribution” was mainly based on the mode of “filling in warehouses”, and there is no need to increase the investment in transportation capacity. However, with the rapid rise of e-commerce parts, SF Express also has to equip e-commerce parts with special warehousing, which is another big expense.

Wang Wei has repeatedly emphasized that “SF Express is only using surplus resources” to make e-commerce products. For example, in terms of transportation capacity, after the integration of the four networks, the number and flow of shuttle buses will be more, and the cost for new business use is also the best cost-effective.

In fact, in order to gain the right to speak in e-commerce component companies, SF Express still needs to invest continuously to catch up with the three links and one access. According to the financial report, SF Express is currently adjusting its network construction and integrating it into the express delivery system. In the first- and second-tier and third- and fourth-tier cities, SF Express will newly form different systems to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

“SF’s e-commerce business is not as advantageous as the time-effective business. The Fengwang, which Wang Wei has always emphasized, is slowly spreading, and revenue restrictions are increasing. However, SF’s e-commerce business is correct. Cost.” Zhao Xiaomin thinks.

Why is the express company worth 60 times PE?

In the white horse stock market last year, the market once pushed SF Express’s P/E ratio to more than 60 times. If you compare it with other peers, you will find how obvious the market’s preference for SF Express is: before this plunge, Zhongtong’s P/E ratio was 33.6 times, Yun was 22.2 times, and Shentong was 29.3 times.

This valuation difference is already a cross-industry gap. Is it just a spillover effect of excess liquidity? In fact, apart from SF Express’s stronger profitability, investors are betting on its future growth to a certain extent.

The statement made by SF’s chief strategy officer Huang S at the performance meeting corresponds to this concern.

“Investors pay close attention to SF Express’s time-sensitive products, believing that the scale, growth and unit price of time-effective products are very important factors that affect the stock price. In fact, shareholders are more anxious about when SF Express can produce new businesses and products that can replace time-sensitive products for the company. Contribution status of performance.”

In addition to time-sensitive components, SF Express has been trying to find the second largest growth curve, but SF Express has not yet seen a clear answer for the exploration of new businesses.

According to the 2020 financial report, SF Express’s new business, intra-city express delivery, international and supply chain businesses are all in a rapid growth trend, but this business has a small contribution to SF’s overall revenue, accounting for only about 11% of the overall revenue.

The 2020 annual report disclosed that its total development expenditure for 15 projects, including drone projects, international business systems, and Ezhou Airport project management system, was 541 million yuan.

The financial report expenditure for the first quarter of 2021 also shows that SF Express has made two major capital investments, acquired Kerry Logistics to deploy international businesses in its new business, and increased its capital by 409 million yuan in its subsidiary SF Express to develop its intra-city business.

Zhao Xiaomin mentioned that due to the epidemic, part of SF’s investment in new business and technology has been postponed to 2021, which is also an important reason for the loss. In the next step, SF Express will also invest in vehicles in the fields of storage, cold chain and medicine. The number of aircraft will exceed 70, and the aviation hub airport under its subsidiary will also be operated by the end of the year, and scientific research will continue.

There are also many bright spots in the new business. For example, SF Express terminal products-Fengchao Express Cabinet. At present, Fengchao Technology has realized the layout of 200+ key cities, 140,000+ communities, and 280,000+ cabinet outlets. The platform has accumulatively registered 4.1 million couriers and serves nearly 350 million consumer users.

Fengchao Express Cabinet Picture Source/Visual China

The industry once speculated that SF Express will use Fengchao to enter the community group purchase as an intelligent offline pickup point. But Wang Wei resolutely responded that instead of doing business flow business including community group buying, SF Express still wants to grow an independent third-party industry solution data technology service company.

So far, SF Express has “opened its bow without turning back.” On the one hand, it is necessary to reverse the sluggish growth of the main business, and make efforts in economic and time-sensitive components at the same time to ensure that 2B business is not snatched away by four links, JD, etc., while continuing to develop e-commerce components and improve 2C new business commercialize. The pains of early investment are necessary.

Zhao Xiaomin is optimistic about the growth of SF Express in 2021. Compared with some friends who stick to traditional business, SF Express is already a very courageous company in the express delivery industry and has been increasing investment in new business. In his opinion, SF Express In the accumulation and precipitation stage, the strength in logistics and technology for many years is worth looking forward to, and the market should give it more patience.