Recently, express delivery fees have increased in many places. An investigation by Red Star Capital Bureau found that many express delivery companies in the e-commerce hubs of Guangdong and Zhejiang have increased prices for e-commerce customers. Among them, Guangdong is the key area for price adjustment. The price adjustment range for each item is between 0.3 yuan and 0.7 yuan, and a bottom-line price of 1.4 yuan/order is also set. Industry insiders told Red Star Capital Bureau that the Guangdong region contributes the largest single volume to express delivery companies and also contributes extremely low prices. The previous 0.8 yuan delivery to the whole country was born here.

The increase in express delivery prices also immediately affects e-commerce costs. On August 20, a Guangdong businessman told Red Star Capital Bureau that although the price adjustment only increased by a few cents, based on the order volume, it would increase additional expenses by at least 30,000 yuan per month. This cost is difficult to absorb through commodity price increases.

It is understood that this express price increase is an adjustment made in the context of anti-involution. In July this year, the State Post Bureau held a party group meeting and a symposium for express delivery companies, and clearly proposed to control the involution competition in the industry.

Previously, the vicious price war in the express delivery industry has been going on for many years, especially among franchised express delivery companies represented by Tongda Express (STO Express, ZTO Express, YTO Express, and Yunda Express). Industry insiders pointed out that the price war in the express delivery industry is related to the current economic environment and the unit-volume assessment system of franchised express delivery companies.


Data map, IC photo

Express prices increase in e-commerce hubs Guangdong and Yiwu

The range is 0.3 yuan-0.7 yuan/ticket

Recently, an e-commerce company from Guangdong said that it has received price adjustment letters from cooperative express delivery companies one after another. It said that in response to the country’s call to fight against involution competition and to effectively ensure the stable and healthy development of the industry, it decided to increase freight rates. The price adjustment letter mainly involves Tongda express delivery companies. These companies use franchise systems as their main operating methods, and the price increase ranges from 0.3 yuan to 0.7 yuan per ticket.

A Guangdong Yuantong franchisee told Red Star Capital Bureau that previously the shipping price of Yuantong Express (600233.SH) in Guangdong could be as low as 0.9 yuan. After August 5, it increased by 0.5 yuan, an increase of 55%. This price was set by the company in the provincial division. Another Zhejiang Yiwu Express franchisee told Red Star Capital Bureau that the price had been adjusted twice in August, with each increase of 0.05 yuan.

Mr. Su (pseudonym), an e-commerce businessman in Guangzhou, told Red Star Capital Bureau that based on his shipment volume, he can usually negotiate with express companies to get more favorable prices, and the price fluctuations are very small. Mr. Su said that he cooperated with Jitu Express (01519.HK), and the price had been stable for a long time. On August 5 this year, Jitu suddenly told him to increase the price by 0.3 yuan/ticket, citing "response to anti-involution."

Another e-commerce company in Guangdong told Red Star Capital Bureau that ZTO Express (02057.HK) began to adjust prices on August 5, with a price increase of 0.5 yuan. A clothing e-commerce company in Shenzhen said that the price of 0.3kg small items at his place increased by 0.7 yuan per ticket, and the monthly shipping fee increased by more than 50% based on the volume of orders issued.

On August 21, Red Star Capital Bureau contacted the offices of the secretaries of the board of directors of STO, YTO, Yunda and other express delivery companies. The relevant persons in charge of YTO and Yunda both said that the price adjustment was decided by the provincial branch and they did not know the specific situation.

The relevant person in charge of the STO Board Secretary’s Office said that this time the price involution is concentrated in Zhejiang and Guangdong, and it is uncertain whether it will expand to the whole country in the future. "Because these two places are e-commerce gathering places, especially Guangdong, which contributes about 25% of e-commerce express orders, so compared with other regions, Guangdong is already a price depression for express delivery."

Industry insiders told Red Star Capital Bureau that in addition to increasing the unit price this time, Guangdong also set a "bottom price" of 1.4 yuan. "1.4 yuan is the common cost price in Guangdong. If it is lower than 1.4 yuan, it means that the express delivery company is losing money. But before, Guangdong often saw unit prices of 0.9 yuan or even 0.8 yuan per order, so the bottom price of 1.4 yuan has a clear meaning, that is, at least the express delivery industry should not lose money in business."

Some merchants spend an extra 30,000 yuan on shipping costs every month

Don’t dare to raise prices to absorb costs: “Even if it goes up by 10 cents, no one may buy it”"

For e-commerce companies with large order volumes, an increase of a few cents still causes considerable cost pressure. "This price increase is equivalent to paying 6 to 7 more people every month." Mr. Su gave his company as an example. Its monthly shipment volume exceeds 100,000 pieces. With an increase of 0.3 yuan/ticket, the monthly cost will increase by 30,000 yuan.

In addition, the price increase of express delivery has a greater impact on e-commerce companies with small capital and low profits. Ms. Li (pseudonym), who is doing underwear business in Guangdong, told Red Star Capital Bureau that she was doing business in a small county. The express delivery fee used to be 2.8 yuan per order. After August 7, the price increased to 3.1 yuan. However, the purchase price of each piece of clothing was only 2 yuan, and the actual online price was 4.9 yuan. To this end, Ms. Li adopts the two-piece free shipping strategy. However, due to the platform’s loose return policy, every time a return occurs, the merchant has to bear the freight and the platform will deduct penalties, which makes her feel “too much”.

Many e-commerce companies interviewed said that they are still not sure whether they need to increase prices to absorb costs. The aforementioned Mr. Su said that due to platform rules, price increases may lead to a decrease in traffic, resulting in a greater proportion of order volume reduction. Ms. Li said she did not dare to raise the price. "Prices were fixed before. If it increased by 10 cents, no one would buy it."

Many industry insiders told Red Star Capital Bureau that Guangdong's ability to achieve loss-making price collections is related to franchisees completing the single-volume tasks of provincial branches.

Wang Peisi (pseudonym) has worked in the express cloud warehouse and e-commerce industry for many years. He told Red Star Capital Bureau that express companies will develop certain unit volume assessment indicators for express franchisees based on their own operational needs. If express delivery franchisees fail to meet assessment targets, they will face fines. Franchisees will be more inclined to receive goods at a loss price because the loss is lower than the penalty amount.

Wu Junjia is the person in charge of Mars Cloud Warehouse and a local YTO Express franchisee in Guangdong. He told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the growth rate of the outlet's order volume has not kept up with the growth rate of the assessment order volume. If the franchisee fails to complete the single volume assessment, there will be a fine of about 0.2 yuan per order. Under this circumstance, large customers with a daily order volume of over 10,000 have become franchisees who have to compete with each other even if they lose money. Moreover, in the face of such customers, provincial branches will also have subsidy support. "After all, provincial branches also have single-volume assessments," Wu Junjia said. "Generally speaking, Guangdong Express franchisees have formed a business situation in which large customers lose money and take away the volume of goods, while small customers and parts have a deficit in profit subsidies."

In the first five months of this year, the express delivery industry experienced “volume increase and price decrease”

Industry insiders: Express delivery prices are expected to be more rational in the future

Volume prices in the express delivery industry have been around for a long time. According to the statistics of express delivery business volume and income from the State Post Bureau, the average single ticket price of domestic express delivery in 2007 was 28.55 yuan, but by June this year, the single ticket price had dropped to 7.49 yuan. According to data from China Merchants Securities, from January to May 2025, the national express delivery business volume increased by 20.1% year-on-year to 78.8 billion pieces, but the unit price fell by 8.2% year-on-year to 7.5 yuan. The industry showed the characteristics of "increasing volume and falling price".

Looking specifically at the company, as of June this year, the average ticket income of SF Express, STO, Yunda, YTO, and ZTO were 13.67 yuan, 1.99 yuan, 1.91 yuan, 2.10 yuan, and 1.99 yuan respectively. In 2017, the average ticket income of each company was 23.13 yuan, 3.24 yuan, 1.94 yuan, 3.68 yuan, and 1.96 yuan. It can be seen that only Zhongtong's average revenue increased slightly, while the other companies all fell to varying degrees.

The drop in unit prices is particularly harmful to the franchised express delivery industry, because franchisees will tighten cost control on the delivery end when they are unable to make a profit on the delivery end. The delivery fee of the courier is an important part of the delivery end cost.

In July this year, the State Post Bureau held party group meetings and express delivery enterprise symposiums, emphasizing its clear-cut opposition to "involution" competition, and stated that it would further strengthen industry supervision, improve the market system and rules in the field of postal express delivery, govern the industry's "involution" competition in accordance with laws and regulations, and promote high-quality development of the industry.

It is worth noting that the participating companies in the express company symposium are franchise express companies represented by Zhongtong, YTO, Yunda, STO, and Jitu.

"From the perspective of an express delivery company, it is impossible not to assess the unit quantity of franchisees. If the unit quantity is too small, the company's operation and maintenance costs in this area will not be able to support it, and personnel will be idle." Wang Peisi said, "The key is to set an appropriate assessment quantity, which requires the franchisee to cooperate with the express delivery company. There is a negotiation process among delivery brands, and it is not something that can be achieved overnight. But the government's move to regulate prices is at least a good start. We expect that the fluctuations in express delivery prices will become smaller and smaller in the future until it reaches a rational price that can be accepted by more market participants. "