Commercial Vehicle Companies Are Actively Deploying Freight Platforms

Can the Chaos in the Freight Industry Be Completely Eliminated?

Recently, FAW Jiefang announced that its "U-Nida" online freight platform has achieved a transaction volume of over 100 million yuan after half a year of public testing. This achievement not only demonstrates FAW Jiefang's strength in this field but also has sparked in-depth thinking in the industry about the prospects of commercial vehicle companies entering the online freight platform market.

Why Build Their Own Platforms?

In fact, FAW Jiefang is not the first commercial vehicle company to launch a freight platform. As early as 2014, Dongfeng Motor cooperated with China Unicom to launch "Quick Summon Trucks," closely connecting goods and trucks through online media; in March 2020, FAW Innovation, Dongfeng Assets, and Foton Motors jointly invested in the construction of "Truck Home," further promoting the development of online freight platforms; in July 2020, Shanghai Transportation Group and SAIC Group built a local network platform "Enjoy Joint Distribution," and launched in cities such as Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing; in November 2021, FAW Jiefang's online freight platform "U-Nida" was officially launched, which can provide customized online freight solutions for users, offering efficient and convenient intelligent logistics services; in January 2023, Sany Group launched a local freight platform "Xing Bida," which was launched in Changsha, Hunan. The platform adopts two modes of order grabbing and dispatching, mainly facing Sany users, and also provides multiple services such as charging, renting, and buying cars, and promises "no membership fee" and "never take a cut".

Industry insiders believe that commercial vehicle companies are entering the online freight platform market, which is both a wise move in line with the market and an effective strategy for marketing innovation.

Advantages of Cross-industry Layout

As a typical representative of the digital economy in the road logistics industry, the online freight platform, with its intelligent and efficient operation model, has quickly opened up the material circulation of the supply chain upstream and downstream, and has become an indispensable part of the modern logistics supply chain.

Can It Solve the Chaos of Freight Platforms?

At present, the online freight industry is in a critical period of development, but unfortunately, there are very few enterprises that can achieve good operation and stable profits. In actual operations, some freight platforms have been repeatedly interviewed by relevant departments due to vague positioning, neglect of the essence of the industry, high commission ratios, and arbitrary increases in membership fees, and truck drivers have a lot of complaints about freight platforms. So, can the entry of whole vehicle companies effectively clean up the chaos in the online freight industry?

Logistics industry expert Kong Zhen said that the entry of commercial vehicle companies may bring a certain standardizing effect to the online freight industry. With its professional capabilities in the field of automobile manufacturing and rich management experience, it is expected to establish fairer and more transparent trading rules and operating mechanisms, effectively curbing bad phenomena in the industry. For example, by implementing a reasonable pricing strategy, the legitimate rights and interests of truck drivers can be effectively protected to prevent low freight rates caused by vicious competition. At the same time, with the help of advanced technical means, car companies can ensure the authenticity and accuracy of information, reducing the negative impact of information asymmetry on the industry. At present, the successful case of FAW Jiefang's "U-Nida" online freight platform is a strong proof. The active layout of many car companies is reshaping the ecological pattern of the online freight industry.

However, Kong Zhen also pointed out that although car companies can play an important role in the online freight industry, they also face many challenges. For example, how to balance the interests of all parties to ensure the sustainable development of the platform; how to deal with the competition of other internet companies and traditional logistics companies, etc. In addition, he emphasized that it is not something that can be achieved overnight to cure the chaos of the freight platform, and it requires the joint efforts of the whole industry, including the government to strengthen supervision, industry associations to play a self-discipline role, and the active cooperation between enterprises.

Nowadays, the competition of online freight platforms is becoming more and more fierce, and has gradually upgraded from the competition between platforms to the competition between ecosystem. If car companies want to attract and consolidate a large number of users, they must deeply consider the core pain points faced by the truck industry chain and users.