Just happen to see these posts.
First on the comparison between a Grab food rider and Ninja van.
It is just far too simplistic to compare the number of deliveries made between the 2.
Grab food rider operates as a Gig worker. As far as I know Grab doesnt pay them anything elese besides the fee for delivering the food. Many use bicycles or motorbike, which GRAB does not own/operate/ do maintenance. Medical benefits/annual leave/CPF etc are so far, non existant. There is no army of workers working at a sorting centre.
Ninja Van on the other hand, operates exactly like a logistics company with all of the overheads. There is little difference between them and your day to day delivery company. they own, operate, hire full timers.
To illustrate, lets go through the various costs when delivering a meal/package.
Grab. Order comes in, rider picks up, delivers. End of Story,
Grab pays delivery fee to driver.
Ninja van. Job comes in(maybe from lazada/shopee).
Fixed and Variable costs invloved
Fixed Cost
i) Full time delivery workers (there are freelancers as well from my understanding to cater for peak season, ie 11/11)
ii) A whole fleet of delivery trucks/van depreciation/ maintenance/road tax/insurance
iii) Sorting/distribution centres
iv) An army of full timers/part timers doing sorting all day long
Variable Cost
i) Drop off point costs (paid to shops to collect and for customer pick up)
ii) Fuel for a fleet of trucks and van
iii) Parking cost
As you can see there is very little point in operating Ninja van, it is just like any other delivery company. I am not saying that GRAB is doing a great job, they are not.
But in terms of cost efficiency, GRAB wins hands down. GRAB is a platform, easily scaleable without additional costs. Lala move would be a better logistics business to operate rather than Ninja van.
And the fee collected from each package delivered for Ninja Van is next to nothing. (cents) Grab collects a few dollars on average for food delivery.
Finally consider this, surge pricing will work on grab delivery during peak periods and customers are usually more willing to pay a few dollars more for food especially during rainy weather. It is an immediate need. Imagine surge pricing on Ninja Van, it doesnt work. Surge comes during peak promotional periods on shopee/lazada. The point of these promotional periods is for consumers to pay less, not more.
First on the comparison between a Grab food rider and Ninja van.
It is just far too simplistic to compare the number of deliveries made between the 2.
Grab food rider operates as a Gig worker. As far as I know Grab doesnt pay them anything elese besides the fee for delivering the food. Many use bicycles or motorbike, which GRAB does not own/operate/ do maintenance. Medical benefits/annual leave/CPF etc are so far, non existant. There is no army of workers working at a sorting centre.
Ninja Van on the other hand, operates exactly like a logistics company with all of the overheads. There is little difference between them and your day to day delivery company. they own, operate, hire full timers.
To illustrate, lets go through the various costs when delivering a meal/package.
Grab. Order comes in, rider picks up, delivers. End of Story,
Grab pays delivery fee to driver.
Ninja van. Job comes in(maybe from lazada/shopee).
Fixed and Variable costs invloved
Fixed Cost
i) Full time delivery workers (there are freelancers as well from my understanding to cater for peak season, ie 11/11)
ii) A whole fleet of delivery trucks/van depreciation/ maintenance/road tax/insurance
iii) Sorting/distribution centres
iv) An army of full timers/part timers doing sorting all day long
Variable Cost
i) Drop off point costs (paid to shops to collect and for customer pick up)
ii) Fuel for a fleet of trucks and van
iii) Parking cost
As you can see there is very little point in operating Ninja van, it is just like any other delivery company. I am not saying that GRAB is doing a great job, they are not.
But in terms of cost efficiency, GRAB wins hands down. GRAB is a platform, easily scaleable without additional costs. Lala move would be a better logistics business to operate rather than Ninja van.
And the fee collected from each package delivered for Ninja Van is next to nothing. (cents) Grab collects a few dollars on average for food delivery.
Finally consider this, surge pricing will work on grab delivery during peak periods and customers are usually more willing to pay a few dollars more for food especially during rainy weather. It is an immediate need. Imagine surge pricing on Ninja Van, it doesnt work. Surge comes during peak promotional periods on shopee/lazada. The point of these promotional periods is for consumers to pay less, not more.
(07-03-2022, 11:45 PM)Choon Wrote:(06-03-2022, 04:34 PM)CY09 Wrote: Meituan is profitable in the food delivery. Meituan reported a 4.3% net margin and the latest first half (pre common prosperity law days), Meituan has grown it to 10% margin, see page 17
DeliveryHero has also reported positive EBITDA for its Middle East North Africa and Europe segments
http://media-meituan.todayir.com/2021092...536_en.pdf
I do not know the similarity among China, Europe, Middle East and North Africa; but my suspicion is that these companies have been carefully managing their cost by not over paying freelancers too much, decent commission and not much incentives.
The situation is very unique in South East Asia where all the companies are dangling huge incentives and overpaying delivery riders in their bid to be number 1
I am skeptical about the long-term business viability of delivery platforms.
My skepticism stems from:
- a Ninja Van vehicle driver when he drives into a condominium or HDB block, he can delivers many products to many households. There is some efficiency in physics and economics.
- but how many meals can a Grab rider deliver in a condominium or HDB block for each trip given that customers don like to wait for food? There is no efficiency in physics and economics. For the time and distance spent on delivering only one meal, The Grab rider will need a higher fee per meal than the fee per package for the Ninja Van driver.
But I hope I can be convinced otherwise. Because Local Consumer Services of Alibaba (which includes Ele) is the largest loss business segment of Alibaba. If Local Consumer Services can turn profitable, the boost to Ali's profitability from a loss to a positive 10% margin would be significant.