This letter of intent came from SF Express in China. The specific content was that they hoped to introduce drone delivery technology to China and use Xiangjiang as a pilot to complete the deployment of drone logistics network.
To be honest, after reading this document, Jiang Chen's expression was very strange.
"Drone + Express", this concept was proposed a long time ago, and it was not pioneered by Future Group.
As early as June 2013, Matternet tested drone networks in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The drones used could carry 2 kilograms of weight and fly 9.7 kilometers. After completing the preliminary planning of the drone network, the company's next step was to establish a huge international drone transportation network and a global supply system for drone parts. At the same time, they also planned to establish charging stations so that drones could land along the way for charging.
In September of the same year, SF Express's independently developed delivery drones completed internal testing and conducted trial operations in some areas. This drone used eight rotors, flew at a height of about 100 meters, and had a built-in GPS navigation system. The destination and route could be set in advance by the staff, and the drone would automatically reach the destination with an error controlled within 2 meters.
However, whether it was Matternet or SF Express, neither had been able to popularize drone logistics. The former's drones seemed to be only suitable for poor countries in the Third World, and the latter's drones were only suitable for domestic poor mountainous areas.
Although drone logistics could significantly improve delivery efficiency and reduce labor costs. However, it was limited by bad weather, and it was impossible to avoid human damage during flight, which made the concept of "drone + express" not realized.
Penglai was probably the only modern city in the world that had achieved drone logistics. However, the reason why it was possible to achieve this was because of the advanced drone technology, but the more critical factor was the security efficiency of Penglai.
Let's look at the news from some time ago: "A guy in Guangzhou used a drone to send mooncake coupons to his girlfriend and was shot down by a square dancer. When the guy discovered that he was' hijacked ', he rushed to the aunties for compensation, but unexpectedly, the aunties not only denied shooting down the drone, but also said that they were almost injured by the drone … "
Not to mention that the management of drones had always been in a gray area in policy, there seemed to be no room for drone logistics to become bigger and stronger. SF Express wanted to import the Bate series of drones from Future Heavy Industries and complete the deployment of the drone logistics network in Hua. To be honest, Jiang Chen was not optimistic about their decision.
However, their offer was difficult for Jiang Chen to refuse.
For the completion of the UAV logistics network in Hong Kong, SF Express's offer was 450 million USD. Jiang Chen estimated that 500 drone terminals should be able to cover all areas of Xiangjiang, and to meet the delivery needs of Xiangjiang, about 50,000 drones would be enough.
According to the production cost of the Bate-3 drone, it was only a little over US $3,000 per drone. Compared to Matternet's US $5,000 drone, it was superior in both technology and price.
The total cost of establishing this drone logistics network for SF Express in Hong Kong would not exceed 200 million US dollars. Compared to the quoted price of 450 million USD, this was almost a 125% profit!
Moreover, if the pilot city of Hong Kong proved the feasibility of promoting the drone logistics network to the mainland, SF Express's next step would undoubtedly be to expand the drone logistics network to Shenzhen, then the entire Guangzhou, and then …
Think about it, how many cities were there in the entire Hua Nation? How many delivery companies are there?
Such a huge market was simply an inexhaustible gold mine!
"Your expression tells me that you're very interested." Looking at Jiang Chen's expression, Xia Shiyu grinned.
"Yes, this market is worth more than 100 billion. I don't think any company will not be interested." Jiang Chen flipped through the documents in his hand and nodded from time to time.
To be honest, although he didn't really understand the details of the cooperation, he understood the prospects of the entire market in an instant. 283 prefecture-level cities, 374 county-level cities, and more than ten delivery companies. Even if each city could only earn 500 million USD on average, the scale of the market was already terrifying.
"I'm also very optimistic about this agreement. Regardless of whether SF Express's pilot operation in Xiangjiang is successful or not, there is no risk for us. But I haven't agreed to their proposal yet. "
"Why?" Jiang Chen looked at Xia Shiyu with interest.
He knew that she must have some reason for doing this.
"Although the offer from SF Express is very attractive, since we have the core technology and relatively abundant funds. Why don't we do this drone logistics ourselves? "
Why don't we do it ourselves?
Future Group controlled the VRstore, a huge virtual reality shopping platform, and integrated several e-commerce companies together. The daily turnover on the VRstore had reached a terrifying number. With such a huge resource advantage, Future Group could fully develop the offline delivery business on this basis.
Users on the VRstore would be delivered by Future Group with "free shipping"!
The use of drone delivery technology would greatly reduce Future Group's labor costs. SF Express needed to pay salaries for 400,000 employees, but for Future Group, this number could be reduced to less than 50,000.
In terms of operating costs, Future Group first had an advantage.
Hearing Xia Shiyu's words, Jiang Chen seriously thought for a moment.
"Do our own logistics? Does our company have management experience in this area? "
"We don't have to start from scratch. My suggestion is to acquire a ready-made logistics company, integrate its management team, and then restructure its business. In the process of goods sorting, transportation, and dispatching, our head office will send people to be responsible for redesigning and copying the model of Penglai City. If the trial operation proves feasible, we will fully promote it in the mainland and further promote it to the world! "
Before this, Xia Shiyu obviously made a certain plan for the layout of this "drone + logistics", so she was full of confidence when she explained to Jiang Chen.
And her words did make Jiang Chen tempted.
How could providing services for others be more profitable than taking over the entire industry chain?
"What about the risks?" Jiang Chen asked the last question he was concerned about.
"It will take about 3 billion US Dollar to complete the acquisition. Then we will gradually cancel local agency rights, shift the franchise model to offline direct operations, and establish our own dispatching outlets in major cities. This work will require an investment of about 1 billion US Dollar. Xiangjiang will be used as a pilot for drone logistics with a cost of 200 million US Dollar. "
Based on this calculation, the cost of the entire project was about 4 billion US Dollar. With Future Group's financial resources, they could completely withstand this risk.
"Very good, then I'll leave it to you!" Jiang Chen smiled and looked at the document in his hand.
Since they decided to do drone logistics, there was naturally no need to look at SF Express's letter of intent.
Xia Shiyu smiled and gently combed her hair behind her ear.
"Leave it to me."
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