E-commerce and AI companies are competing in the logistics robot market

The picture is from Canva

With the advent of the era of smart logistics, logistics robot products are increasingly being used in the logistics industry. For example, in the field of warehousing and logistics, AGV robots, palletizing robots, and sorting robots with better work efficiency have gradually replaced manpower and taken on tasks such as logistics transportation and distribution. At the same time as these robot products entered the market, a large number of emerging companies in the domestic logistics robot market also grew rapidly under the impetus of the market and began to compete with e-commerce companies for the market, which has led to the domestic logistics robot market becoming more and more fierce. The logistics robot industry ushered in spring. In the past two years, the domestic logistics robot market has developed faster and faster.

According to data from the Forward-looking Industry Research Institute, the scale of the domestic intelligent logistics market reached 338 billion yuan in 2017, and it has grown to 500 billion yuan by 2019. The sales volume of AGV handling robots has directly increased from 4,500 units to 18,900 units, with an average growth rate of more than 30%. The rapid growth in sales has quickly attracted capital to the logistics robot industry. As of October this year, the domestic logistics industry has received 58 financings with a total amount of 18.666 billion yuan, of which logistics robot companies accounted for 79.2%, which shows the enthusiasm of investors for the logistics robot industry. 

There are three main reasons why investors favor the logistics robot industry. First, policy support is an important driving force for the development of the smart logistics industry. With the introduction of policy documents such as the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Express Industry" and the "Internet + Efficient Logistics Implementation Opinions", the application of domestic logistics robots, drones, unmanned vehicles and other equipment has been further accelerated, which has provided a lot of support for the development of the logistics robot industry. Secondly, with the rapid development of the domestic logistics industry, the problem of insufficient manpower in the industry has become increasingly prominent, which has opened up market demand for the development of the logistics robot industry. According to Guanyan Tianxia data, as of October 2019, the domestic express delivery business volume reached 49.66 billion pieces.

But at the same time, the packaging, storage and transportation pressures faced by the production lines in the logistics industry have further increased, which has given logistics robots, which have great advantages in efficiency, a place to use, thereby driving the growth of logistics robot sales. Finally, the promotion of AI , the Internet of Things, and big data technologies has also made the intelligent application of logistics robots possible. With the development of emerging science and technology, the intelligent search, dynamic recognition, and computer vision technology capabilities of logistics robots have been continuously enhanced. At present, logistics robots on the market are already capable of sorting, transportation and other tasks. 

Driven by many factors, the domestic logistics robot market has begun to flourish. Companies such as Geek+, QuickStorage, and Megvii Technology, which have laid out in this field in advance, took this opportunity to grow rapidly in the market and began to compete with e-commerce companies for the market. E-commerce and AI  companies compete from the perspective of the industry as a whole. Companies that have laid out in the field of logistics robots can be divided into two categories: one is e-commerce companies represented by Alibaba, JD.com, and Suning, and the other is emerging  AI companies represented by Geek+, QuickStorage, and Megvii Technology  . 

In terms of specific layout, there are obvious differences between these two types of enterprises. For example, the e-commerce enterprises that entered the market first not only launched palletizing robots, sorting robots, and packaging robots in the field of warehousing and logistics, but also released delivery robots that can provide logistics and delivery services. For example, Alibaba's Xiaomanlu robot, JD's delivery robot, and Suning's Wolong No. 1 robot all have delivery service functions. 

Judging from the layout of the three companies, Alibaba, JD.com and Suning want to create an intelligent service closed loop from warehousing to distribution through a variety of logistics robot products. Such a layout model can not only give full play to the advantages of high efficiency and low cost of logistics robots, but also provide support for the development of their e-commerce business. 

In contrast, AI companies that have rapidly emerged in the logistics robot market aim to promote the intelligent development of the logistics industry. For example, AI companies such as Geek+, Hikvision, and Quick Warehouse, which have deployed in this field, have launched sorting robots, handling robots, and forklift robots, which mainly solve the transportation problems of warehousing. 

However, there are still some differences in the purpose of each AI company entering the logistics robot industry. For example, Geek+ and Quickcell, which are committed to the research and development of logistics robot products, mainly provide services to companies in the logistics industry; while Hikvision and Megvii Technology, which lead the field of computer vision, aim to expand the application scenarios of their AI technology and open up new revenue channels. It can be seen that the e-commerce and AI companies have different purposes in entering the logistics robot industry. However, in the field of warehousing and logistics, there is not much difference between the logistics robot products of e-commerce and AI companies, and the competitive relationship between the two types of companies is very obvious. 

Each has its own advantages. With the rapid development of the logistics robot market, the competition between e-commerce and AI companies in the field of warehousing and logistics is intensifying. In this game, each company has its own advantages. The advantages of e-commerce companies such as Alibaba and JD.com lie in their self-built Alibaba Cainiao Network and JD.com Logistics Ecosystem. In the current market, JD Logistics has established logistics and warehousing systems in cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Kunshan, which is of great benefit to the implementation of its logistics robot scene applications; and Alibaba Cainiao Network has also established logistics and warehousing systems in cities such as Wuhan, Zhengzhou, and Chengdu, all of which have provided multi-faceted assistance for its development in the field of logistics robots. 

In terms of scene applications, JD.com and Alibaba have already built their own intelligent warehousing bases. For example, JD.com's unmanned warehouse has realized fully intelligent scene applications from warehousing, storage, packaging, and sorting; while Alibaba's robot flagship warehouse uses handling robots, sorting robots and other products, which can increase work efficiency by 5-6 times. Compared with e-commerce companies, the advantages of AI companies lie in technology and market. For example, Hikvision and Megvii Technology, which are deeply engaged in the field of computer vision, have accumulated profound AI technology, and their logistics robot products have performed well in intelligent obstacle avoidance, intelligent recognition, and laser vision fusion technology. 

Companies such as Geek+ and Quickcell have already had a certain market scale after years of accumulation. For example, Geek+ has occupied 10% of the global AMR market share, and its cooperative brands include well-known companies such as Nike, Walmart, and Suning. Quickcell, a well-known company in the industry, has in-depth cooperation with companies such as Vipshop, Sinopharm, and Post. In contrast, there are still big differences in the advantages of companies in the two fields. In this case, it is still unknown who will win in this game between AI and e-commerce companies. Who will win? The game between e-commerce and AI companies in the domestic logistics robot market needs to be viewed comprehensively from the perspectives of industry development and market conditions. First of all, in terms of industry development, the domestic logistics robot industry is still in the popularization stage, and it is necessary for various companies to jointly promote the development of the industry. At this stage, the domestic logistics robot market still has a large room for growth, and the competition between e-commerce and AI companies has not yet entered a white-hot stage.

However, as the market matures, competition between companies in these two fields will become more intense. Secondly, in terms of market conditions, AI and e-commerce companies are still the main players in the field. According to a survey report by Chuangze.com, more than 60% of the top 20 companies in the logistics robot industry are AI and e-commerce companies.

From this point of view, the future logistics robot market will still be dominated by companies in these two fields. Finally, in terms of products, the functions of logistics robot products of various companies are similar, but AI companies are slightly ahead in technology. For example, the logistics robot of Megvii Technology, with the support of the Hetu system, performs well in logistics scene applications. Geek+, with many years of technical accumulation, has won many annual awards for its robot products, and its strength should not be underestimated. 

From these aspects, the close competition between e-commerce and AI companies in the domestic logistics robot market will continue. With the continuous rise of AI companies, e-commerce companies such as Alibaba and JD.com need to work harder on AI technology to stay ahead in the market where they compete with AI companies.