Chong Cai
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Thank you, Ronald. The second quarter order volume growth was broadly in line with our expectations, driven primarily by continued improvements in freight order quality and fulfillment efficiency. First, our ecosystem, governance work and optimized user mix continue to pay off. Since the fourth quarter of last year, we have implemented targeted governance initiatives addressing misclassified car pooling orders, freight reselling and low-priced freight listing, which have significantly improved the authenticity of freight demand and fulfillment reliability. Meanwhile, direct shippers have continued to grow as a share of our shipper base, further shifting our order mix towards genuine shipping demand. These improvements have strengthened truckers' willingness to accept orders leading to greater fulfillment reliability and efficiency. Second, more refined operations further improved our supply-demand dynamics. During the past quarter, we continued to enhance our trucker credit rating program and freight payment protection mechanism. We directed more high-quality freight demand and core platform benefits towards truckers with strong fulfillment track records, increasing order acceptance among high-quality capacity. Meanwhile, freight payment protection helped alleviate truckers' concerns about payment defaults and other transaction risks, improving fulfillment reliability post match. As a result, the medium matching time of orders on our platform was shortened to 5 minutes for the first time, reflecting further gains in matching efficiency. Third, solid growth in our full truckload long-haul business remained a key driver. Fulfilled orders in the segment grew faster than overall platform orders during the quarter on the strength of the supply-demand network, price discovery capabilities and capacity matching efficiency we have built in the ad hoc trucking market. These capacities widened our online platform advantages over offline channels and supported high-quality growth at scale. Fuel price volatility since the beginning of the second quarter temporarily impacted both overall road freight demand and the growth of fulfilled orders on our platform. Domestic diesel prices remain elevated from the late March through May, in particular, dampening shipping demand for certain low-value price-sensitive freight. Since June, consecutive diesel price cuts have gradually eased transportation cost pressures supporting a recovery in year-over-year order growth on our platform. Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic about long-term order growth. Externally, the recent moderation in fuel prices should support gradual recovery in freight demand, although the road freight market continues to face a challenging and evolving macro environment. In addition, the recent typhoon, flooding, earthquakes and other extreme weather events and natural disasters across various parts of China may cause some near-term disruption to freight shipping and transportation activities. Over the long term, we believe online penetration in the long-haul freight market still has substantial room to grow. We will continue to drive growth in fulfilled orders by expanding our direct shipper base, increasing penetration in the full truckload long-haul segment and further improving order quality through ongoing ecosystem governance initiatives.