For years, the hierarchy of China’s express delivery industry was undisputed, with SF Holding reigning as the undisputed champion of premium logistics. However, the landscape has shifted into a complex multi-polar world where the title of 'number one' depends entirely on which metric one values most. While SF Holding remains the prestige leader, JD Logistics has leveraged its massive warehousing network to redefine service standards, and ZTO Express has quietly become the industry’s true profit engine through sheer volume and operational efficiency.
Historically, the industry’s explosive growth was fueled by the rise of e-commerce, transforming a fragmented market once dominated by the 'Tonglu gang'—a group of founders from a single county in Zhejiang—into a high-tech arms race. ZTO Express emerged as the king of this e-commerce wave, processing over 38 billion parcels in 2025 alone. By focusing on a light-asset franchise model that maximizes throughput, ZTO maintains a staggering 18.8% net profit margin, dwarfing the low single-digit margins of its more asset-heavy rivals.
In contrast, SF Holding and JD Logistics have chosen the path of 'heavy' infrastructure, betting that long-term moats are built with planes, warehouses, and personnel rather than just parcel counts. SF has constructed a formidable 'sky-net' with a fleet of over 110 cargo aircraft, while JD Logistics employs an army of over 680,000 workers to manage its integrated supply chain. These players argue that while their current profitability is suppressed by massive capital expenditure, their control over the entire logistics lifecycle offers a level of service reliability that franchise models cannot match.
However, the domestic market is rapidly entering a 'stock era' characterized by slowing growth and intensifying price sensitivity. The traditional price wars that once defined the sector have cooled, but they have left the heavy-asset players in a precarious position. As SF and JD attempt to pivot toward integrated supply chain services to boost margins, they face the challenge of proving that their massive investments can generate superior returns in a market where AI and automation are lowering the barriers to entry for newer, nimbler competitors.
With domestic margins under pressure, the battlefront is moving beyond China’s borders. SF Holding is aggressively expanding through strategic partnerships and acquisitions in Southeast Asia, while JD Logistics is deploying its proprietary 'JoyExpress' brand across European markets. This international expansion represents the next critical chapter for China’s logistics titans, as they seek to export their sophisticated delivery models to global consumers and decouple their growth from a saturating home market.