SF Express Launches New Brand “Feng-E Smart Market,” Entering the Unattended Retail Market

Following JD, ELE, and Freshippo, another industry giant has entered the unattended retail race.

On the evening of November 20, SF Express Group announced via its official Weibo

account the launch of Feng-E Smart Market, a one-stop platform designed to provide

employee snack benefits for enterprises. The project has begun pilot operations in Shenzhen and is expected to roll out nationwide in the future. According to SF Express, its couriers will serve as on-site store managers, responsible for timely restocking and daily operations.

Office unattended shelves attracted significant investment between August and September this year, with multiple companies entering the market amid the broader new retail wave. Projects such as Xingbianli, Hami Technology, and Seven Koalas emerged during this period, each securing tens of millions of RMB in financing.

According to the 2017 China Unattended Shelf Market Outlook Report, by the end of September more than 16 unattended shelf companies had received external funding, with total investment exceeding RMB 2.5 billion. Among them, Xingbianli is backed by Alibaba and Meituan Dianping; Hami Technology has partnered with Yiguo under Alibaba’s Tmall ecosystem; and E-Dian Convenience is a product under Ele.me.

As reported by the express industry media outlet Yizhan, Feng-E Technology currently

operates as part of SF Express’s new retail segment. It is an independently incubated project under SF Holding, representing a new exploration that leverages SF Express’s strengths in supply chain management, warehousing, and logistics distribution.

Leveraging its data capabilities, SF Express began expanding offline retail as early as 2015 with the launch of the “Heyike” convenience store, which was later discontinued.

Building on that experience, SF Express subsequently developed the SF Best physical stores. In addition, the group operates multiple online retail brands, including the SF Best Mall and the handcrafted food e-commerce platform “Youwu.”

Given the high density and scale efficiency requirements of unattended retail, SF Express is able to significantly reduce logistics costs through its mature and extensive delivery network. According to SF Holding’s October express service performance report, the company processed 255 million parcels in October, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.33%, while operating revenue reached RMB 6.029 billion, up 25.03% year-on-year. SF Express’s overall business scale, particularly in intra-city delivery, continues to grow rapidly, providing strong support for expansion in unattended retail scenarios.

In addition, Feng-E Smart Market adopts a self-operated model, with relatively fixed

delivery personnel. Unlike many other unattended retail platforms, Feng-E assigns

couriers as store managers responsible for restocking and on-site management. From both an operational and long-term partnership perspective, this model offers distinct advantages, helping build trusted “familiar” retail environments and enhancing user confidence in the brand.

Backed by a high-density logistics infrastructure and amid increasingly intense competition in e-commerce, office-based retail—whose commercial value has already been preliminarily validated—represents a suitable scenario for SF Express to explore new growth opportunities.