Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the JD Logistics 2021 Annual Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please note that this English simultaneous translation line will be in listen-only mode for the duration of the call, including the question-and-answer session. If you wish to listen to the management's original statement or ask a question during the question-and-answer session, you'll need to be dialed in to the Chinese language line. I will now turn the call over to Liu Ou from Investor Relations team at JD Logistics. Please go ahead, Ou.
Thank you, operator. Good evening and good morning to everyone. Welcome to our 2021 Annual Results Conference Call. Joining us today are Mr. Yu Rui, the Executive Director and CEO of JD Logistics, and Ms. Ma Yue, our CFO.
Before we start, we would like to remind you that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from those mentioned in today's announcement and this discussion. The company does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by law. During today's call, management will also discuss certain non-IFRS financial measures for comparison purposes only. For definition of non-IFRS financial measures and a reconciliation of IFRS to non-IFRS financial results, please refer to the announcement of the results for the 2021 annual report ended December 31st, 2021, issued earlier today. For today's call, management will read the prepared remarks in Chinese and will only be accepting questions in Chinese during the question-and-answer session.
A third-party interpreter will provide simultaneous interpretation in English on a separate line for the duration of the call. Please note that English translation is for convenience purposes only. In the case of any discrepancy, management's statements in their original language will prevail. I would like to turn the call over to our Executive Director and CEO, Mr. Yu Rui. Please go ahead, sir.
Dear investors and analysts, welcome to JD Logistics Full Year 2021 Conference Call. I'm Yu Rui, CEO of JD Logistics. Thank you for joining us today. 2021 was an important year for JD Logistics as we opened a new chapter in our development. In 2021, our revenue increased by 42.7% year-over-year to RMB 104.7 billion.
For the first time in our company's history, our revenue from external customers exceeded 50% of our total revenue for the year, reaching 59.1 billion RMB and increasing 72.7% year-over-year. Looking back, we started to open our platform and services to external customers in 2017. Through perseverance and hard work, we have achieved overall robust and rapid development across our business, bringing us closer to realizing our vision to becoming the world's most trusted supply chain solutions logistics services provider. In 2021, we made significant breakthroughs in enhancing our industry-specific supply chain solutions and services capabilities. First, in the automotive industry, we entered into a strategic collaboration with the global premium car brand, Volvo, to build an integrated supply chain, ISC project, for the automotive aftermarket from the ground up.
Leveraging our understanding of automotive product characteristics, we built SKU-level profiles and models, enabling warehouse network layout planning on a national scale, as well as sales forecasting and smart replenishment features, which effectively boosted Volvo's order fulfillment rate and inventory turnover. In addition, we helped Volvo upgrade their supply chain management system to realize more flexible and agile supply chain management. Building on Volvo's project success, we developed and refined integrated supply chain solutions and products for the automotive aftermarket and expanded our presence in the automotive industry with customers including Great Wall Motor and Wuling Motors. Beyond the automotive industry, we were proud to be a logistics service provider for the International Winter Sports event, laying a solid and reliable foundation for the event by providing essential services.
We were fully responsible for ISC logistics services for food and other supply materials, involving multiple warehousing centers, covering both competition and non-competition venues. We customized a logistics management system for the venue based on smart supply chain technology, enabling real-time monitoring and smart deployment management of the game logistics vehicles. On top of that, we use AGV robots in the warehousing centers to enhance their operating efficiency, as well as smart delivery vehicles and lockers in the competition venue to allow safe contact-free delivery. We also actively contributed to environmental protection with paperless operations, a host of recycling options, and adoption of new energy vehicles. ISC logistics services are our primary market. Our advanced reliable services allow customers to focus on their core commercial business as we upgrade their supply chain, improving their all-around competitiveness and helping them realize high-quality growth.
Our revenue from ISC customers reached 71.1 billion RMB in 2021, an increase of 27.8% compared with 2020, of which 25.5 billion RMB was from external ISC customers, up 54.7% year-over-year. Our remarkable growth greatly exceeded the industry average, allowing us to maintain our leadership position in the industry as we further expanded our market share in the ISC market. As of the end of 2021, the number of our ISC customers reached 75,000, increasing over 40% year-over-year. We maintain long-term win-win collaborations with our customers, and strive to develop a deep understanding of their unique demands during our cooperation.
This insight enables us to provide highly customized services and products addressing their pain points, which consistently strengthens the stickiness of our relationship and promotes our business development, forming a virtuous cycle. In 2021, 20 external IIC customers contributed more than RMB 100 million in annual revenue. They have been with us for an average of four years, illustrating our customers' strong stickiness and satisfaction with our services. Furthermore, we continued to expand the scope and depth of our services for existing clients. For instance, we began providing distribution and delivery services to a well-known brand in 2018. By 2021, we had extended our cooperation to the customer's entire supply chain strategy, planning and execution process, making us an indispensable partner in their business.
Driven by the growing scope and depth of our collaborations with customers, our average revenue per customer, ARPC, from external IIC customers continued to rise and reached 340,000 RMB in 2021, growing 9.2% year-over-year. We focus on six industries, FMCG, home appliances and home furniture, apparel, 3C electronics, automobile, and fresh produce. Among them, FMCG, home appliances and home furniture, and apparel are the top three industry verticals in terms of revenue. Above and beyond our core verticals, we also made breakthroughs in other industry segments such as live stream e-commerce and new economy customer groups. With our value-added services, including complete warehouse network coverage and reverse logistics, as well as our compelling customer experience, we became a premium logistics services provider for a top-ranking live streaming platform in China.
During the first half 2021 earnings call, I mentioned our key development strategy for the year, modularization. That is modularizing our products and services to serve as a need and expanding our customer base. Today, I'd like to share with you our achievements and experiences over the past half year. In 2021, we launched our first modularization pilot in the FMCG, 3C electronics, and apparel industries. Based on industry characteristics as well as our experience and capabilities gained over the past years, we built a portfolio of standardized ISC product packages covering eight specific industry verticals such as liquor, snacks, and maternal and baby care. For example, we helped liquor distributors with shared warehouses for wholesale and retail, multi-scenario fulfillment and delivery, and systematic capacity upgrade.
Our standardized product packages not only address customers' supply chain management pain points. Their simplicity and high efficiency allowed us to expand our service coverage to more SMEs in the industries without additional customization. In 2022, we'll promote our standardized ISC products and service packages to more industry customers. Moreover, modularization is instrumental in refining our internal management capability through enhancing granularity in our operations management, as well as increasing standardization and digitalization. Our higher overall profitability in the second half of 2021 compared with the first half is attributable to value creation unleashed by more refined management in addition to economies of scale. For example, with regard to transportation, we implemented deep digitalization and full visualization to our operations with smart logistics technologies such as big data and IoT. Driven by smart algorithms, we use smart deployment and storage to significantly lower comprehensive transportation costs.
In 2021, we also made solid progress in overseas markets. Leveraging our automated warehouses in the Netherlands, we provided ISC logistics services to Hunkemöller, the eminent European ready-to-wear brand, enhancing their outbound efficiency and inventory turnover, and ultimately elevating end users' shopping experience. We will continue to invest in and upgrade our fundamental capabilities and resources to provide end-to-end ISC products for more domestic and overseas brands as we relentlessly optimize customer experience. In the physical world, we continued to expand the coverage and synergy of our six logistics networks through self-operation and synergistic collaborations. As of the end of 2021, we operated over 1,300 self-operated warehouses in China with an aggregate growth floor area, GFA, of over 24 million sq m, including warehouse space managed through the Open Warehouse Platform.
In 2021, we built self-operated warehouses in six countries, including the U.K., the U.S., Australia, and the Netherlands, all outfitted with a plethora of automated equipment. Furthermore, as of December 31st, 2021, we had over 1,000 air cargo routes in China, including 12 all-cargo routes. In the digital world, we stand out with our three-in-one integrated supply chain logistics technology encompassing software, hardware, and system integration as a key differentiator. We maintain a high level of research and development investment by industry standards. In 2021, our research and development expenses were RMB 2.8 billion, representing 2.7% of total revenue. Our team of approximately 3,900 dedicated research and development personnel applies our cutting-edge scientific innovations to each stage and scenario in the logistics value chain to consistently elevate customer experience and operating efficiency.
Our technological expertise accumulated over the years also helped us modularize our technology products and services to empower more external customers. In 2021, the core algorithm used in our goods-to-person system was selected as one of the finalists for an international award, a powerful commendation of JD Logistics' in-house research and development efforts. We also promoted our goods to person integration project to external industry customers such as CAC Ports EA Chain, helping the company improve storage space and operating efficiency. Our core value of customer first is deeply rooted in our corporate culture. Our express delivery services consistently maintain top-tier customer satisfaction ratings, a testament to our customers' recognition of our superior service quality. During the November 11 online shopping festival, we delivered packages within minutes of order placement in over 300 cities nationwide.
In 2021, approximately 90% of JD Group's online retail orders handled by our network were fulfilled with same-day or next-day deliveries, and about 60% were covered by the 211 program. During the Spring Festival in 2022, JD Logistics provided two-hour delivery to customers in over 300 cities across the country on the eve and first day of the Lunar New Year, marking the 10th year of our service to customers during the Spring Festival. As we achieve fast business development, we also actively fulfill our corporate social responsibilities to facilitate the development of the real economy and emerging industries. A chain for a shared future is our core sustainable development philosophy, demonstrating our corporate vision of serving as the chain connecting technological progress and industry development with a prosperous and eco-friendly society.
As of today, we provide supply chain services to more than 1,000 special agricultural production regions and zones while extending our reach to rural areas, bringing same day or next day deliveries to 93% of counties and 84% of towns and villages in China. Furthermore, we offer competitive compensation, full benefits packages, and ample room for career development to over 300,000 frontline operations employees. We consistently promote the development of a green low carbon ISC ecosystem and have joined hands with partners up and down the value chain to advance innovative initiatives involving recyclable packaging and new energy vehicles. Going forward, we're fully confident in the development of the ISC logistics services market. With our visionary mission of driving superior efficiency and sustainability for global supply chain through technology, we will solidify our industry leadership and further expand market share.
In 2022, we will continue to focus on improving our capabilities and products to lay a solid foundation for a long-term, sustainable, and steady development. First, in terms of network capability, we increase the density of our domestic and overseas networks to improve service timeliness and customer experience and enhance operating efficiency through operation optimization. Second, with respect to ISC, we will further strengthen our portfolio of solutions and products addressing customers' pain points and demands, and help more customers achieve higher supply chain efficiency by resolving supply chain issues with digitalized innovation. We will continuously expand our customer base of industry leaders and SMEs and broaden our service scope for existing customers to increase our integrated supply chain market share on a sustained basis. Regarding logistics technology, we will continue to reinforce our data and algorithm capabilities to build our competitive advantages in logistics technology products and services.
Our areas of focus include ongoing investments in automation to elevate warehousing efficiency, stronger algorithms and smart applications to support intelligent decision-making, further technological innovations to create intelligent software and hardware, such as logistics software-as-a-service application and unmanned delivery vehicles to facilitate rapid growth in technology products and services. Finally, regarding operation and management, we'll continue to iterate our management tools and processes to boost operating quality and efficiency through refined management. In addition, we will continue to leverage our advantages as a player in the real economy to facilitate the maximal development of the real economy and emerging industries. By doing so, we hope to facilitate supply chain cost reduction, enhance efficiency, and advance high-quality industry development, as well as continuously create value for society. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite our CFO, Ms. Ma Yue, to discuss the details of our financial performance.
Thank you, Mr. Yu. Hello, everyone. This is Ma Yue, CFO of JD Logistics. It's a great pleasure to discuss JD Logistics' 2021 performance with you today. Throughout this past year, we continued to cultivate our capabilities and deepen our penetration in the ISC logistics market while maintaining our investment in network infrastructure, logistics technology, and supply chain solutions. By leveraging our prominent advantages in industry solutions, products, and technology, we attracted a broader customer base in 2021, which drove solid growth in our full-year revenue. Meanwhile, we were focused on refining our operations and management and achieved a notable improvement in profitability as a result, recording a net profit in the second half of the year. In 2021, our total revenue reached RMB 104.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 42.7%.
Our ISC logistics business continued to grow, with revenue from ISC customers totaling RMB 71.1 billion, representing 67.9% of total revenue. Apart from serving JD Retail, our external ISC business maintained steady growth, reaching RMB 25.5 billion in revenue with year-over-year growth of 54.7%, higher than its CAGR over the past three years. This growth was driven by increases in both the number of ISC customers and the average revenue per customer, ARPC. During 2021, we provided ISC services to a total of 75,000 external customers, representing a year-over-year increase of 41.7%, while ARPC rose from RMB 313,000 in 2020 to RMB 341,000 in 2021.
To provide a clearer picture of the structure of our external ISC business, beginning with this results announcement, we have added supplemental metrics to our disclosures, including the revenue from the top three industries as a percentage of our external ISC business, as Mr. Yu mentioned earlier. On top of that, we are also disclosing more detailed customer composition of our ISC business, including the number and ARPC for large customers who each contribute CNY 10 million or more annually to revenue and for the rest. In 2021, 296 of our external ISC customers were large customers, and their ARPC reached CNY 42 million. The notable growth in both number and ARPC of our large customers clearly demonstrates their satisfaction with our high-quality services as well as the strengthening of our collaborations and customer stickiness.
The number of our external ISC customers with revenue contribution below CNY 10 million increased rapidly as well, up 42% year-over-year in 2021. This reflects our deepening penetration among small and medium-sized businesses, laying a solid foundation for further market share gains in the ISC logistics market. Although small and medium-sized customers may have low average revenue contributions and dilute our overall ARPCs to a certain extent in the beginning of the collaboration, as our partnerships develop, the growth potential they can bring to our revenue will gradually materialize.
Our achievements in expanding our presence among external customers in 2021 is also reflected in a significant breakthrough in the percentage of revenue from external customers, which rose to 56.5% for full year 2021, compared with 54.7% for the first half of the year and exceeded 50% for the first time on an annual basis. In addition to the solid growth in revenue from external ISC customers that we mentioned before, revenue from other customers showed remarkable growth as well, reaching RMB 33.6 billion with a year-over-year increase of 89.5%.
Beyond continued growth from express and freight delivery services, the increase in revenue from other customers also benefited from the acquisition of Kuayue-Express, which contributed RMB 11.3 billion in revenue in 2021. Excluding Huayuan Logistics, revenue from other customers increased more than 60% year-over-year in 2021. Our full year growth margin in 2021 was 5.5% fluctuated compared with 8.6% in 2020, primarily driven by the government's pandemic-related one-time preferential policy in 2020, as well as our postponement of concentrated large-scale investments to the second half of 2020, as discussed in our first half 2021 earnings call.
We have sustained the strength and pace of our investments into the first half of this year, and the mismatch between cost increases and business growth resulted in substantial fluctuations in our gross margin in the first half of 2021. During the second half of 2021, as our business volume expanded, the benefits of these investments began to manifest. This, combined with our enhanced management and refined operations, spurred an improvement in our profitability, especially in the second half of the year. Now let's move to the cost of revenue. First, employee benefit expenses totaled 35.8 billion RMB, up 33.3% year-over-year.
The increase was due in part to a substantial increase in the number of employees involved in the provision of our services from 247,000 as of the end of 2020 to 303,000 by the end of 2021. As well as pandemic-related Social Security relief, which resulted in lower than normal employee benefit expenses in 2020. Employee benefit expenses accounted for a lower percentage of total revenue in 2021, dropping from 35.5% in 2020 to 34.2% in 2021, largely as a result of economies of scale and Huayuan's different cost structure. Another important component of cost of revenue is outsourcing costs, which amounted to CNY 40.4 billion in 2021, an increase of 54.7% year-over-year.
Outsourcing accounted for 38.5% of total revenue in 2021, compared with 35.6% in 2020, primarily driven by the growth of external businesses, which require a higher outsourcing capacity, as well as the consolidation with Huayuan. Finally, rental cost was RMB 9.45 billion in 2021, up 43.5% year- over- year, constituting 9% of total revenue, mainly owing to the expansion of leased warehouse areas and sorting centers, as well as higher average rental costs. As of December 31st, 2021, we operated over 1,300 warehouses, a significant increase compared with more than 900 as of the end of 2020. The GFA for warehouse networks, including warehouse space managed through the Open Warehouse Platform, reached over 20 million sq m.
Over the past year, we continued to make significant investments in network capacity and operations to bolster continuous business growth while solidifying and enhancing our customer service capabilities. As we have further scaled up our business and refined our management, our growth margin has gradually improved from 3.7% in the first half of the year to 7.1% in the second half, reaching 5.5% for the full year. In terms of expenses, our total expenses in 2021 were RMB 8.8 billion, growing 58% year-over-year and accounting for 8.4% of total revenue. Among them, selling and marketing expenses were RMB 3.8 billion, making up 2.9% of total revenue.
Selling and marketing expenses were mainly incurred to support external business growth and continued to represent a relatively stable percentage of revenue from external customers at 5.2% in 2021. As for research and development expenses, we highly value scientific innovation and strive to apply our cutting-edge technologies to each key component of the logistics value chain. In 2021, our research and development expenses were RMB 2.81 billion, accounting for 2.7% of total revenue, relatively flat compared with 2020. General and administrative expenses in 2021 were RMB 2.87 billion, accounting for 2.7% of total revenue, principally attributable to cost changes related to share-based payments.
For net profit, I recommend that you consider our non-IFRS measures, which we believe better reflect our operations, given that adjusted non-IFRS net profit largely excludes factors such as share-based payments and fair value changes of preferred shares. Adjusted non-IFRS net loss was RMB 1.2 billion at a loss rate of 1.2%. Our loss in 2021 was mainly incurred during the first half of the year due to strategic investments in key assets, such as logistics networks and personnel. As we ramped up our business, iterated and upgraded our technologies, and refined our management during the second half of 2021, we benefited from economies of scale and became profitable in the latter half of the year. Moving now to capital expenditure, which totaled RMB 4.09 billion in 2021, accounting for close to 4% of total revenue.
Our capital expenditure was mainly attributable to deploying new warehouses, automation and intelligent upgrade to the existing warehouses and sorting centers, optimization of sorting networks and transportation equipment procurement. Going forward, we'll steadily and effectively deploy capital according to our business development needs to continuously boost our network infrastructure and operational efficiency. Looking back on 2021, amidst the challenges and uncertainty in the macro environment, we adhered to our core development strategy, consistently boosted our competitiveness, achieved solid business growth, and further solidified our market leadership. Looking forward to 2022, we'll continue to concentrate on improving our core capabilities and make investments to expand and deepen our penetration among external customers. Despite the high base in 2021, we are confident to maintain strong growth momentum on multiple fronts and achieve long-term sustainable development.
Meanwhile, as benefits from refined operations and economies of scale manifest themselves, we're expecting a steady increase in profitability. Thank you. Now we can start the Q&A session.
Thank you, Ms. Ma Yue. This concludes our prepared remarks. We would like now to open the call to our questions. Operator, please start the Q&A session when ready. Thank you.
As a remainder, we only accept questions in Chinese language line. To ask a question, please dial one for the Chinese line and then type dial one on the telephone touch-tone keypad. To withdraw a question, please type pound key. If you have any follow-up question please re-enter the queue. Thank you. Once again, please type star one to ask a question.
Thank you. The first question comes from Ronald from Goldman Sachs.
Thank you, Mr. Yu and Ms. Ma, and congratulations on really great performance.
I have two questions. Firstly, recently oil price has gone up, so in terms of operating costs, there's a lot of transportation involved, including air and road transportation. Have you analyzed the impact of oil price increase on your operating costs? And in your contracts with customers, are there any provisions regarding oil price increases? Like if there is any related terms, including those related to fuel surcharges? Secondly, JDL acquired Kuayue-Express, and I was wondering, what is management's view on your M&A strategy? I would really like to hear management consideration regarding M&A. In 2020, you acquired Kuayue-Express. Maybe in future years, you invest in other companies. What are the considerations behind such decisions? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. I'll answer the question first, and then Mr. Yu will add.
First, regarding the oil price increase, we have been paying attention to it, and it's true that it is going to have some impact on our costs. According to our preliminary... Well, let me first tell you that we have both self-owned vehicles and outsourced vehicles provided by a third-party vendor, which actually is responsible for the majority of our delivery needs. Basically, outsourcing of vehicle costs accounts for 70 or 80% of our total transportation costs. Of course, we will be affected by oil price increase. However, the cost is not really that big in total cost, so it's not going to have significant impact on us. As to our contract with our outsourcing service provider, there are some provisions regarding the price compensation when oil prices go up.
Like when it reaches a certain level, which is stipulated in the contract, then we'll kick off the compensation mechanism. We did some rough calculations, and the variable oil cost only accounts for a mid-single digit number in our transportation costs. Even though it has some impact, it's totally under control. We also pay a lot of attention to ESG, and as you know, we are among the first in the industry to adopt new energy vehicles. In the future, we will follow the development of low carbon technology and reduce our reliance on fuel. We'll also adopt cutting-edge technology like rate loading optimization and routing dispatch to alleviate any potential impact on us from future oil price increases. That's my answer to your first question. Regarding your second question about the considerations behind an M&A decision.
Well, in relying on organic growth, we'll also be on the lookout for any good M&A opportunities. So if the right targets come along, we will actively participate. But there are mainly two considerations. Firstly, if the target is good for improving our network capabilities, and secondly, if they represent the future, if they have cutting-edge technology. So these are the two main considerations behind our M&A decision. At the same time, of course, we'll also pay attention to our own finances, like whether we have the ability to make the acquisition.
Okay, understood. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your question. Next question comes from Thomas Chong from Jefferies.
Good evening. Thank you, management. Here's my question. It has to do with JDL's revenue from external customers. So you mentioned that it's now over 50% of total revenue.
Over the next few years, how do you think the percentage will go? You mentioned a few industry verticals you want to deepen penetration. What do you think are the other industry verticals JDL can enter?
Thank you. First, to answer your question regarding the percentage of revenue from external customers. We believe that this percentage is going to keep going up. Currently, we're focusing on the six major industry verticals, but actually, if there are opportunities in other industries, of course, we're not going to pass on them. At the current stage, we'll be focusing our resources on serving the customers in these six industries.
Because as you can see, the whole ISC market is highly fragmented in China, with the top 10 industry players having only a combined market share of 10%, which means that JDL still has a lot of potential. By providing services to customers in those six industries, we have accumulated a lot of experience and expertise and even tools. We'll continue to focus on these six industries. When good opportunities come up in other industries, we are going to pursue them. I hope I've answered your question. Thank you.
You are very clear. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Next question comes from CT Wang Gong.
Thank you very much for taking my question. First, congratulations to JDL's great performance.
I was wondering if management could share their view on the revenue growth trend, including both the first party and third party business, especially considering COVID-19 recurrence. Secondly, regarding SME customers, what's the difference between the prices of small and medium-sized customers and leading players, and also what's the difference in profitability?
Thank you very much for your question. First, to answer your question regarding the industry, I'll concentrate on external customers, because while JD Group will have their conference call at 8:00, and they will share their views on their business. Regarding external customers, there are so many uncertainties in the economy in 2022, like the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine is going to bring more uncertainties to many industries.
As we can see, some industries are already affected, but actually most industries, they are in a very similar position as last year. Our customers, they have been trying to save costs, especially over the past few months. It's one of their priorities. We believe in 2020, our customers will continue to prioritize cost savings and efficiency enhancement. This, as it happens, are our strengths, and they will provide business opportunities for us. As some, analyst friend mentioned, the oil price increase. For logistics and supply chain companies, it's really difficult to drive revenue growth with price wars. The key is to create value for customers, to save costs and enhance efficiencies for the customers. From our perspective, this is really a good thing because they represent opportunities.
Secondly, the revenue and profitability difference between SMEs and leading customers. For SMEs, revenue per customer, of course, is lower than that from leading customers. There are more SME customers than leading customers. When providing services to leading customers, we often need to develop customized products or solutions to address their needs. After serving these leading players in the industries, we have gained more experience and cultivated stronger abilities to develop solutions. For us, the key is to take advantage of the abilities and experience that we accumulated from serving leading players and then modularize our products to serve SMEs. We actually have a shorter implementation cycle when it comes to SMEs because we provide standardized product packages to them. Overall, the profitability is actually not bad. I hope I've answered your question. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Next question comes from Eddie Jung from Macquarie.
Good evening. Thank you very much for taking the questions. I have two questions. The first one is, regarding external customers. We are serving both leading customers and SMEs, and JDL has been doing very well in both. What do you think the impact will be from any changes in the customers? And secondly, how do you see the development of cross-border logistics, and how will you see the opportunities to drive revenue growth in this area?
Okay. JDL mainly focuses on six industries. As has been mentioned, the ISC industry is highly fragmented. No one player has a very big market share. For JDL, we still have a long way to go. We still have a lot of potential.
For us, while exploring new business, we will not just control the proportion or number of either leading customers or SMEs. We will try to secure more customers in each category. If, say, our business progresses really quickly with SMEs, but because they are smaller, they may result in lower ARPC. We will try to strike a balance between SMEs and leading players because the increase in SMEs may result in lower revenue, but it may not be a bad thing for us. This is my answer to our first question. Secondly, regarding cross-border logistics, we have undergone several stages in this business. There have been, like, the sending of small parcels from China to other countries. You may be familiar with this type of business, and there may be some customs clearance, which may affect timeliness.
Last year, we realized that customers have a growing need for overseas warehouses, and there are two issues here. Firstly, if we could deploy inventory in advance in overseas warehouses, it could reduce our customers' fulfillment costs and boost efficiency. For instance, our customers could sell 100 power chargers in the U.S., but every one of those chargers came from China in small parcels. It was going to be more costly than if they arrived in one big box at one time. This would be the first benefit of overseas warehouses. Secondly, for cross-border e-commerce platforms, their product categories are changing as well. Like, there may be products with higher requirements for after-sales services. In that case, customers may want to, like, change their products. The scenarios would become more complex and result in more costs.
If the customers could have warehouse, reverse logistics would not be a problem, and this would bring true value to cross-border e-commerce platforms. In the future, we believe cross-border business would be a key part and overseas warehouses would be a key infrastructure for us, and we will try to increase the number of our overseas warehouses. We already increased some overseas warehouses last year, and we'll continue to build on that this year. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Well, because of time constraints, this is the end of the Q&A session. I'll turn the call back to Ou for any additional closing remarks.
Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please contact our IR team directly. Thank you.