Gearing up for Single’s Day
China’s e-commerce players and logistics providers are ramping up their delivery capacity ahead of the Single’s Day shopping festival. According to a report published on South China Morning Post today (20 September), Cainiao Network “is offering 1.5 bn yuan (US$228m) to its Chinese merchandisers and logistics partners to build more warehouses and improve delivery efficiency” ahead of the annual Single’s Day event on 11 November (or 11/11 – all the ones).
The SCMP – which is owned by Alibaba and therefore affiliated to Cainiao – quoted Shi Miao, a Cainiao vice-president, as saying that this year’s event is expected to generate a billion deliveries between 11 and 16 November.
The SCMP added: “Cainiao will work with its partners to set up 40,000 pickup facilities close to residential areas which will allow consumers to fetch their goods directly instead of having to wait for them at home.
“Some 200,000 “smart” courier cabinets will also be used this year within housing estates, where parcels can be collected by customers.”
The SCMP article went on to say that “Cainiao plans to have a delivery workforce of more than three million people for this year’s event”.
Perhaps in the interest of fairness, the SCMP also reported on JD.com’s plans to ramp up its capacity and to subside merchants for warehousing and distribution costs incurred through stocking up goods for Single’s Day.
