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Alibaba’s Cainiao and AliExpress start ‘5-day global delivery’ service for consumers in UK, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea
- Cainiao and AliExpress expect to soon expand their global five-day delivery service to more countries
- In Alibaba’s recent financial year to March, Cainiao was already handling the delivery of more than 4 million cross-border parcels on a daily basis
Tracy Quin Shanghai
Consumers in the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea will now receive their parcels within five working days of placing an order on AliExpress, thanks to a joint initiative between Alibaba Group Holding’s international e-commerce platform and its Cainiao Smart Logistics Network.
That global five-day delivery service will soon expand to more countries after its initial run in those five markets, according to a statement from Cainiao on Tuesday.
Cainiao and AliExpress first revealed their plans for a speedy cross-border delivery service last June at the logistics unit’s annual summit in Hangzhou, where executives said the five-working-day conveyance would be 30 per cent faster than the industry standard.
In South China Morning Post owner Alibaba’s recent financial year to March, Cainiao was already handling the delivery of more than 4 million cross-border parcels on a daily basis.
The five-day global delivery service was tested the past few months in South Korea, where AliExpress orders increased by more than 100 per cent, according to Cainiao.
This initiative comes weeks after Cainiao rolled out its half-day express delivery service in eight major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.
Delivery has emerged as a tough new battleground for China’s e-commerce giants, as they jostle to win both local and overseas consumers with faster and cheaper shipping services.
Faster delivery is seen as a major advantage against next-generation Chinese e-commerce platforms – led by Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop – which emerged last year as an online retail force in large consumer markets around the world, including the United States, on the back of their highly competitive pricing strategy.
Alibaba logistics arm Cainiao launches half-day express delivery in 8 cities
Alibaba logistics arm Cainiao launches half-day express delivery in 8 cities
Cainiao, one of six units to be split off from Alibaba as part of its restructuring plan, aims to raise at least US$1 billion from an initial public offering in Hong Kong. It would be the first of Alibaba’s six spin-off companies to test the appetite for new listings in Asia’s third-biggest capital market.
One of Alibaba’s fastest-growing businesses, Cainiao was taken over by Alibaba co-founder and group chairman Joe Tsai under the restructuring plan. For the quarter ended June 30, Cainiao revenue grew 34 per cent year on year to 23.5 billion yuan (US$3.2 billion), driven by increased international and domestic fulfilment services.
AliExpress, a retail platform for international buyers that was launched in 2010, is looking to expand its presence across Europe and Asia. AliExpress had been providing a nine-day delivery service for users in Spain since March this year.
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