Cainiao Newsletter - Oct 2023

Hello from the Cainiao team.

This month, we are all working hard to gear up for the annual 11.11 event. As we enter the 15th year of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, it is noteworthy that eCommerce logistics have progressed tremendously since early days. To strengthen customer experience and loyalty for the long haul, we have increased our capabilities and continuously strive to instill greater stability and timeliness for parcel deliveries, both within the Chinese mainland and overseas.

For Taobao and Tmall consumers, we have launched Taobao PLUS service in five markets of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. This encompasses free shipping, free local returns, and tax clearance. Consumers in these markets will also enjoy free sea or air shipping above a minimum spending and enhanced delivery timeliness (next-day delivery for Hong Kong and Macao, five-day delivery for Singapore and Malaysia). Together with Tmall Supermarket, we have also introduced half-day delivery services in Beijing to enhance delivery flexibility and convenience.

For AliExpress consumers, we have further strengthened our delivery capabilities in China and abroad to bring to fruition a game-changing global five-day delivery service in key markets. In addition, we have also partnered with AliExpress to launch logistics guarantees for cross-border deliveries – Just-In-Time (JIT) service across 18 Chinese cities with smart fulfillment from Cainiao warehouses for efficient inventory management; expansion to over 210 flights per week to increase air freight efficiency; smart order consolidation roll-out at scale across 53 countries and regions such as? Europe, US, Japan and South Korea; compensation for delayed deliveries; after-sales customer service to mitigate logistics issues.

Beyond 11.11, we also celebrated a new milestone with the launch of Cainiao Smart Park in Hangzhou, adjacent to Cainiao’s headquarters. The Smart Park will be centered around the provision of industry-related services and serve as the champion for smart logistics, AI and data-driven services to spearhead industrial transformation and innovation.

We are also extremely honored to receive two prestigious recognitions this month – The ‘Best eCommerce Logistics Service Provider 2023' at the annual AFLAS Awards organized by Asia Cargo News; We also ranked top three in the prestigious INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Outstanding Practice in Operations Research in recognition of our logistics innovation for the smart parcel consolidation solution.

Launch of ‘Taobao PLUS’ in Partnership with Tmall Taobao World Among Key Initiatives During 11.11

We recently announced a collaboration with Tmall Taobao World to launch a new cross-border service brand Taobao PLUS in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Taobao PLUS will provide consumers with free shipping, local returns, and tax-free services. Cainiao's optimized supply chain ensures efficient logistics, offering upgraded services for minimum spending thresholds, such as RMB 99 in Hong Kong and RMB 249 in Taiwan for free premium logistics services. In addition, customers in Hong Kong and Macao are guaranteed next-day delivery for consolidated orders, while Singapore and Malaysia will enjoy five-day delivery.

In Hong Kong, we have also strengthened our last-mile capabilities by adding hundreds of self-collection points, some with extended operating hours and additional services like large parcel storage.

Partnership with AliExpress on 5-Day Global and Just-In-Time Delivery Services

We have further strengthened our delivery capabilities abroad by in conjunction with AliExpress to bring to fruition a game-changing global five-day delivery service in key markets – this conveyance would be 30 percent faster than the industry standard.

We have also partnered with AliExpress to expand our Just-In-Time (JIT) service across 18 Chinese cities. This includes smart fulfilment from Cainiao warehouses for efficient inventory management, increased air freight efficiency with over 210 weekly flights, smart order consolidation roll-out at scale across 53 countries and regions including Europe, US, Japan and South Korea, compensation for delayed deliveries; and after-sales customer service to mitigate logistics issues.

Celebrating the Launch of Cainiao Smart Park

Cainiao Smart Park in Hangzhou was officially launched on 17 October, coinciding with Hangzhou’s announcement of a new e-commerce industry acceleration plan.

The park will provide partner enterprises and start-ups with close support in branding, cross-border e-commerce, and live broadcasting, to create an incubator of "Digital Technology and Industry Services" within the precinct.

Cainiao Named Best eCommerce Logistics Service Provider in 2023 AFLAS Awards

Cainiao was awarded the prestigious title of ‘Best eCommerce Logistics Service Provider 2023’ by The Asian Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain (AFLAS) Awards, hosted and organized annually by Asia Cargo News. It recognizes leading service providers, including air and shipping lines; airports and seaports; logistics, 3PLs and other associated industry professionals.

Cainiao was awarded for its commitment to providing logistics services across the globe and excellent service quality.

Cainiao Attains Top Three Spot in Daniel H. Wagner Prize

Cainiao, in collaboration with Purdue University and Intel, recently secured a top-three spot in the prestigious INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Outstanding Practice in Operations Research. Its "Cross-Border Parcel Consolidation and Fulfillment System" was found to effectively address cross-border logistics challenges by enabling millisecond-level real-time decision-making, optimizing order combinations and upgrading logistics services.

Cainiao’s smart parcel consolidation system helps to consolidate parcels ordered by the same consumer during fulfillment from China to 52 countries since 2020, saving tens of millions of dollars annually and shortening the delivery time by at least 50%. The main innovations of this work are: (i) three analytical methods are integrated to support real-world business process decisions successfully, and (ii) a two-stage online optimization algorithm with one parameter is proposed to solve the parcel consolidation problem.

 Sign up for the newsletter mailing list below！