Cainiao’s global expansion continues: Secures major warehouses in Europe consecutively

```

Author | Huang Yu

WallstreetCN has learned that recently Cainiao has leased large areas of warehouses in the UK and Spain, with some leases lasting up to 10 years. Especially in Spain, Cainiao has leased a 37,000-square-meter warehouse, which is one of the seven largest warehouse property transactions nationwide since last year.

In response, Shuai Yong, Vice President of Cainiao and General Manager of Cainiao's Global Supply Chain Division, revealed to WallstreetCN that Europe is a key market for Cainiao's continuous investment in overseas warehouses and import business. Since the beginning of this year, four new warehouses have been intensively launched in Europe, located in Daventry (UK), Paris (France), Madrid (Spain), and Rokietnica (Poland).

These new warehouses serve several major Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms and also support European cross-border merchants selling to China through the global supply chain network. Cainiao also plans to invest in a batch of climbing robot warehouses in Europe, using self-developed logistics technology to enhance warehouse efficiency.

Not long ago, Cainiao released its self-developed "climbing robot"—ZeeBot, which can move quickly on the ground and directly climb shelves for storage and retrieval. The climbing robot is now available for sale on the market, and hundreds of ZeeBots have been deployed in a cross-border logistics warehouse in Dongguan, Guangdong, serving a leading global cross-border e-commerce platform.

In recent years, Cainiao has made some adjustments, emphasizing globalization, technology, and marketization.

Overseas warehouses are an important infrastructure for Cainiao’s global supply chain business. At present, Cainiao operates over 50 overseas warehouses in 18 countries and regions across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, providing comprehensive, end-to-end supply chain management solutions and warehouse distribution operations services to a large number of domestic and international brands and merchants, covering industries such as automotive parts, home furnishing, home appliances, and furniture.

A notable feature of the latest wave of Chinese enterprises expanding overseas is their focus on creating global brands. In recent years, due to the uncertainty of the external environment, more merchants seeking to build their brands globally are shifting from direct cross-border shipping to overseas warehouses.

In addition, the foreign trade industry has shown a “not-so-off-season” characteristic in the first three months of this year.

Customs statistics show that in the first quarter of this year, China's goods trade import and export reached 11.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, with the scale hitting a record high for the same period. Imports and exports with developed economies such as the EU have continued to grow, while imports and exports with ASEAN, Latin America, Africa, and other regions have increased by more than double digits.

WallstreetCN also obtained data from Cainiao that shows outbound volumes from Cainiao’s European overseas warehouses surged 32% year-on-year in the first three months of this year.

An e-commerce insider told WallstreetCN that China’s “semi-managed” cross-border e-commerce model is accelerating its penetration in Europe, and high-quality consumer electronics products continue to gain recognition in the European market, together driving demand for overseas warehouses. For example, Cainiao’s warehouse in France serving a major platform nearly reached full capacity utilization in the first quarter, with particularly strong restocking demand for categories like smart home appliances, 3C digital products, automotive parts, and furniture.

To further expand global logistics network construction, the previously failed IPO plan of Cainiao is now being replaced by a plan to activate assets and obtain more funds through public REITs.

WallstreetCN understands that Cainiao Group intends to use its Jiaxing logistics park project as the underlying asset to apply for the issuance of public REITs, and has submitted the application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. On April 27, Alibaba also announced that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange confirmed on March 13 that Cainiao can proceed with the proposed spin-off for infrastructure REITs on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Cainiao previously indicated that its primary purpose for fundraising at the time of the IPO was to further develop its international logistics service capability and network. With the implementation of the public REITs, Cainiao’s globalization strategy will undoubtedly be further boosted.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market is risky and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their specific situation. Invest accordingly at your own risk. ```