Rookie has its own new story.
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Author | Huang Yu
Editor | Wang Xiaojuan
After nearly two years of adjustments, Cainiao, now twelve years old, stands before everyone with a brand new look.
On September 10th, an anniversary of special significance to the Alibaba Group, Cainiao held its annual Global Smart Logistics Summit and announced its growth to the public.
Wan Lin, CEO of Cainiao Group, stated that in the past year Cainiao has been making continuous adjustments, mainly around two major directions: one is to be more open, and the other is to focus more on international logistics and technology.
Emphasizing globalization, technology, and marketization are the typical characteristics of Cainiao’s entry into the 3.0 era.
At the same time, Wan Lin pointed out that since the beginning of this year, Cainiao has successively connected with major e-commerce platforms around the world and will continue to focus on four core areas: global supply chain, cross-border logistics, overseas local courier, and logistics technology.
Of course, focusing on the global supply chain does not mean Cainiao will abandon the Chinese market. Wan Lin revealed that on the one hand, Cainiao continues to solidify China’s supply chain by providing tiered services to meet diversified demands; on the other hand, it will replicate China’s advanced supply chain experience overseas, upgrade overseas warehouse operating standards, help Chinese brands expand internationally, and support international brands’ global layouts as well.
Overseas warehouses are an important infrastructure of Cainiao’s global supply chain business. It is reported that currently, Cainiao operates more than 40 overseas warehouses in 18 countries and regions in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, etc., providing omni-channel, end-to-end supply chain management solutions and warehousing and distribution operations for countless domestic and international brands and merchants.
In terms of cross-border logistics, Cainiao is also accelerating, continually strengthening its global network, and increasing the frequency of air routes to key markets such as Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
At this press conference, Cainiao and the world-leading air cargo company Qatar Airways Cargo officially announced the start of a long-term strategic partnership. Relying on Qatar Airways Cargo’s global route network, Cainiao will more than double the number of cargo flights on the core China-Europe routes every week.
At the same time, Cainiao announced a comprehensive upgrade of its "Global 5-Day Delivery" cross-border express product. By the end of the year, it is expected to add six major Eurasian core countries: Vietnam, Hungary, Singapore, Qatar, the Philippines, and Austria. Cross-border parcels can be delivered to Europe in as few as 5 calendar days.
In September 2023, Cainiao and AliExpress jointly launched the "Global 5-Day Delivery" cross-border express product for the first time, covering countries such as the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands. According to reports, taking the UK market as an example, since going online, it has been continually updated, accelerating from 5 business days (about 7 calendar days actual delivery) to 5 calendar days. The average on-time delivery rate has exceeded 95%, maintaining the fastest time among China-UK express lines.
Cainiao’s "Global 5-Day Delivery" achieves extreme efficiency thanks to dual optimization across the entire logistics chain: on the one hand, through refined operations to ensure seamless connection of each node; on the other, by continuously investing in AI technology to achieve end-to-end digital upgrades.
It is reported that currently, the "Global 5-Day Delivery" service is open to all cross-border e-commerce platforms and outbound merchants. Behind this upgrade is yet another breakthrough in Cainiao’s global smart logistics network-building capabilities, and a key milestone in Cainiao’s globalization journey.
At the press conference, Cainiao Group Vice President and General Manager of the Cross-border Logistics Business Unit, Xiong Wei, revealed that Cainiao has built a cross-border logistics network covering more than 200 countries worldwide, currently providing cross-border fulfillment services for 90% of the world’s top cross-border e-commerce platforms. Looking forward, "Global 5-Day Delivery" will cover more core e-commerce markets globally.
In terms of overseas local courier development, Cainiao has deeply cultivated nine key markets, including Spain, France, the United States, and Mexico, continuously expanding consumer coverage and enriching high-efficiency e-commerce services such as next-day delivery, two-day delivery, and weekend delivery.
It is reported that since April of this year, external orders for Cainiao’s overseas local courier service have increased by more than 200%.
While building a global logistics network, Cainiao has also made outputting logistics technology capacity a key business, and it has become one of the fastest growing segments.
Bi Jianghua, Vice President of Cainiao and General Manager of the Logistics Technology Business Unit, revealed that in the last fiscal year, Cainiao’s logistics technology business maintained dual growth overseas and domestically, growing far faster than the industry average, with overseas sales increasing by more than 150% year-on-year.
While focusing on four major business segments, it is clear that Cainiao is transforming from the past where it focused on serving Alibaba’s platform to becoming a more open logistics provider serving all customers and all platforms.
Wallstreetcn previously learned that Cainiao’s external business from third parties has already significantly surpassed business from Alibaba Group.
Having been incubated from Alibaba's e-commerce system, after 12 years of growth, Cainiao has now made its grand ambitions clear — it is no longer just ensuring Alibaba e-commerce’s logistics, but is now focusing on "international" and "technology", building a global, market-oriented logistics network.
Cainiao’s future development plans are mainly based on its judgment of industry trends.
In Wan Lin’s view, global e-commerce faces changes and challenges in the short term. But in the long term, as e-commerce penetration rates rise in various countries and business models evolve, the e-commerce market will continue to grow.
However, given the uncertainty of the trade environment, e-commerce needs more reliable logistics. This trend is driving demand away from a single model and toward a combined model of "cross-border direct mail + overseas warehouse + local delivery".
Facing future opportunities and challenges, Cainiao is accelerating globally.
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