Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have again claimed to have set records during the largest shopping event in the world, Singles' Day. The figures can often be used to paint a rosy picture of perpetual growth, reporters and analysts have long observed, so they are limited metrics for measuring the performance of companies or the purchasing power of Chinese consumers in times of COVID-19.
However, the heavy workload for express couriers is unquestionably real and visible.
Beginning in the second week of November, I noticed that packages were piling up outside my apartment complex in central Shenzhen, awaiting final delivery. Couriers rushed in and out of elevators, throwing boxes of items that shoppers bought at discounted prices or after being fooled by elaborate sales formulas into believing they had good deals.
Singles' Day will see 2.97 billion packages delivered across China between November 11-16, the period in which merchants will begin shipping after a pre-sale period, according to a state post office notice. This marks a 28% increase over the previous year and doubles the normal daily volume.
It also means that, on average, each person in China will receive more than two packages when shopping. They will also receive a lot of e-commerce waste, from cardboard, to tape, to packing slip. Both JD.com and Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao have launched programs aimed at making online shopping more sustainable.
As coronavirus infections continue to rise in many countries, China has had few local transmissions for months. As such, the pandemic had limited impact on delivery speed during this year's Singles' Day, both JD.com and Alibaba told ProWellTech.
However, companies have implemented new rules to ensure safety and speed. JD.com, for example, said it disinfects delivery stations and trucks and requires workers to wear masks and measure temperature on a daily basis, now standard practices in the country's logistics industry. The presale also made it possible to allocate inventory closer to consumers in advance. It said 93% of shipping orders fulfilled by its logistics system were completed in 24 hours.
