Specialist Chinese Online Retailer Introduces New Delivery Systems Aimed at Worldwide Audience

CHINA – WORLDWIDE – The race to secure more of the ever growing eCommerce sector has hotted up with the latest move from AliExpress, a global retail online marketplace and part of the Alibaba Group. Launched in 2010, AliExpress is a global retail marketplace that enables consumers from around the world to buy directly from manufacturers and distributors in China. Top consumer markets where AliExpress is popular are Russia, the United States, Brazil, Spain, France and Poland.

In advance of the anticipated Alibaba ‘Global Shopping Festival’ on Armistice Day the company has added new features and service offers aimed at creating cheaper and faster delivery fulfilment. With the pandemic causing disruption to passenger flights, the usual distribution route for such items, AliExpress says it has been working closely with Alibaba Group logistics arm Cainiao Smart Logistics Network and last-mile logistics partners to significantly shorten the cross-border delivery time.

In Europe, for example, Cainiao launched a new international air-freight route in August 2020 to speed up average delivery times between China and Europe by over 30%. Selected goods shipped through the new route can now reach consumers in AliExpress’ key European markets such as Spain and France in 10 working days, with the aim to expand to more European markets in the near future.

Relying on the overseas warehouses in Europe serving AliExpress merchants, the Cainiao intra-Europe trucking network taps advanced algorithms to generate the most-efficient loading plans and transportation routes for its fleet, as well as the optimal number of trucks to deploy in real time. Tapping on this line-haul network and collaborating with local last-mile delivery providers, AliExpress claims it is able to connect partner warehouses and transport hubs in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, achieving three-day delivery in Spain, France and Poland, five to seven days in other European countries.

Big-ticket items like furniture and motorcycles, continue to be a pain point for many manufacturers around the world, as they find it hard to ship directly to retail shoppers. To address this, AliExpress recently launched a cross-border logistics solution dedicated to large items, products of more than four metres in length and width, or weighing more than 300kg.

Now, with just one click and at affordable shipping prices, heavy items like beds and motorcycles can be transported to overseas retail shoppers. Cai Weimin, Overseas General Manager at Zhejiang Bendi Vehicle Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and an AliExpress merchant, said that the company has prepared 3,000 motorcycles for this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, they are ready for shipping, and he expects them to sell out within a week or two.

The OECD recently projected that increased accessibility to more products at more affordable prices would be a significantly important market development, in the context of reductions in purchasing power from pandemic-related economic fallout. In line with this, AliExpress has observed that consumers are becoming more cautious in making purchase decisions and turning to cross-border options for better prices.

Market research data conducted by AliExpress shows an upward trend in the ‘Gross Merchandise Value’ (GMV) for certain items ranging from 50-60% on tablets and mobile phones, to 140% for ‘smart’ watches and a leap of 225% for electric scooters. 

Photo: Courtesy Alibaba.