The consumer's desire to receive their order as soon as possible via the internet has led the world's largest retailers to wage war to see who is more productive and guarantees faster deliveries. The seventh largest retail company in the world by revenue, the Alibaba group has been investing, from its own logistics company, Cainiao, in the digitization not only of deliveries, but also of distribution centers, equipment, transport vehicles and storage equipment to perfect your delivery service.
Outside its walls, Alibaba is currently a shareholder in four carriers in China, in addition to Cainiao. The intention is not only to make deliveries within 24 hours in China and 72 hours to the rest of the world possible, but also to prepare for a future in which it imagines making up to 1 billion deliveries a day. In addition to becoming more efficient, the company hopes, with the new measures, to also reduce its logistical costs. Currently, Alibaba processes 100 million packages daily and has already managed to reduce the delivery time from China to 70 days from 10 days to some countries.
Video 1: Robots in Alibaba Group warehouses to increase productivity
This customer need to receive orders increasingly quickly and in a way that is traceable throughout the chain has led competitors to invest in express deliveries to compete with the Alibaba Group. JD, for example, created a logistics park with 5G technology to increase efficiency throughout its chain and consequently improve the level of service. However, express deliveries are on a smaller scale than the Alibaba Group, being restricted only to large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
In the USA, a country also of continental size, Amazon has also invested to reduce delivery times by building urban distribution centers (https://ilos.com.br/web/a-nova-tendencia-de- armazens-da-amazon/), much closer to the end customer. However, express deliveries are restricted to only a few selected products that are within their own chain and in some cases upon payment of an extra shipping fee, which may vary according to the value of the product purchased or whether or not you are a subscriber to the “Amazon Prime” [7].
In addition to the USA, Amazon is in other markets around the world, such as Brazil, where it acts even more timidly in express delivery. The express delivery model in Brazil is up to 2 days and only in some of the big cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba [8].
The question that remains is whether Cainiao's model can also be replicated in Brazil so that the entire territory can be served within 24 hours and whether Amazon will be able to achieve the efficiency it has in the US so that deliveries are made every time faster, even if this has some associated cost.
Want to know more about Alibaba Group? Sign up for the International Mission – China through the link https://ilos.com.br/web/mil-china/inscricao/.
Sources:
[1]https://fortune.com/2018/05/29/chinese-brands-alibaba-tencent-brandz/
[3]https://www.alibabacloud.com/customers/Cainiao
[4]http://innovationinsider.com.br/60-robos-operam-o-centro-de-distribuicao-do-alibaba-vale-ver/
[5]https://www.zdnet.com/article/jd-com-unveils-5g-smart-logistics-site/
[6] https://ilos.com.br/web/a-nova-tendencia-de-armazens-da-amazon/
[7]https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201910880
Alexandre Niyama
Since 2017, he has been working on consultancy and training projects in Logistics and Supply Chain for companies in the Retail, Food and Beverage, Chemical and Petrochemical, Health and Clinical Analysis, Hygiene and Beauty, E-commerce and Steel and Metallurgy sectors. Customers who have already carried out a project: GPA, Nestlé, Unilever, ICONIC Lubrificantes, DASA, Mercado Livre and Vale. Types of projects carried out: Modeling and Optimization of the Logistics Mesh, Transport Hiring Strategy and Railway Study for Cargo Transport
