Battle stations readied for ‘Double 11’: Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao prepares for China’s ‘Singles Day’ with military-scale campaign

Preparations have intensified for Alibaba Group’s “Double 11” day, the world’s biggest online shopping festival slated for next month, as its affiliate Cainiao Logistics unveiled a vast operation for the campaign that could rival the size of a full-scale military exercise.

“The massive number of delivery orders [expected to be] generated from this great online shopping event really pushes us and our delivery partners to do our very best,” Cainiao chief technology officer Ben Wang said on Thursday.

Cainiao estimated that it will deploy more than 1.7 million delivery personnel, 400,000 vehicles, 5,000 warehouses and 200 aircraft to support Alibaba’s Double 11 campaign, which is held on November 11 as part of the much-anticipated Singles’ Day event in mainland China.

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To speed up international deliveries, Cainiao has launched its “Hassle-free Logistics Service” - a programme supported by 49 cross-border delivery partners, which have set up 16 dedicated cross-border delivery routes and 74 warehouses to handle 4 million packages a day.

Cainiao said it has also made arrangements to expedite customs clearance for cross-border packages via bonded warehouses, while integrating logistics data-sharing with local customs agencies in the four Chinese cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, and Guangzhou in southern Guangdong.

This year’s Double 11 festival is shaping up to be the most international campaign organised by Alibaba as over 5,000 international brands from 25 countries are joining the event.

These brands will be able to sell directly to consumers in more than 200 countries and regions through Alibaba’s domestic and international online shopping platforms.