China's JD.com launches new parcel delivery service

Following the examples of Amazon in the US and Rakuten in Japan, China’s JD.com is the latest e-commerce giant to begin to transform its logistics network into a commercial parcel delivery service.

The company announced on October 17th that it would be rolling out a domestic parcel delivery service for private and business customers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Customers will be able to arrange deliveries through the JD.com app or the messaging app WeChat.

This follows on from the logistics and distribution services it already sells to corporate clients such as Unilever.

According to JD.com, the company’s existing distribution network—which includes 15 logistics parks, 500 warehouses and almost 7,000 delivery and drop-off stations—allows it to reach 99% of the population of China, delivering more than 90% of orders within a day.

The company’s biggest rival, Alibaba, recently bought a $1.4 billion stake in the express delivery firm ZTO, but uses ZTO and SF Express rather than having its own network.

Source: The Wall Street Journal