China’s delivery services handle 331 mln on Double 11

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At least 331 million parcels were handled by Chinese postal and courier companies during the country’s annual Singles’ Day shopping festival on Saturday, 31.5 percent more than Singles’ Day last year, the State Post Bureau (SPB) said.

The number, covering any parcels that have started to be sorted as well as all those actually delivered, represents only some of the 850 million orders placed on Saturday, 29.4 percent more than last year, according to the SPB.

China's Singless Day – or Double 11, referring to the date, November 11 – became an online shopping event in 2009, when Alibaba's online shopping platform Tmall began promotions.

Alibaba's sales this year hit 168.3 billion yuan (about 25.4 billion US dollars), up from 120 billion yuan in 2016.

JD.com, which started promotions at the beginning of this month, reported 127.1 billion yuan of orders.

Singles' Day has been a challenge for the logistics sector in both order volume and service quality, said Liu Jun, SPB deputy director.

The SPB expects the number of parcels handled between November 11 and 16 to hit 1.5 billion, up by 35 percent year on year, and the daily volume could be as much as three times what it is on a typical day.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency