China’s largest online shopping platform, Taobao Marketplace, has launched a ‘self pickup’option for customers in Hong Kong in partnership with five logistics partners.
addition to the usual option of door-to-door delivery, local consumers who purchase goods fromsellers on Alibaba Group subsidiary Taobao Marketplace will now have the option of selecting thisnew service to pick up their purchases from more than 200 locations in the city, provided byHongkong Post, 7-Eleven Hong Kong, SF Express, ZTO Express and 4PX Express.
The new service is expected to offer consumers more economical shipping costs, especially forconsumers residing on the outlying islands in Hong Kong. The shipping costs are expected to belower than the standard international parcel forwarding service, while offering consumers more than50% savings when compared with direct courier services.
To ensure the quality of the logistics service, China Smart Logistic Network (CSN) will leverageits logistics network data platform to support and coordinate between the logistics providers andoffer full tracking of goods to keep buyers updated on their shipments. CSN is a 48%-ownedaffiliate of Alibaba Group.
The ‘self pickup’ option was launched last year for customers in Taiwan, where customers canpick up deliveries in FamilyMart and 7-Eleven stores. Under the Taiwan model, packages are shippedto a central parcel-forwarding centre and consolidated before shipping overseas.
Observers expect the Alibaba group tp expand its use of p[arcel consolidation points to othermarkets in the future, and sources close to the company confirmed that the company “does not ruleout rolling out similar types of services in the future”.
Indeed, Alibaba Group’s investment in and collaboration with SingPost, agreed earlier this year,aims to leverage SingPost Group’s international logistics capabilities, infrastructure, anddelivery networks, including the potential regional roll-out of SingPost’s automated parcelterminal ‘POPStations’.
