Alibaba’s logistics arm looks to cut Lazada’s SEA shipping time to 3 days

Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba, announced that it has enhanced Lazada’s cross-border logistics efficiency with the launch of distribution centers in China’s export-focused cities of Yiwu, Shenzhen, and Quanzhou.

This would enable buyers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to receive their parcels as fast as three days after placing an order. Previously, the shipping time would reach double that time.

Cainiao distribution warehouse in Yiwu / Photo credit: Cainiao

In order to ease first-mile delivery woes, especially during peak shopping seasons, Cainiao is also offering doorstep pickup for merchants. This would eliminate the need to deliver goods to warehouses, which involves time-consuming activities such as queuing and scanning products.

Besides this, Cainiao has also introduced community-based parcel consolidation stations in April this year to support 11,500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 20 cities.

The move comes as an extension of its partnership with Hong Kong Air Cargo earlier this year for the launch of cargo flights to Southeast Asia. The tie-up cut delivery times for goods shipped from Mainland China to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, the company said.

Cainiao recently became the official logistics partner of Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) to support South Korea’s small businesses to export their products abroad.