More than 100 billion parcels were delivered to addresses across mainland China between January and 13 August – a milestone reached 71 days earlier than it was last year, the mainland’s State Post Bureau has announced.
That dizzying number equates to an average of 71.43 packages per person and 5,144 packages delivered every second, according to the South China Morning Post.
The surging quantity of parcels winging their way across China was partially fuelled by returns, with the Post noting that some sellers experienced return rates of around 60 percent. Women’s clothing was a category that reportedly saw especially high return rates: up to 90 percent during peak periods, meaning only one out of every 10 sales actually closed.
[See more: Taobao is about to start shipping clothing to Asian destinations for free]
However, significant improvements to China’s transport infrastructure are helping the e-commerce sector. According to the Ministry of Transport, the volume of parcels reaching rural areas had increased tenfold over the past decade largely thanks to the more than 300,000 logistics service stations that had been set up in rural villages.
Mainland China is the world’s biggest e-commerce market and home to many behemoth online marketplaces. These include Taobao, TMall and AliExpress (all owned by the Alibaba group), JD.com and Pinduoduo.
Online retail sales in mainland China reached 15.4 trillion yuan (US$2.1 trillion) in 2023, up 11 percent year-on-year in spite of the loosening of the restrictions that stoked online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic.
