Alibaba Group’s Double 11 Global Shopping Festival is the biggest shopping event. This year, the one-day event brought in over $30 billion in gross merchandise volume. Delivering these $30 billion goods to consumers replies a lot on Alibaba affiliated logistics company Cainiao (majority owned by Alibaba). In 2017, Cainiao delivered 812 million orders. But how?
Cainiao recently opened the biggest automated warehouse in China, in the eastern city of Wuxi. It is part of the company’s first Future Park, a logistics complex run by IoT applications, big data, edge computing, and artificial intelligence to boost efficiencies in the shipping process.
Cainiao uses 700 robots called automated guided vehicles to fulfill orders. The system directs the AGVs to drive, load and unload while planning the best routes to distribute parcels and avoid collision. The robots allow for 50% more orders to be processed within a given time period than a traditional warehouse, according to Cainiao.
AliExpress, Alibaba’s export retail e-commerce platform, and Tmall World, a site aimed at Chinese consumers living abroad, took on a bigger role in this year’s Double 11. Cainiao chartered 51 flights to Western Europe, Russia, and Southeast Asia, as well as about 1,000 shipping containers set for buyers in Southeast Asia and other destinations by sea.
Watch this one-minute video to find out how it works:
Get the latest update on Alibaba Double 11 2018 here.