Retailers’ shift online gets an extra fillip during China’s 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival this week. Cainiao Network expands its logistics routes to reach shoppers in European and Middle Eastern countries.
Fliggy: Holiday Travel Spikes Ahead of China’s Dragon Boat Festival
Alibaba’s travel-services platform Fliggy recorded an 800% year-on-year increase in hotel bookings in the week leading up to China’s Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanwu Festival, on June 14. Fliggy’s “blind box” feature, where users can virtually unwrap a holiday flight for just RMB66 ($10), helped boost flight sales by 260% from May 31 to June 2 compared to last year, the platform’s statistics showed. The long weekend coincides with the finish of China’s national college entrance exams, gaokao, so stressed students and their families are taking advantage of the break to travel and relax. The data also revealed that millennial parents prefer to travel with their families and spend more on family trips than other demographic groups, making up 70% of inbound traveling within China mainland during the upcoming holiday.
Tmall Spotlights Heritage Brands in China for 6.18
Alibaba and its flagship B2C marketplace Tmall are spotlighting Chinese heritage brands during China’s Mid-Year Shopping 6.18 with its first-ever, dedicated online pavilion to the sub-sector. These enterprises are recognized for their strong ties to Chinese cultures and legacies of quality, many are household brands with strong reputation and consumer recognitions. Since this special campaign coincided with the company’s mid-year sales festival starting this month, 61 heritage brands surpassed RMB100 million each in terms of daily revenue. China’s Ministry of Commerce officially recognizes 1,128 heritage brands, some of which have been around for decades. Household names, including China’s iconic candy brand White Rabbit, that have traditionally relied on offline retail channels are turning to Tmall’s slew of digital tools to overcome disruption created by the coronavirus pandemic. So far, over 400 Chinese brands have launched stores on Tmall to win new and younger customers and leverage digital insights.
Cainiao Brings Faster and Affordable Logistics to Shoppers in Europe and the Middle East
Cainiao Network officially launched its Middle East trans-shipment center in Dubai this month in the lead up to the 6.18 shopping festival. Alibaba’s logistics arm offered a discount of up to 20% on shipping orders created by European merchants starting on June 8. The new shipment center will help shorten the delivery time of cross-border parcels from China to the Middle East from 45 days to 20 days. By the end of 2021, Cainiao’s Middle East Transshipment Center will expand to 4,000 square meters to improve efficiency, the company said. In addition to its existing routes in Liege and Madrid, Cainiao has recently opened three new ports in Budapest, Amsterdam and Paris to help European businesses quickly fulfill their cross-border trade.
