Global express and logistics provider DHL and JD.com, China's second largest B2C e-commerce platform, have signed an agreement to cooperate on a range of cross-border supply chain initiatives driven by the mainland’s fast growing e-commerce market.
JD.com’s main rival is Alibaba's Tmall, which controls more than 50% of the B2C market in China.
The agreement follows an earlier partnership arrangement which was signed in July last year when JD.com appointed DHL as its preferred logistics service provider for moving U.S. products ordered
on the company's U.S. web site to customers across China.
The latest pact between DHL and JD.com will see the Germany-headquartered integrator becoming the logistics supplier to JD.com’s International Business Group, which focuses on consumers in
markets outside China.
JD.com will also become a strategic customer under DHL’s Fast Growing Enterprises initiative, which will allow access to a comprehensive suite of logistics solutions across all DHL business
units.
China lacks big international express players
DHL will provide international express; air, ocean and road freight; warehousing; parcel delivery; e-commerce services and access to fulfillment distribution centres, and local distribution
services in key regions to support the global growth of JD.com internationally, a statement said.
According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, China’s e-commerce market is forecast to reach $1.2 trillion in 2017, but the main problem is that that there are no domestic, full-service
logistics and express delivery providers that have a global presence.
The Goldman Sachs report noted that Chinese logistics players were generally small and domestically focused, and no Chinese express delivery firm has yet listed, at home or abroad. The bank noted
that other than Sinotrans, there were few comprehensive Chinese logistics companies.
Nol van Fenema
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