Cainiao trucking line moves in between warehouses. Photo Credit: Alibaba Group
This week, Tokyo-headquartered cosmetics company Shiseido announced a tie-up with Alibaba Group to encourage reusable product packaging in its China operations.
In other news, Alibaba’s logistics service Cainiao Network also promoted sustainable practices during the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival through technology and greener shipping methods.
Speaking of logistics, Cainiao expanded its international network this week to include distribution centers and smart lockers in Brazil.
Shiseido China Partners with Alibaba to Make Beauty Greener
Japanese beauty giant Shiseido is launching a marketing campaign with Alibaba this week to promote refillable and reusable packaging in beauty products.
Consumers can leverage their points in Alibaba’s carbon ledger platform, earned by low-carbon behavior, to redeem beauty products in refillable formats from Shiseido’s Chinese stores. Ten gift sets are available for consumers daily from Nov. 15 to 24.
The campaign is part of the duo’s efforts to build consumer awareness of low-carbon lifestyles. Shiseido China is one of the 19 consumer goods companies partnering with Alibaba to issue guidance on green consumption.
Shiseido China plans to offer refillable options for over 150 beauty products by 2023 and is working with agencies to draft industry-wide standards for refillable design.
Delivering For The Environment
This 11.11, consumers on Alibaba’s marketplaces went green thanks to its logistics arm Cainiao Network.
Over 16.33 million consumers purchased eco-friendly products on Tmall and Taobao during 11.11 sales, and Cainiao’s “green packages” helped cut the number of materials used per parcel by 15% on average.
The “green packages” were made possible in various ways, including packing algorithms, shipping in original product packages, e-shipping labels, eco-friendly packaging materials, smart route planning, eco-friendly deliveries, and smart warehousing.
Cainiao also hit a record regarding the number of eco-friendly packages dispatched. Six of every ten users who shipped at a Cainiao Post station sent the packages using recycled materials, realizing an eco-friendly package dispatch rate of more than 60%.
Olá! Cainiao Expands Logistics Offerings in Brazil
Cainiao announced Monday its plan to launch nine distribution centers and 1,000 smart lockers in Brazil for package deliveries in the coming three years.
The announcement came at the opening of Cainiao’s Latin American headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil.
Cainiao pledged a two-to-three-day delivery time for orders shipped in Brazil. Next-day delivery is made possible in key areas such as São Paulo, with a new smart distribution center opened in São Paulo on Monday.
Cainiao‘s revenue, not including internal clients, grew 36% year-on-year to RMB13.37 billion ($1.8 billion) in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2022. The logistics company runs 12 distribution centers outside of China.
Alibaba Upsizes Share Buyback; Core Profits Beat Wall Street Forecasts
Alibaba said on Thursday it would enlarge its stock repurchase program by $15 billion and extend it until the end of March 2025, showing commitment to improving shareholder returns.
The platform company’s second-quarter core earnings beat stock analysts’ forecasts as it tightened cost controls and delivered revenue growth despite a challenging economic backdrop. The shares closed 7.8% higher on Wall Street.
“We delivered solid results this past quarter despite ongoing macro environment challenges, which is a testament to our resilient business model and unmatched customer value proposition,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in a statement.
The group’s adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measurement, jumped 24% year-over-year to RMB43.31 billion ($6.09 billion) for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, above consensus predictions of about RMB38 billion compiled by Thomson and separately by Bloomberg.
Read more here
AliViews: Alibaba’s CEO Daniel Zhang on Q2 Earnings
Alibaba announced financial results for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2022 and shortly after, group Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang addressed investors on a conference call.
“We delivered a solid quarter in a macro environment full of uncertainty,” he said. “The ongoing resurgence of COVID-19, geopolitical tension, inflation, and currency depreciation – the convergence of all these forces has created considerable difficulties for business operations.”
“Despite these challenges, Alibaba’s non-GAAP EBITA increased 29% year-over-year as we continued to enhance our operational efficiencies. This is the result of our pursuit of high-quality development and, more importantly, demonstrates the resilience of the Alibaba business ecosystem.”
Read his full remarks here
Cainiao Delivers Upgraded Services and Over 200 Mln Packages to Doorsteps During 11.11
Cainiao continued to put merchants and consumers first this 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.
The platform teamed up with Alibaba’s marketplaces to power the world’s largest retail event, from preparing sufficient stock and warehouse space to solving last-mile delivery hurdles.
“It’s all about speed and service for retailers and customers. We went to great lengths to ensure the speed and quality of our services,” Li Wuchang, who leads Cainiao’s 11.11 operations, explained in Mandarin in the run-up to the festival.
The platform is delivering more than 200 million packages to consumers’ doorsteps for this 11.11, with over 120 million already delivered and 80 million on their way.
Learn more here
Ant’s Alipay+ Sees 40% Surge Of Online Payments During 11.11
Ant Group said the number of online payment transactions made via its Alipay+ product jumped 40% during the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival versus last year.
Also between Nov. 1 and Nov. 10, Alipay+ e-wallet user payments spiked 30% year-over-year. Alipay+ connected online merchants to over 100 million e-wallet users during 11.11, mostly in Southeast Asia.
These consumers were largely users of a dozen e-wallets, including The Philippines’ GCash, Thailand’s TrueMoney, Malaysia’s Touch’ n Go, Indonesia’s Dana and South Korea’s Kakao Pay, Ant said in a statement Friday.
Read the full story here
Electric Guitar Brand Fender Amps Up Chinese Product Range For 11.11
During this 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, legacy guitar brand Fender is launching its American Vintage II series of electric guitars and basses in the China market.
This is the first time the American company has timed a product launch with the 11.11 shopping festival. Fender also hosted a livestreaming event on Nov. 5 to celebrate the debut.
“Whether its livestreaming or videos, we leverage all the tools we can on the platform, to connect with our community as much as possible,” said Edward “Bud” Cole, President, Fender Asia.
Alibaba Wraps Up 11.11 After Deploying Avatars, Loyalty Perks And Robots To Bolster GMV
Alibaba concluded its most high-tech 11.11 Global Shopping Festival to date on Friday, delivering sales for brands in line with last year despite economic and COVID-related headwinds.
The creator of the world’s biggest retail event deployed virtual influencers, spotlighted rewards programs and hosted a record number of product listings to bolster the festival.
Also known as Double 11 or Singles’ Day, the shopping holiday routinely dwarfs Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. Last year, Alibaba said it generated gross merchandise value (GMV) of RMB540.3 billion ($84.54 billion at the time).
“This is undoubtedly the most important campaign of the year,” said Cynthia Carbonell at Freshly Cosmetics. The Spanish startup said it boosted marketing spending for 11.11 on Alibaba’s cross-border marketplace Tmall Global by nearly 40% versus previous months.
Read the full wrap-up here
