After nearly two years of strategic adjustments, the twelve-year-old Cainiao has emerged with a completely new identity and positioning.

On September 10, during Alibaba Group's significant anniversary celebration, Cainiao hosted its annual Global Smart Logistics Summit, announcing its transformative growth to the world.

Cainiao Group CEO Wan Lin stated that over the past year, Cainiao has been making continuous adjustments around two main strategic directions: becoming more open and focusing more intensively on international logistics and technology capabilities.

The emphasis on globalization, technology, and marketization represents the defining characteristics of Cainiao's entry into its 3.0 era.

Wan Lin also pointed out that since this year, Cainiao has successively integrated services with major global e-commerce platforms and will continue to focus on four core business segments: global supply chain, cross-border logistics, overseas local delivery, and logistics technology.

However, focusing on global supply chain does not mean Cainiao will abandon the Chinese market. Wan Lin revealed that Cainiao continues to strengthen China's supply chain infrastructure through tiered services to meet diverse needs, while simultaneously replicating China's advanced supply chain expertise overseas, upgrading overseas warehouse operational standards, supporting Chinese brands' global expansion, and facilitating international brands' worldwide deployment.

Overseas warehouses serve as critical infrastructure for Cainiao's global supply chain business. Currently, Cainiao operates over 40 overseas warehouses across 18 countries and regions in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, providing omnichannel, end-to-end supply chain management solutions and warehouse-distribution operational services for numerous domestic and international brands and merchants.

In cross-border logistics, Cainiao continues accelerating its efforts, strengthening its global network and intensifying aviation trunk routes to key markets including Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

At this summit, Cainiao and Qatar Airways Cargo, a leading international air cargo company, officially announced the launch of a long-term strategic partnership. Leveraging Qatar Airways Cargo's global aviation network, Cainiao will more than double its weekly cargo flights on core China-Europe routes.

Simultaneously, Cainiao announced a comprehensive upgrade to its "Global 5-Day Delivery" cross-border express service, expecting to add six core Eurasian countries by year-end: Vietnam, Hungary, Singapore, Qatar, Philippines, and Austria, enabling cross-border packages to reach Europe in as fast as 5 natural days.

In September 2023, Cainiao partnered with AliExpress to first launch the "Global 5-Day Delivery" cross-border express service, covering countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Using the UK market as an example, since launch, continuous iterations have achieved delivery time improvements from 5 business days (approximately 7 natural days actual fulfillment time) to 5 natural days, with average delivery success rates exceeding 95%, ranking first in China-UK express delivery efficiency.

Cainiao's "Global 5-Day Delivery" exceptional efficiency stems from dual optimization across the entire logistics chain: precise operational management ensuring seamless integration at all nodes, and continuous AI technology investment enabling comprehensive digital transformation throughout the supply chain.

Currently, the "Global 5-Day Delivery" service is open to all cross-border e-commerce platforms and overseas merchants. This upgrade represents another breakthrough in Cainiao's global smart logistics network capabilities and marks a key milestone in Cainiao's globalization journey.

Xiong Wei, Vice President of Cainiao Group and General Manager of Cross-border Logistics Division, revealed at the summit that Cainiao has built a cross-border logistics network covering over 200 countries globally, currently providing cross-border fulfillment services to 90% of the world's leading cross-border e-commerce platforms. Looking ahead, "Global 5-Day Delivery" will expand coverage to more global e-commerce core markets.

In overseas local delivery development, Cainiao has deeply cultivated nine key markets including Spain, France, the United States, and Mexico, continuously expanding consumer coverage and enriching high-efficiency e-commerce services such as next-day delivery, two-day delivery, and weekend delivery options.

Since April this year, external orders for Cainiao's overseas local delivery services have grown by over 200%.

While building its global logistics network, Cainiao has also positioned logistics technology capability export as a crucial business segment, which has become a high-growth division.

Bi Jianghua, Vice President of Cainiao and General Manager of Logistics Technology Division, disclosed that in the previous fiscal year, Cainiao's logistics technology business maintained sustained dual growth both overseas and domestically, with growth rates far exceeding industry averages, including overseas sales growing by over 150% year-over-year.

While focusing on these four core business segments, Cainiao is clearly transitioning from its past concentration on serving Alibaba platforms to becoming a more open logistics service provider serving all customers and all platforms.

Third-party external business at Cainiao has already significantly exceeded business from Alibaba Group.

Cainiao, originally incubated within Alibaba's e-commerce ecosystem, has "spread its wings" after 12 years of growth. It has evolved far beyond merely ensuring Alibaba's e-commerce logistics operations, now focusing on "international" and "technology" to build a globalized, market-oriented logistics network.

Cainiao's future development planning is primarily based on its assessment of industry trends.

In Wan Lin's view, global e-commerce faces short-term changes and challenges. However, from a long-term perspective, as e-commerce penetration rates increase across countries and commercial formats evolve, e-commerce markets will continue growing.

Nevertheless, under uncertain trade environments, e-commerce requires more certainty in logistics. This trend is driving logistics demand to shift from single models toward combined models of "cross-border direct mail + overseas warehouses + local delivery."

Facing future opportunities and challenges, Cainiao is accelerating globally.