UPS will offer greater flexibility for cross-border e-commerce with the introduction of alternative delivery locations across Hong Kong in partnership with SF Express.

According to UPS, customers can now pick up their packages from designated EF Lockers or S.F. Stores. Consumers with eligible shipments will receive a text message alert ahead of the shipment’s arrival in Hong Kong. In addition to the parcel’s delivery status, the receiver will also have the option to collect it from a locker or a store. Alternative delivery locations allow online shoppers to receive deliveries in a preferred location at their convenience, reducing the number of missed deliveries.

“Our retail industry research tells us that, more so than anywhere else in Asia, 81% of Hong Kong’s online shoppers are interested in having their purchases shipped to an ADL with extended hours if fees are less than shipping the package to their home,” said Lauren Zhao, managing director of UPS Hong Kong and Macau. “With 24/7 accessibility, S.F. Stores and EF Lockers are a secure delivery option that puts more control in the hands of consumers.”

UPS said that the Asia-Pacific e-commerce logistics market is expected to more than double from US$108 billion to US$232 billion by 2021, and that developing the necessary infrastructure now to ensure that retailers can continue to meet the evolving needs of online shoppers is crucial.

“Cross-border e-commerce is accounting for an increasingly large proportion of all e-commerce sales in Asia – particularly with the growing popularity of online marketplaces,” said Ross McCullough, president of UPS Asia Pacific. “As Asian shoppers become increasingly comfortable with making international purchases online – often from other Asian markets – it’s vital that UPS offers delivery options that are geared towards the realities of people’s busy lives. Partnerships, such as this one with EF Lockers and S.F. Stores, play a key role in helping us to speed up and simplify deliveries.”

The expansion of UPS’s global alternative delivery network in Hong Kong is one of the ways in which the company hopes to drive sustainability, resulting in more flexibility and convenience for consumers, as well as fewer miles and associated emissions for UPS.

UPS and SF Express received approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in September 2017 for a joint venture to collaborate on the development and provision of international delivery services, initially from China to the US and to other trade lanes in the future. The two companies began collaborating in 2015.