Chinese express delivery firms handled 552 million parcels during the November 11 "Singles Day" event, one of the biggest one-day online shopping events in the world.

State media reported that the shipment volume from the Double 11 online shopping festival, is 1.8 times the usual daily average, citing data from the State Post Bureau.

"The country's courier sector handled 4.27 billion parcels from Nov. 1 to 11, as online sales rose in the run-up to the annual online shopping bonanza," Xinhua said.

It added that the courier sector is well-prepared for the peak season that may continue until November 20, and the delivery network is running smoothly.

"All-time high" for Alibaba

Separately, Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, said as of noon time on November 11, more than 120 million parcels have been delivered to consumers' doorsteps, and this figure is expected to exceed 200 million during the entire span of Double 11 ⁠— an all-time high figure in the Chinese mainland.

As part of its sustainability initiatives, Cainiao Network, (Cainiao), the logistics arm of Alibaba, noted that it expanded its recycling campaign across more than 130,000 Cainiao Post stations this year.

And as of November 11, nearly four million carton boxes have been collected.

"This initiative is projected to collect six million carton boxes this Double 11. In addition, over 100,000 consumers mailed out parcels using recycled cartons each day at Cainiao Post stations," Cainiao said in a statement.

To amplify the results through a green supply chain, Cainiao added that it also partnered with thousands of merchants such as Unilever and Yili Group, involving over 150,000 products, to reduce 50 grams of carbon footprint per parcel.

Efforts have also been made to strengthen the last-mile delivery network encompassing Cainiao’s self-operated direct delivery services, Cainiao Post stations and courier partners, in order to instil greater stability and delivery timelines.

Cainiao also tapped into the use of autonomous logistics robots, Little G, in over 400 universities in China to deliver 2 million parcels or one-third of the total parcel volume in campuses as of today noon. At the peak of Double 11, an average of tens of millions of parcels were processed daily.

For cross-border deliveries, Cainiao has leveraged its priority warehouses located near the ports to achieve end-to-end delivery from merchant pickup to doorstep delivery in as fast as 37 hours in South Korea.

Cainiao’s 15 overseas warehouses located in Europe also helped to achieve same or next-day deliveries within key European cities.

"As Cainiao ramps up its cross-border delivery efficiencies, the delivery time from the point of goods dispatch by Chinese merchants to last mile delivery to overseas consumers, has been reduced by close to five hours as compared to last year," the Chinese logistics company said.

The once-a-year "Double 11" shopping festival, initiated in 2009, has evolved into one of the biggest shopping festivals in China signalling a continued e-commerce boom.

In 2021, Alibaba made over US$84.54 billion in sales during the November 11 shopping festival. 

The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made gross merchandise sales of US$74.1 billion during the "Singles Day" event in 2020.

Ahead of the 2022 "Singles Day,"  Cainiao announced that it has secured 3,000 flights and will be tapping into its overseas distribution centres, and overseas warehouses in over 30 countries and regions to support merchants' pre-stocking needs and improve the overall experience for its 1.3 billion consumers globally.