An Alibaba-led logistics network project was launched today in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, as the Chinese e-commerce leader seeks to boost the delivery of products purchased online.
According to a Sina Tech report, Alibaba has collaborated with a few industry partners to set up a company under the project, dubbed the China Smart Logistics Network.
Alibaba has teamed up with financial institutions including China Yintai Holdings, Fosun and Forchn Holdings, as well as major delivery companies to launch the new company, named “Rookie Network”. China Yintai chairman Shen Guojun will be the company’s CEO, while Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma will be the chairman of Rookie.
It was announced at the launch that the first stage of investment stood at 100 billion yuan ($16.3 billion). The company is aiming to build a network that can support an average 30 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) worth of daily online shopping transactions within 5-8 years. Other earlier reports also noted that the network would allow the delivery of products across China within 24 hours.
In 2012, Alibaba topped 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion) in combined sales volume on its Tmall and Taobao websites during the first 11 months of the year.
Last year, the company also said transactions on Alibaba platforms, which were reorganized in July, was likely to surpass both Amazon and eBay in annual online sales.
Image Credit: Peter Parks via AFP/Getty Images
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