(Photo/CNS)

This year’s Nov. 11 online shopping festival is drawing near. According to predictions made by the China Express Association and China’s smart logistics network CAINIAO, over 1 billion express deliveries will be made in the course of this year’s online shopping spree. Such a huge volume of packages will pose a great challenge to China’s domestic logistics system.

The shopping festival has been held annually for the last seven years. On Nov. 11, 2015, 91.2 billion RMB in transactions and 467 million individual orders were placed on Tmall and Taobao alone. And it is expected that this year the statistics will reach a new high.

According to data released at the 11/11 Online Shopping Festival Service Mobilization Meeting, held by CAINIAO and other express enterprises on Oct. 13, a total of 2.68 million people will be employed by logistics companies for this year’s festival, a growth of over 50 percent from last year. Meanwhile, road transportation and even air capacity are expected to grow by 59 percent and 40 percent respectively.

Wang Wenbin, chief technology officer of CAINIAO, explained that with the support of advanced data technologies and capital injection, China's logistics industry has been through a comprehensive update in data, service and capacity. This year, consumers will therefore have a better service experience. 

For major express enterprises, pieces of infrastructure such as warehouses, equipment and data systems have gone through rapid development since last year's Nov. 11 holiday. However, pressure on the distribution end will remain. Statistics show that a lack of couriers is a common issue for logistics enterprises, but Wang mentioned that courier stations and self pick-up lockers will help ease the pressure this year.