Leading the Charge in China’s Last Mile Evolution

Welding industry knowledge as a tool to overcome gender stereotypes in last mile logistics

Contrary to her delicate-sounding name, Xiao Mian is a real fighter who can roll up her sleeves to adopt a hands-on approach in laying out Cainiao’s last mile operations across four provinces and close to 20,000 community post stations via its Cainiao Post business unit.

Joining Cainiao was a strategic move. According to Xiao Mian, “I have always dreamt of being part of the Alibaba family so I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride when I joined Cainiao in 2019. To me, owning the employee card is a privilege, as well as a responsibility and commitment to uphold the brand of Alibaba ecosystem. Over time, as I saw more and more new joiners introduced to the Alibaba and Cainiao business, it truly felt as though I am part of a big family!”

Prior to Cainiao, Xiao Mian was in the eCommerce industry. She soon found that her retail experience, while valuable, would require adjacent logistics know-how in order to gain the trust and respect of her external logistics stakeholders. This kickstarted her incredible journey in last mile logistics as she navigates a completely new industry that is concurrently undergoing a massive transformation.

Transforming a US$115 Billion Industry

China’s logistics market has seen phenomenal growth in the past decade, driven by the exponential growth of its $1.94 trillion eCommerce sector, currently the largest in the world and three times that of the number two US market. While logistics has been around for ages, the transformation that is taking place in the last mile is a recent phenomenon.

According to the State Post Bureau, in the area of last mile, 63 billion parcels were delivered in 2019, a 24% YoY increase while total business revenue grew 23% YoY to RMB 745 billion (USD 115 billion). This accelerated growth propelled by a burgeoning eCommerce industry meant that Xiao Mian and her team often have to strike a delicate balance, “We have to remain grounded for more effective operations management while ensuring our vision is soaring high in the skies to identify new innovations and strategies that drive business transformation.”

Moreover, within the opportunities also lie numerous challenges owing to the disparate nature of the industry. The courier industry is inherently highly fragmented, comprising over 20,000 courier delivery companies and more than 3 million employees. The industry still faces challenges associated with laborious backend work to facilitate the movement of parcels which can result in inefficiencies.

Breaking Stereotypes With Knowledge and Grit

This is where Xiao Mian and her team step in to collaborate with the station managers and courier companies to define city and province-specific strategies that can improve overall efficiencies for their manpower and resource utilization.

At the beginning, this almost seemed like an insurmountable task as Xiao Mian had to establish a close working relationship with Cainiao Post managers and courier professionals who are akin to logistics industry pioneers armed with a wealth of experience.

“It became clear that I had to rapidly get up-to-speed on my industry knowledge in order to gain their trust and respect, which will in turn facilitate a stronger working relationship.”

With determination, grit and her constant pursuit of trade knowledge, Xiao Mian was able to prove her abilities and today, serves as a valuable partner to Cainiao Post managers and courier companies, offering strategic counsel on matters ranging from identifying consumer behavior and needs to better introduce value-added services such as group buys and laundry services, to outlining manpower needs to support the community’s post stations to avoid over and under-utilization of courier personnel. The latter was achieved with data analysis to gauge average parcel volume, consumer delivery preferences (time, location), and mapped against fluctuations throughout the year due to shopping festivals and festive seasons.

“Since I joined the team, I have witnessed the rapid evolution of Cainiao Post. In order to better meet customers’ needs, we have constantly introduced new logistics offerings and value-added services. During Double 11 shopping festival in 2019, I recall how Cainiao Post managers were worried about their ability to handle the massive spike in parcel volume; The following year, we leveraged technology to significantly improve productivity to cope with an even greater volume of parcels. Personally, this is the most attractive aspect of the business!”

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