Promotions drive sales on Singles' Day

While the promotion on Sunday enticed 213 million Internet users to shop online, according to Alibaba, shipping became a cause of concern for many people.

Couriers, though, said the number of packages being ordered was still manageable.

SF Express (Group) Co plans to work with Tmall on a shipping monitoring system to cope with any emergencies that might arise, said Zhang Jianhua, a public relations manager at the company's Shanghai operation.

"We set up a group to work with Tmall on online shipping management," he said. "Once we receive a warning from them, we manage to respond with contingency plans.

"We have also expanded our fleet in cities across East China, where demand is usually higher than in the rest of the country," Zhang said.

The company has also introduced a slow-delivery service that is meant for shoppers who don't need to have their purchases delivered according to a strict schedule. The arrangement merely ensures their orders will arrive in no more than four days.

Chen Mingqiang, a district manager at YTO Express Co Ltd in Shanghai, said he has yet to see a big increase in the number of packages being ordered.

"The volume has doubled from what it is usually, increasing to about 8,000 pieces so far," Chen said. "But it's just a meager increase from the same time last year."

Chen expected the peak for shippers to come on Tuesday, when goods dispatched from Guangdong province and Beijing will still be coming in.

Preparations aside, two factors have helped to ensure the packages have not been caught in a bottleneck, Chen said. One is that the Singles' Day promotions fell on a Sunday this year, meaning the parcels could be "on the move" on Monday.

"Last year, Nov 11 came on a Friday," he said. "So packages delivered to office buildings kept piling up in our warehouses during the weekend, and could only be sent over the next few working days."

And as more delivery companies try to cash in on the shopping boom, the competition in that industry has become much more intense, Chen said.

"The delivery market last year was largely dominated by three leading firms in Shanghai," he said. "Today, the landscape is more fragmented, as more and more small and medium-sized firms swim with the tide."

Xu Yong, principal analyst of the China Express and Logistics Consulting website, said the industry in China is basically controlled by 10 companies.

Xu said the peak in deliveries will start on Monday night and last through Tuesday.

"The maximum number of packages that can be received by the industry each day is between 25 million and 30 million," he said. "So it should take delivery firms about a week to handle all of the packages sent as a result of the Nov 11 promotion."

Dong Dongdong, a lawyer in Shanghai, snapped up six iPhone cases for his wife on Sunday. To his surprise, the orders arrived by lunchtime the following day.

"It was so much faster than I had expected," he said. "I am going to give the seller a five-star rating, both for the quality of the goods as well as the shipping."

Contact the writers at chenlimin@chinadaily.com.cn and hewei@chinadaily.com.cn