Cainiao Network has made a partnership move with small businesses and startups in South Korea which will see the company become the official provider of logistics services for enterprises that want to export.
The logistics unit, signing an MoU with Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), is looking beyond Alibaba with its services and opening up to merchants, retailers and the like to make it easier for them to markets outside the country.
Cainiao will be KOSME’s official logistics partner for the subsidy programme which will provide up to 15 million won (or around US$13,500) per company to cover approximately 70 percent of their export expenses, includinge-commerce logistics. The objective is to help SMEs tide over this uncertain economic situation by accessing the Chinese market.
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“Last year, the program has facilitated the logistics for over 3.7 million online exports, and reduced SMEs’ export logistics cost by an average of 48 percent or up to 82 per cent when benchmarked against Express Mail Service (EMS)’ market rate (across 10 major countries),” the company noted in a statement.
As part of the agreement, Cainiao said SMEs will be able to leverage its one-stop logistics management system. The system provides real-time insights and support across warehouse inventory, order fulfilment, delivery status, billing, and any forms of anomalies for immediate rectification.
“As a trusted partner to KOSME and Korean SMEs, our goal is to make cross-border logistics as seamless as possible, by taking care of the digitalized full-chain including order fulfilment, local and overseas B2B and B2C warehousing, international shipping, customs clearance as well as first and last mile. This will offer SMEs a greater peace of mind to better focus on their sales and growth strategies,” said James Zhao, general manager for global supply chain at Cainiao.
Last year the company made its launch in South Korea with over 15,000 square meters of warehouse space, sea and air freight services operating six container vessels and six cargo planes weekly, and various logistics partners for first and last mile delivery and customs clearance. Cainiao says this reduced total shipping time from 10 to 13 days to just 5 to 7 days.
To be updated with comments from Cainiao
