On the afternoon of the 13th, Wang Mingyu, a resident of Longjiang Community in Nanjing, had already received all her "Double 11" packages. This year's shopping frenzy brought a new kind of challenge—not struggling to grab the desired item, but waking up to find a courier already at the door. “This year’s delivery is way too fast,†she said with a mix of surprise and relief.
At midnight on November 11, the first order was signed in Shanghai just 12 minutes after the event began. Within 33 minutes, the first cross-border package reached a customer in Ningbo. By 69 minutes, the first rural order was completed in Guizhou’s Qiannan Miao and Buyi Autonomous Prefecture. The speed of this year’s “Double 11†logistics was nothing short of astonishing.
According to data from the rookie network, over 800 million logistics orders were generated on that day alone. In Jiangsu, more than 40 million packages were delivered on the same day. As of 4 p.m. on the 12th, 355 cities across China—including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan—had already received their deliveries. Industry experts credit this remarkable efficiency to the integration of smart technologies like big data, robotics, and automated sorting systems. This year marked the true beginning of the intelligent courier era.
In Nanjing, 700,000 parcels arrived daily, processed through an advanced automatic sorting system. Once unloaded, each package was scanned, and its destination information was recorded. The parcels then moved along conveyor belts, automatically directed to the correct delivery area. At Zhongtong’s facility in Nanjing, the head of operations, Lai Shengluo, noted that the company invested millions in automation. “Previously, one worker could sort about 500 packages per hour. Now, machines handle 20,000, reducing labor by two-thirds while increasing speed.â€
Warehouses have also become smarter. At Suning’s AGV robotic warehouse in Shanghai, picking is done by robots rather than humans. Instead of workers running between shelves, the robots bring the goods to them. A picker now walks only a few thousand steps a day and picks three times as many items as before. These innovations are reshaping the industry.
Professor Yao Guozhang from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications noted that while robots have been used in logistics before, this year marked the first full-scale test of robot warehouses during “Double 11.†He believes this will shape the future of the industry, making it more efficient and less reliant on manual labor.
Cloud warehouses also played a key role in accelerating deliveries. At the Yangtze River Delta cloud warehouse in Wuxi, staff prepared for “Double 11†a month in advance. Liu Xiaofeng, head of the cloud warehouse, explained that products were pre-packed and ready to ship as soon as orders came in. This allowed customers like Wang Mingyu to receive their packages the morning after “Double 11.â€
With cloud-based logistics, 80% of orders can now be delivered the next day. Wuxi’s cloud warehouses serve not only the local area but also the entire country. According to officials, the number of cloud warehouses in Wuxi has grown rapidly, with over 20 such facilities covering nearly a million square meters. During “Double 11,†shipments from these warehouses exceeded 10 million units, doubling the previous year’s volume.
Meanwhile, big data is being used to improve regulation. With over 4,000 express companies and 150,000 employees, the logistics market in Jiangsu faces challenges in oversight. To address this, the province launched the Jiangsu Express Security Supervision Platform, linking all major express companies and security devices to a centralized system. Couriers must now upload photos of opened packages and verify identities through the platform, ensuring transparency and safety.
The platform also includes QR codes at each delivery point, allowing customers to check if the outlet is registered and operating properly. Users can even provide feedback, which is then reviewed and acted upon by authorities. This ensures better service quality and accountability across the industry.
Overall, this year’s “Double 11†showcased the power of technology in transforming logistics. From smart warehouses to real-time tracking and AI-driven sorting, the industry is evolving rapidly. As more automation and big data solutions are adopted, the future of courier services looks faster, safer, and more efficient than ever before.
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