China logged a record 180 billion express deliveries in the first 11 months of the year, according to state media reports, as the country’s online shopping platforms continue to rake in orders despite an economic slowdown.
Xinhua said the bumper parcel deliveries – which reached as high as 777 million per day from January to November, according to the State Post Bureau – reflected the “vigorous vitality of China’s economy”, though analysts cautioned that vendors were often relying on generous discounts and return policies to attract buyers.
China has been the world’s largest parcel delivery market for over a decade. Last year, the country recorded a total of 174.5 billion express deliveries, a 21 per cent increase from 2023.
The high number of deliveries tracks with China’s large population and the popularity of e-commerce in the country, but the increase does not necessarily mean that Chinese consumers are spending more, according to analysts.
“E-commerce has gone up a lot,” said Andy Xie, an independent China economist. “E-commerce creates competitive platforms, more so than the shopping mall. You rely on word of mouth and RedNote, and then go to e-commerce and discover the lower price.”
Courier companies saw revenues grow 13 per cent year on year to 1.4 trillion yuan (US$198 billion) in 2024, according to the State Post Bureau. However, the firms often operate on slim margins, as “there’s a lot of competition”, Xie noted.