- Introduction about Alibaba group

Alibaba is the world's largest retailer and e-commerce company, one of the largest Internet
and AI companies, and one of the biggest investment corporations in the world.
Founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, Alibaba spent its early days as a listing website for thousands
of Chinese businesses. However, recognizing that serving the end-consumer was crucial in
this digital age, the company soon expand to consumer-to-consumer marketplace (C2C)
(Taobao), business-to-consumer (B2C) (Tmall, AliExpress.com), and business-to-business
(B2B) (Alibaba.com).
- Process for shipment of goods sold on Alibaba
The diagram below outlines a typical process for shipment of goods sold on Alibaba's
ecommerce platforms, which averages three days

Once a sale is made, the seller chooses the delivery company responsible for fulfilling the
order. The delivery company picks the package up from the warehouse then uses its own
(or outsourced) network of distribution centers on route to the buyer's home.
- Third-party logistic (3PL): Cainiao
In order to manage millions of orders on a daily basis from this largest e-commerce company,
In 2013, Alibaba and six large Chinese logistics companies established a company called
Cainiao for delivery of packages in China. This network gradually grew to 14 local logistics
companies in 2014. Instead of setting up its own transportation service, Cainiao gathering
logistical resources and optimizing the delivery network by using the third-party company as
“transportation tools” to deliver goods nationwide.
This graphic is the overview of Cainiao network. It’s not only the transportation service but
along with the main factor of the shipment process like sellers, delivery firm, delivery station
and buyers, Cainiao also offers an innovative solution for inventory management and
information management.
- For small seller on Taobao, after receiving the order from customers:
1)Smart routing will give the seller recommendation for the best delivery option
2)E-shipping labels for easy package identification and tracking
- For medium and large business on Tmall,
3)“Cainiao smart inventory allocation” will base on past sales data to help seller stock up the
products in the nearest warehouse
4)After that, “smart warehouse” will enhance efficiency in packaging and dispatching.
5)“Smart sorting” provides the best route option for delivery firm to pick up the order and
6)“Cainiao pick up station” provide the last-mile delivery solution
7)“Cainiao guoguo App” provides on-stop order placing, package tracking and other logistic
services.
8) Last but not least, Caniao will collect data throughout the logistics chain and share it with
partners on its cloud platform.

To give you a better view of how Cainiao or Alibaba apply new technology in logistic, and in
warehouse management specifically. Let’s watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=FBl4Y55V2Z4
CONCLUSION
According to the characteristics of e-commerce distribution development, logistics providers
under e-commerce should not only develop under the traditional distribution industry; but
also own capacity of processing digital information, automatically warehouse management,
establishing cargo distribution networks and make distribution processes transparent. An
integrated logistics system is required in the future development.