China E-Commerce Delivery Methods Are in Stark Contrast to the US
China’s e-commerce is ahead of the US not only in sales and revenue numbers but also in services offered. As Reuters recently pointed out, same day delivery for items as large as refrigerators is commonplace in China whereas US companies are far less likely to offer such options due to cost constraints.
The main reason behind this is the delivery man. In a country in its development stages, China can put together a labor force where the demand for jobs such as delivery men is still high. In contrast the US population is far less inclined to take on those types of menial jobs.
As the industry quickly develops in China and competition between e-commerce companies remains fierce, giants such as JD.com and Alibaba will likely continue to assess the viability of delivery methods and be forced to evolve with the times. These developments are expected to also lead to new companies and industries focused on areas such as logistics and transportation.
Ogilvy Sees Big E-Commerce Demand
In a sign of how advanced mobile e-commerce is in China, consulting firm Ogilvy China recently presented this case study: On social app WeChat (owned by Tencent) a few months back, 388 Smart cars sold in three minutes in a flash sale. People also made 1,751 down payments for Smart cars and sent in 6,677 sales queries.
Ogilvy Public Relations Beijing worked on the Smart campaign, through advertising and social content. Separately, it also helped out as Chinese internet giant Tencent raised enough donations in one week to build 120 sports fields for kids in rural China, through storytelling that spurred people to share the campaign, and through a hassle-free donation button on WeChat.
Ogilvy has found that there may be an even wider range of opportunities in China than in other parts of the globe. The firm cited that China is the world’s largest smartphone market, possibly already the biggest e-commerce market and the world’s second largest economy.
Beijing’s Air Pollution Begins to Improve
Beijing cut total coal consumption by 7 percent in the first half of 2014 as part of its efforts to tackle smog, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing data from its environmental protection bureau.
Beijing is at the front line of a “war on pollution” declared by the central government earlier this year in a bid to head off public unrest about the growing environmental costs of economic development.
The city has already started to close or relocate hundreds of factories and industrial plants. It will also raise vehicle fuel standards and is mulling the introduction of a London-style congestion traffic restriction.
To reduce coal consumption, it is in the process of shutting down all of its aging coal-fired power plants and replacing them with cleaner natural gas-fired capacity or with power delivered via the grid.
Based on last year’s coal consumption level of 19 million tonnes, the 7 percent cut would amount to around 1.33 million tonnes per year. Beijing has said previously that it plans to reduce total coal use by 2.6 million tonnes in 2014. By 2017, it aims to slash consumption to less than 10 million tonnes a year.