Alibaba’s logistic Cainiao unlocks the LatAm office in Brazil

November 15, 2022: -On Monday, Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao started the beginning of its Latin American headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The expansion is coming as China’s retail growth slows. For the first time, Alibaba still needs to release total sales for its flagship Singles’ Day shopping festival that ended Friday. The international e-commerce firm AliExpress turned to South Korea and Brazil in addition to a years-long endeavour to push into Europe.

Cainiao ships AliExpress orders from China to Brazil, the company stated, claiming it is operating eight charter flights a week between the countries.

The company said that low-cost drones and Bluetooth headphones are among the favourite products of local customers.

The logistics business, which operates in China, accounted for 6% of Alibaba’s revenue in the quarter that ended on June 30.

Cainiao works with local merchants in Brazil. The company officially opened a package sorting centre in the country on Monday, following the October launch of sorting centres in Mexico City and Santiago, Chile.

The firm claims its local express delivery network covers over 1,000 cities in Brazil, delivering just a day to customers in Sao Paulo and some other cities.

Over the coming three years, Cainiao said it is planning to set up 1,000 more lockers in 10 cities in Brazil for container and food delivery. The company stated it aims to launch nine more distribution centres in seven states in Brazil.

Cainiao said its expansion would also help Brazilian businesses sell goods like coffee, nuts and propolis, a health product, to Chinese consumers through Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform.

Alibaba took majority control of Cainiao in 2017. According to financial disclosure, the logistics arm still is completing shipments and doing business with other firm’s most of Cainiao’s revenue comes from those third parties.

In the quarter that ended June 30, the logistics business’ revenue increased 5% year-on-year to 12.14 billion yuan.

In contrast, Alibaba stated that the revenue from its international commerce retail works that quarter decreased by 3% yearly to $1.57 billion, remaining primarily to challenges in the European market. China commerce, the company’s most prominent business, saw revenue fall by 2% to $20.45 billion.