e-commerce giant | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

09/05/2020

Xinhua Headlines: World’s factory turns to domestic market amid global coronavirus recession

— As the continued global spread of COVID-19 is weighing on the world economy, China’s foreign trade is under considerable downward pressure.

— Many export-oriented companies in China are turning to the domestic market for a lifeline while grappling with dropping overseas orders as major markets remain in the grip of the pandemic.

by Xinhua writers Zhang Yizhi, Li Huiying, Hu Guanghe, Xu Ruiqing

FUZHOU, May 9 (Xinhua) — Walking back and forth between shelves of neatly stacked shoes, some 20 live streamers dashed at the instructions of their followers on the phone, grabbing a shoe now and then from the shelves for a close-up in front of the camera.

At around eight o’clock every night, the supply chain platform 0594 in the city of Putian, east China’s Fujian Province, springs to life as live streamers flock to the exhibition area to sell shoes produced by the local manufacturers, many of which are troubled by the cancellations or delays of overseas orders amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

“To get rid of the excess inventory, many manufacturers in Putian are turning to live streaming to explore the domestic market,” said Chen Xing, general manager of 0594. “We are now cooperating with over 40 manufacturers and there will be more of them joining us in the future.”

The platform is also building an internet celebrity incubator and has so far organized seven rounds of influencer training courses enrolling more than 200 attendees.

Huang Huafang, 39, signed up for the two-day crash course in late March and soon after started her first live streaming session. She works from around 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., attracting over 500 followers and selling more than 20 pairs of shoes every day.

Though she is not a well-known live streamer, she is optimistic about the future. “There is a long way to go, but I believe live streaming is a trend. It is an essential skill for anyone who wants to market online,” said Huang.

A staff sells shoes through live streaming at an e-commerce warehouse in Putian, southeast China’s Fujian Province, May 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

According to Chen, the platform 0594 sold almost 130,000 pairs of shoes in April alone. As the domestic economic outlook continues to pick up, the sales target of May has been set at 200,000 pairs.

Like manufacturers in Putian, a city with a large number of export-oriented enterprises, many Chinese factories are turning to the domestic market for a lifeline, while grappling with dropping overseas orders as major markets remain in the grip of the pandemic.

ADAPT OR DIE

With decades of experience in manufacturing and developing products for overseas clients, some export-oriented companies in China are rolling out products catering to the domestic market.

After months of gloomy business, Wu Songlin, general manager of Putian-based Hsieh Shun Footwear Co., Ltd., heaved a sigh of relief as trucks loaded with therapeutic shoes tailored to the home market left his factory.

It was the first shipment for the domestic market since Wu and his partners started the company in 2010. In the past, his company only had two clients, one from Europe and the other from Japan. Business used to run smoothly and life was good.

But his factory was on the brink of a shutdown in March when the coronavirus pandemic started to ravage the global economy. No new orders came in and shipments of existing orders were requested to be delayed until June.

People work in a footwear workshop in Putian, southeast China’s Fujian Province, April 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

“Orders were canceled after completion of production, and our capital flow is stuck in our inventory. The pressure is mounting to keep the factory running,” Wu said. “By the end of June, workers would be left with no work to do as soon as we complete the existing orders.”

After losing almost all their orders from overseas clients, the desperate shoemaker turned to the domestic market. He called one of his old business partners and secured an order for massage footwear, which is selling like hot cakes in the domestic market as health tops the agenda in the time of the novel coronavirus.

The factory produced 10,000 pairs of massage shoes in April, and the number is expected to reach 30,000 in May, enough to keep the production lines running.

Thanks to the company’s quick adaptation, about 200 workers kept their jobs in the factory, while 20 percent were furloughed and the remaining workers were arranged to work in other companies as part of the city’s employee sharing program.

“If domestic orders keep coming in, our operation will hopefully get back to normal by September when the monthly output of massage shoes will reach 90,000,” Wu said. “By then the company will live and thrive without any orders from overseas customers.”

A woman works in a workshop of Hsieh Shun Footwear Co., Ltd. in Putian, southeast China’s Fujian Province, May 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

But switching to another market is not easy, explained Wu. In the past, export-oriented factories were only in charge of manufacturing, while brands would take care of sales, promotion as well as customer support.

“If you are selling to the domestic market, you need to have your own brand and marketing capacity,” he said. “Working with e-commerce platforms could be one way out, but it’s more important to understand domestic consumers and meet their needs.”

CUSTOMIZE THE FUTURE

For years, many export-focused manufactures have been trying to climb up the value chain and tap the uncharted waters of the domestic market. As the pandemic continues to spread, there is a strong push for them to embrace customized manufacturing.

In an experience store located in downtown Putian, customers line up waiting to have their feet measured on a smart device. After a few seconds, they get their readings on the phone, and a few swipes and clicks later, they place their orders with unique features, colors, and shapes.

Adjacent to the experience store, there is a flexible manufacturing workshop, which gives quick responses to orders and produces shoes following the customized demands of individual buyers.

SEMS, a longstanding sports footwear manufacturer that has established a partnership with several international brands, started to adopt flexible manufacturing years ago in an effort to adapt to the evolving domestic market.

A customer has her feet measured on a smart device in sports footwear manufacturer SEMS in Putian, southeast China’s Fujian Province, May 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

Customization gives consumers the benefit of products that fit their needs, and at the same time allows factories to utilize improved workflows and technology to maintain high output and omit the process of inventory and distribution, said Zhu Yizhen, the executive vice president of the company.

“Currently we only sell over 100 pairs of customized shoes a day, but we are at the dawn of a new era,” Zhu said. “We hope more companies awaken to the developing trend and join in the practice of mass customization.”

Customer to manufacturer, or C2M, which allows consumers to place orders directly to factories for customized products, has become a buzzword among export-oriented manufacturers hoping to reach domestic consumers amid the pandemic.

Li Junjie, who runs a ceramic flowerpot plant in Fujian’s Dehua County, one of the manufacturing centers of ceramics in China, did not sell a single pot to his overseas customers since the coronavirus outbreak in late January.

The factory used to export 30 percent of its flowerpots to the United States and Spain, but Li managed to make up for the lost deals by selling on domestic e-commerce platforms. Instead of bulk orders placed by foreign clients, domestic consumers tend to purchase customized products in small amounts.

Photo shows the automatic production line of a customized workshop in sports footwear manufacturer SEMS in Putian, southeast China’s Fujian Province, May 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

With the big data provided by e-commerce platforms, Li can tell which items will be a hit so as to increase their production and develop new products based on a thorough analysis of different consumer groups.

“Our online sales almost doubled over the past year, and we have sold over 100,000 customized pots this year, thanks to the C2M business model,” Li said.

Li’s company is one of many Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have benefited from the e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Spring Thunder Initiative, which is aimed at helping export-focused SMEs expand into new markets.

The initiative will also help some SMEs to transform and develop their business in the Chinese market through measures such as resource support, fee reductions, and fast-track processing.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in adapt, adaptation, Adjacent, Alibaba's, amid, April, benefit, benefited, brands, Business, business partners, Buzzword, C2M, canceled, capital flow, centers, ceramic, ceramics, China's, Company, completion, consumers, coronavirus, coronavirus outbreak, Coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, Customer to manufacturer, Customization, dawn of a new era, Dehua County, delayed, desperate, develop, distribution, domestic market, doubled, downward pressure, dropping, e-commerce giant, employee sharing program, Europe, evolving, executive vice president, expand, experience store, export-focused, export-oriented, export-oriented companies, Factory, fast-track processing, fee reductions, flexible, flowerpot, flowerpots, foreign trade, Fujian Province, Fujian's, furloughed, global, global economy, Hsieh Shun Footwear Co., Ltd., initiative, international, inventory, January, Japan, June, lifeline, manufacturers, markets, massage, May, monthly output, novel coronavirus, online sales, overseas clients, overseas orders, pairs of shoes, pandemic, partnership, Plant, production, Recession, requested, resource support, SEMS, September, shipment, shoemaker, shutdown, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), smart device, Spain, sports, Spring Thunder Initiative, Technology, therapeutic, transform, turns to, Uncategorized, United States, utilize, workers, workflows, workshop, world economy., World's factory | Leave a Comment »

18/04/2020

Class of 2020: a lost generation in the post-coronavirus economy?

Young people starting out in the jobs market face a hit to their prospects that could endure years after the Covid-19-induced downturn has run its course
A generation of angry youth raises the spectre of political instability

Freelance filmmaker Anita Reza Zein had grown used to jam-packed production schedules requiring her to put in long hours and run on little sleep. Until Covid-19 struck.

Today, the talented Indonesian is suddenly free. With five projects on hold and many more potentially cancelled, she now spends her time working on a personal project, doing research for her work and occasionally going for a ride on a bicycle.

“I feel calm and patient although I’m jobless. Maybe because it’s still the third week [of social distancing] and I still have enough savings from my previous work,” said the 26-year-old, who is from Yogyakarta. “But I imagine life will become tougher in the next few months if the situation gets worse.”

Like her, millions of youths are now part of a job market in Southeast Asia that has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. They are the unlucky cohort of 2020 whose fortunes have changed so drastically, so quickly.

Freelance filmmaker Anita Reza Zein now spends most of her time at home as her projects have all been frozen due to the spread of Covid-19. Photo: Anita Reza Zein

Just three months ago, many eager graduates were about to partake in a strong economy and possibly land decent pay cheques.

Today, job offers are being withdrawn and hiring halted, leading to a spike in regional youth unemployment in the short term. In the long term, the effects on the Covid-19 cohort could lead to wider social and political problems.

JOB MARKETS SHUT

The virus’ impact on economies and the job market in the region has been swift and devastating. Borders have been slammed shut, workers ordered to stay at home, and thousands of companies closed every week.

The biggest problem is the lack of certainty about how long this will last – the longer the governments keep their countries on lockdown, the worse the economic impact.

In Indonesia, for example, the virus has caused almost 2.8 million people to lose their jobs, according to the Manpower Ministry and the Workers Social Security Agency. Likewise, in Malaysia, an estimated 2.4 million people are expected to lose their jobs, going by data from the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER).

Thailand

is bracing itself for a 5.3 per cent contraction in GDP for the full year, the worst since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

“We think about seven million jobs have been lost already, and the figure will hit 10 million if the outbreak drags on for two to three more months,” said Kalin Sarasin, council member and head of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Lockdown for 34 million people in capital Jakarta as Indonesia fights surge in coronavirus deaths

For young jobseekers, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic could hurt even more, with companies unwilling to open up new jobs for them.

“My clients who were open to fresh graduates previously have realigned searches [for candidates] who have at least one year of experience, as it’s a lot faster for someone with experience to scale up quickly and contribute,” said Joanne Pek, a recruiter at Cornerstone Global Partners’ Singapore office.

For many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as Singapore-based restaurant chain The Soup Spoon, saving jobs – rather than recruiting – is the priority.

“We don’t want to let anyone go during this period, so we’re focused on protecting jobs,” said co-founder and director Benedict Leow, who employs some 250 workers.

THE COVID-19 COHORT

The looming economic downturn could have distinct consequences for the Class of 2020 that will outlast the economic downturn itself.

For one thing, the paucity of jobs could result in the Covid-19 cohort becoming a “lost generation” of sorts, said Achim Schmillen, a senior economist at the World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice.

“Research from around the globe shows that graduating in a recession can have significant and long-lasting impacts that can affect the entire career. In particular, it can lead to large initial earnings losses which only slowly recede over time,” he said.

Coronavirus: why there’s no quick fix for a Covid-19 vaccine

12 Apr 2020

Economics professor Jeff Borland of the University of Melbourne said that international studies showed that what happened to people when they first entered the labour market would affect them for the rest of their working lives.

“Many international studies have shown that trying to move into employment during a major economic downturn cuts the probability of employment and future earnings for a decade or more.

“Why this occurs is less well-established. Reasons suggested include being forced to take lower-quality jobs, losing skills and losing psychological well-being,” he said in a piece published on The Conversation website.

Malaysia sets up Covid-19 test zones in the capital to hunt for ‘hidden’ coronavirus cases

This could create “lasting scarring” on the graduates this year, said labour economist Walter Theseira.

“If their careers start badly, it would affect their earnings for a number of years because they would lack the same experience as peers who started in a more secure position,” the associate professor of economics at Singapore University of Social Sciences said.

Shrinking salaries and the downsizing of companies mean that graduates might have to seek out professions outside their areas of study to survive, said Grace Lee Hooi Yean, head of the Economics Department at Monash University, Malaysia.

She said youth unemployment in the country, which stands at 11.67 per cent, could rise sharply.

“This looming crisis could trap a generation of educated and capable youth in a limbo of unmet expectations and lasting vulnerability if the graduates are not ready to face reality and adapt to the new challenges,” she said.

How long will a coronavirus vaccine take? A Q&A with Jerome Kim

12 Apr 2020

This is fast becoming the reality for final-year medical student Rebecca K. Somasundaram, who has been left without a job due to the pandemic.

After being offered a residency programme at a top specialist hospital in Kuala Lumpur, she was notified a month ago that her placement had been made void until further notice. This has thrown the 24-year-old’s plans into disarray as she was hoping to enter the workforce soon to pay off her student debts. Her plans to get married next year have also been put on hold temporarily.

“I am in constant talks with the hospital to see if there is any way I can join them soon but seeing how things are unfolding so quickly, I am slowly losing hope,” she said.

Over in Indonesia, the pandemic will trigger job losses on a national scale. To combat this, the government would need to introduce strong fiscal measures and beef up its social protection policies, said the country’s former minister of finance Muhamad Chatib Basri.

Many people on lower incomes tend to work in the extraction industry, such as mining and palm oil, and these are the first industries hit due to the global slowdown.

“The rich will be able to brave the storm, but the poor have no means to do so,” he said.

Singapore migrant workers under quarantine as coronavirus hits dormitories

SPECTRE OF 1997

With partial lockdowns imposed in the capital of Jakarta, more needs to be done to ensure that vulnerable citizens have access to food and financial support.

Without government intervention, economic woes could soon translate into political instability, a scenario last seen in the Asian financial crisis.

In 1997, waves of discontent sparked racial riots in Indonesia that toppled the country’s long-time strongman Suharto, while in Thailand a political crisis created the conditions for populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra to rise.

Rising discontent could have serious implications at the ballot boxes, warned Basri, who said young voters were a key voting bloc for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Coronavirus: food security, Asia’s next battle in a post-Covid world

6 Apr 2020

In last year’s general elections, Jokowi proved a hit among the lower-educated youth who had benefited from the creation of largely unskilled jobs during his tenure.

“With more young people expected to become unemployed in the coming months, things will only get worse from here,” said Basri, who added that the country’s youth unemployment stood at almost 20 per cent in 2018.

Indonesia, which has 268 million people and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, had 133 million workers as of last August, according to official data.

Close to 10 per cent or about 12.27 million are university graduates but among this group, about 5.67 per cent or some 730,000 were unemployed. This was higher than the country’s overall unemployment rate at that time, which was 5.28 per cent.

‘Ghosts’ deployed to scare Indonesians into staying home to slow spread of the coronavirus

GETTING IT RIGHT

Economists say, however, that all is not lost. Much will depend on policy and how governments focus on battling the virus on the public health and economic fronts. They point to Singapore, which has launched a robust response to the crisis.

On April 6, the Singapore government announced its third budget in two months to help companies and households tide over the crisis. In all, Singapore’s total stimulus package, which aims to save jobs and keep funds flowing to companies, will cost the government a massive S$59.9 billion (US$42 billion).

The Singapore government was also preparing for a labour market that would be reluctant to hire fresh graduates on a full-time basis, said Theseira.

“There are plans to implement large-scale subsidised traineeships, which may be more palatable to companies which are worried about taking on permanent headcount this year,” he noted. “As the economic situation improves, they can be converted to permanent positions.”

The next coronavirus: how a biotech boom is boosting Asian defences

4 Mar 2020

While jobs were being created for fresh graduates, many would still have to temper their expectations, such as taking jobs with lower starting pay, said DBS Bank economist Irvin Seah.

“There are still some jobs to go around. There are still some companies that may need workers. But they will need to be realistic,” he said.

For instance, despite the downturn, Singapore telco Singtel expects to recruit over 300 fresh graduates for various permanent positions this year, according to Aileen Tan, the company’s Group Chief Human Resources Officer. Many of the new hires will be in new growth areas such as the Internet of Things, analytics and cloud.

The Singtel Comcentre building in Singapore. Photo: Roy Issa

Other companies that continue to hire include those in tech across the region, including e-commerce giant Shopee, food-delivery service Foodpanda and Amazon.

In Australia, Borland suggested helping young people to remain plugged into the labour market through government-funded paid internships, or even offering them loans to go for further studies and prevent a spell of unemployment.

For now, while some young jobseekers are taking a wait-and-see approach, the reality is hitting hard for others.

Final-year National University of Singapore student H.P. Tan had all but secured a job at a public relations firm last month, after three rounds of interviews.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences undergraduate was rejected via an email from the agency, which said that they could no longer hire after Covid-19 started to drastically cut business.

“When I got that rejection, it was a turning point. I didn’t think I would be directly impacted,” said the 23-year-old.

“I also applied to a few other agencies but the response has been slow, so I am now freaking out at the possibility of not being able to find a job after graduation.”

Source: SCMP

Posted in 1997, 2020, a hit, affect, after, ago, although, Amazon, analytics, angry youth, approach, around the globe, Asian financial crisis, Australia, Bicycle, biggest problem, borders, bracing, cancelled, capital, changed, class, closed, cohort, Comcentre building, companies, contraction, Cornerstone Global Partners’, coronavirus, Coronavirus pandemic, could endure, countries, COVID-19, Covid-19-induced, decent, devastating, dormitories, downturn, drastically, e-commerce giant, eager, earnings losses, Economic, economic downturn, economics professor, economies, Economists, economy, effects, enough, entire career, estimated, every, example, extraction industry, Face, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, feel calm, few, filmmaker, five, food and financial support, food-delivery service, Foodpanda, fortunes, free, Freelance, full year, further studies, GDP, generation, gets worse, government's, graduates, graduating, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, grown, growth areas, halted, her, her time, hiring, Home, imagine, impact, impacts, imposed, Indonesia, initial, international studies, internships, Jakarta, jam-packed, job market, JOB MARKETS, job offers, jobless, jobs market, jobseekers, keep, lack of certainty, land, large, lead, leading, life, Likewise, little sleep, loans, lockdown, lockdowns, long hours, long term, long-lasting, longer, lost generation, Malaysia, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), Manpower Ministry, many, many more, Maybe, migrant workers, millions, mining, months, National University of Singapore, next, occasionally, office, on hold, ordered, over time, Palm oil, partake, partial, particular, Patient, pay cheques, personal project, political instability, poor, possibly, post-coronavirus, potentially, President Joko “Jokowi” Widod, prevent, previous, priority, production, projects, put in, quarantine, quickly, raises, ravaged, recede, Recession, recruiting, region, regional, requiring, research, rich, ride, run, run its course, saving jobs, savings, schedules, Shopee, short term, showed, shut, significant, since, Singapore, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore-based, Singtel, situation, slammed shut, slowly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social and political problems, Social distancing, Southeast Asia, spectre, spell, spends, spike, starting out, stay, storm, strong, struck, suddenly, Suharto, swift, talented, telco, Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, The Conversation, The Soup Spoon, their prospects, third, Thousands, Three, Today, tougher, Uncategorized, under, unemployment, University of Melbourne, unlucky, Until, used to, virus’, wait-and-see, website, week, wider, will last, withdrawn, workers, Workers Social Security Agency, working, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, worse, worst, years, Yogyakarta, young people, youth unemployment, youths | Leave a Comment »

07/04/2020

Coronavirus: How China’s army of food delivery drivers helped keep country going during outbreak

Buying and paying for meals and supplies online was already second nature for many Chinese before the Covid-19 lockdown
The supply and delivery networks that were already in place were able to work with the authorities in cities like Wuhan

China’s established home delivery system played an important role in getting food and other necessities to residents during the Wuhan lockdown. Photo: EPA-EFE

When Liu Yilin, a retired middle schoolteacher in Wuhan, first heard rumours of a

highly contagious disease

spreading in the central Chinese city he started to stock up on supplies such as rice, oil, noodles and dried pork and fish.

These preparations spared the 66-year-old from some of the early panic when

the city went into lockdown in late January

and shoppers flooded to the markets and malls to snap up supplies.

But as time went on and with residents banned from leaving their homes, he became increasingly concerned about getting hold of fresh supplies of vegetables, fruit and meat until the nation’s vast network of delivery drivers came to the rescue.

“It was such a relief that several necessity purchasing groups organised by community workers and volunteers suddenly emerged on WeChat [a leading social media app] days after the lockdown,” Liu said. “China’s powerful home delivery service makes life much easier at a time of crisis.”

Hu Xingdou, a Beijing-based independent political economist said: “Home delivery played a very important role amid the coronavirus outbreak. To some extent, it prevented people from starving especially in cases when local governments took extreme measures to isolate people.”

According to Liu, people in Wuhan during the lockdown had to stay within their residential communities, with community workers guarding the exits.

Human contact was limited to the internet. Residents placed orders online with farmers, small merchants or supermarkets to buy daily necessities, and community workers helped distribute the goods from deliverymen.

Every morning, Liu passed a piece of paper with his name, phone number and order number to a community worker who would collect the items from a courier at the gate of the residential area.

Thanks to a high population density in urban areas, affluent labour force and people’s openness to digital life, China has built a well-developed home delivery network.

Extensive funding from technology companies has been invested in hardware infrastructure, software to improve logistics and big data and cloud computing to help predict consumers’ behaviour.

Mark Greeven, professor of innovation and strategy at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, said: “Whether it is delivery of products, air parcels or fresh food or even medicine or materials for medical use, China has a very well developed system. Much better developed than I think almost any other places in the world.

“Well before the crisis, China had started to embrace digital technology in daily life whether it is in consumption, business, government and smart cities and use of third party payments. All of these things have been in place for a long time and the crisis tested its agility and capability to deal with peak demand.”

China’s e-commerce giants help revive sales of farm goods from Hubei

3 Apr 2020

According to e-commerce giant JD.com, demands for e-commerce and delivery services spiked during the outbreak of Covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.

It sold around 220 million items between January 20 and February 28, mainly grains and dairy products with the value of beef orders trebling and chicken deliveries quadrupling compared with a year ago.

Tang Yishen, head of JD Fresh, its fresh foods subsidiary, said: “The surge of online demand for fresh merchandise shows the pandemic helped e-commerce providers further penetrate into the life of customers. It also helped upstream farm producers to know and trust us.”

Meituan Dianping, a leading e-commerce platform, said its grocery retail service Meituan Instashopping reported a 400 per cent growth in sales from a year ago in February from local supermarkets.

The most popular items ordered between January 26 and February 8 were face masks, disinfectant, tangerines, packed fresh-cut fruits and potatoes.

The food delivery service Ele.me said that, between January 21 and February 8, deliveries of frozen food surged more than 600 per cent year on year, followed by a nearly 500 per cent growth in delivery of pet-care products. Fresh food deliveries rose by 181 per cent while drink and snack deliveries climbed by 101 per cent and 82 per cent, respectively. Ele.me is owned by Alibaba, the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

Chinese hotpot restaurant chain adapts as coronavirus fears push communal meals off the menu

E-commerce providers used the opportunity to show goodwill and improve their relationship with customers and partners, analysts say.

Sofya Bakhta, marketing strategy analyst at the Shanghai-based Daxue Consulting, said the food delivery sector had made significant headway in reducing physical contact during the outbreak.

Delivery staff left orders in front of buildings, in lifts or temporary shelters as instructed by the clients as most properties no longer allowed them inside.

Some companies also adopted more hi-tech strategies.

In Beijing, Meituan used self-driving vehicles to deliver meals to contactless pickup stations. It also offered cardboard boxes to be used as shields aimed at preventing the spread of droplets among its clients while they ate in their workplaces. In Shanghai, Ele.me employed delivery drones to serve people under quarantine in the most affected regions.

Some companies even “shared” employees to meet the growing labour demand in the food delivery industry that could not be satisfied with their ordinary workforce, Bakhta said.

More employees from restaurants, general retail and other service businesses were “loaned” to food delivery companies, which faced manpower shortages during the outbreak, according to Sandy Shen, senior research director at global consultancy Gartner.

“These arrangements not only ensured the continuity of the delivery service but also helped businesses to retain employees during the shutdown,” she said.

A delivery man takes a break between orders in Wuhan, central China, during the lockdown. Photo: AFP

Mo Xinsheng became one such “on-loan” worker after customers stopped coming to the Beijing restaurant where he worked as a kitchen assistant.

“I wanted to earn some money and meanwhile help people who are trapped at home,” said Mo, who was hired as a delivery man.

But before he could start work he had to go through lengthy health checks before he was allowed into residential compounds.

He also had to work long hours battling the wind and cold of a Beijing winter and carrying heavy loads.

“I work about 10 hours every day just to earn several thousand yuan [several hundred US dollars] a month,” he said.

“Sometimes I almost couldn’t breathe while my hands were fully loaded with packages of rice, oil and other things.

“But I know I’m doing an important job, especially at a time of crisis,” Mo said, “It was not until then that I realised people have become so reliant on the home delivery system.”

Woman uses remote control car to buy steamed buns amid coronavirus outbreak in China

The delivery system has been improved by an effective combination of private sector innovation and public sector coordination, said Li Chen, assistant professor at the Centre for China Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“[In China,] government units and the Communist Party grass roots organisations have maintained fairly strong mobilisation capabilities to cope with emergencies, which has worked well in the crisis,” he said.

However, Liu, the Wuhan resident, said prices had gone up and vegetables were three times more expensive than they had been over Lunar New Year in 2019.

“There were few varieties that we could choose from, apart from potatoes, cabbage and carrots,” he said.

“But I’m not complaining. It’s good we can still get fresh vegetables at a difficult time. Isn’t it? After all, we are just ordinary people,” he said.

Source: SCMP

Posted in air parcels, Alibaba, army, banned, beef orders, Buying and paying, cabbage, came to the rescue, cardboard boxes, carrots, Centre for China Studies, chicken deliveries, China’s, Chinese University of Hong Kong, community workers, complaining, contactless pickup stations, coronavirus, coronavirus outbreak, Country, COVID-19, Covid-19 lockdown, dairy products, Daxue Consulting, deliver meals, delivery drivers, delivery drones, disinfectant, dried pork, drivers, droplets, E-commerce, e-commerce giant, e-commerce giants, face masks, farmers, Fish, flooded, food delivery, fresh food, fresh merchandise, fresh supplies, fresh-cut fruits, frozen food, fruit, Gartner, global consultancy, grains, hardware infrastructure, home delivery system, hotpot, Human contact, IMD Business School, Internet, isolate, JD Fresh, JD.com, keep, Lausanne, local governments, lockdown, lunar new year, malls, markets, materials, meals and supplies, Meat, medical use, medicine, name, new coronavirus, noodles, Oil, order number, ordinary, outbreak, packed, pandemic, pet-care products, phone number, potatoes, products, purchasing groups, quadrupling, quarantine, resident, residential communities, residents, restaurant chain, Rice, Shanghai, shields, shoppers, small merchants, social media app, software, south china morning post, starving, steamed buns, supermarkets, supplies, supply and delivery networks, Switzerland, tangerines, trebling, Uncategorized, vast network, vegetables, volunteers, WeChat, winter, Wuhan | Leave a Comment »

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Archive for ‘e-commerce giant’

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats