HONG KONG — We are hearing that China Postal Airlines is finding increasing favor with Alibaba.

Reportedly, more Alibaba shipments are coming through Hong Kong via China Postal, at the expense of SF Express. While we don’t have data to determine exactly why or to what extent China Postal is taking marketshare – this is China, after all – it appears that SF Express’s own e-commerce initiative is pushing Alibaba closer to China Postal.

That initiative is SFBest.com, a premium food website where Chinese consumers can order Australian beef, Ecuadorian prawns and Hormel bacon. SF launched SFBest.com in 2012, and is reportedly finding significant growth in the unit – at the expense of express business from Alibaba, it seems.