Online shopping drives express growth in China

Online shopping drives a huge surge in express deliveries in China.

According to reports in the Chinese media and the State Post Bureau, express deliveries in China were up 51.9% in the first quarter, to 2.6 billion. Express companies combined revenue for the quarter was up 45.6% to US$6.6 billion.

The driving force behind the explosive growth in demand is the rate at which Chinese are switching to the internet to do their shopping. While much of the B2C volume moves by road, carriers like SF Express and China Postal Airlines are expanding their fleets as rapidly as they can, and ground package delivery companies like STO Express and YTO Express are pushing for authority to launch their own airlines.