• Chinese consumers can expect to receive in four days Japanese products bought from JD's overseas online marketplace following cooperation between JD and Yamato, a Japanese logistics company.

Chinese consumers can expect to receive in four days Japanese products bought from JD's overseas online marketplace following cooperation between JD and Yamato, a Japanese logistics company. (Photo : Reuters)

The cross-border delivery of goods bought on JD’s overseas online marketplace is expected to speed up as Chinese online retailer JD.com has announced its collaboration with Japanese logistics firm Yamato, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Like Us on Facebook

JD said that through its cooperation with Yamato, goods shipped from Japan will be cleared by customs faster. Japanese products bought by Chinese consumers on JD's overseas online marketplace will also be delivered four days after the payment is made.

Amid competition from rivals such as Alibaba, the company launched JD Worldwide about a year ago to meet Chinese consumer demands for quality products, from luxury clothes and accessories to baby formula milk powder and snacks, which are sold in other countries.

Chinese consumers buy products from cross-border markets through foreign retailers which signed up with JD and Alibaba, and the products are either shipped from foreign countries or delivered from warehouses in China. One of these include Japanese retailer Rakuten, which set up an outlet on JD Worldwide. On the other hand, Costco and Amazon have signed up with Alibaba's Tmall global marketplace.

According to the report, JD managed to become competitive in the logistics sector by delivering customers' order faster, despite the great volume of Alibaba's merchandise. Through its cooperation with Yamato, JD is seeking to extend its services to cross-border deliveries.

To reduce delivery time, JD will enlist the support of China Post and Yamato subsidiary, Yamato Global Logistics, as well as the benefits of the State Council's new "E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones."

A report by aircargoworld.com said that the pilot zones, which are exclusively set up for cross-border e-commerce businesses, have been launched in 12 cities in China in January, "featuring a slew of preferential tax policies and streamlined customs clearance procedures."

Yamato said it will consolidate and ship the products to a bonded warehouse in Shanghai, to be cleared by customs within 24 hours as part of the "all-year-round, 24-hours customs clearance scheme."

The report said that China Post will make the last-mile delivery, once goods are cleared. From the time the product is ordered on JD.com, the overall process will be reduced to four days, or about half the current average.