E-commerce is driving demand for domestic, regional and cross-border shipments globally, with air freight providers from all parts of the industry affected - and most benefitting, though that may change. 

In China alone, Alibaba claims more than a million retailers participated in the country’s Singles' Day on the November 11 on-line shopping day, when sales reached US$25.3 billion, more than US$7.5 billion more than in 2016.

 

Elsewhere, China’s largest retailer JD.com said between November 1 and November 11, it had sold products worth US$19 billion, up more than 50 per cent year over year including more than 20,000 tons of fresh products including 500,000 tiger shrimp from Thailand and two million crabs. There also was huge demand for Australian sirloin, Chilean frozen salmon and Vietnamese seafood.

 

Worryingly for the airfreight industry, however: “Our logistics team does not anticipate this number will rise meaningfully, because we are investing in technologies to better predict demand and allocate inventory, which will reduce the need for air cargo for e-commerce except for specialised categories like fresh food,” said JD.com.

 

Despite this, total cross-border e-commerce sales in China are expected to reach US$100.17 billion by the end of 2017, with the average spend per cross-border digital buyer at US$882, according to eMarketer research.