Contrast that with Cainiao, in which Alibaba has a controlling stake.It does not own many of the logistics assets in its network.Instead it allows around 3,000 logistics companies employing some 3m couriers to plug into its platform.Its aim is to integrate and streamline the vast delivery resources that already exist across China, rather than build its own.The company has teamed up with most large logistics services―and taken investments from them as well.Alibaba, for its part, has bought minority stakes in several large operators as a means of exerting more influence over the industry.Cainiao is not publicly listed and does not disclose many operational details or, for that matter, how exactly it makes money.In terms of revenues, both JD Logistics and Cainiao trail SFSF Express.Similarly to JD Logistics, that firm operates its own network.It still leads the market in “time-definite” delivery, a service that requires couriers to pick up and drop off parcels on a rapid, predetermined timetable.Like FedEx in America but unlike JD and Cainiao, it did not emerge from the tech industry, so lacks its rivals’ technological chops.Which model emerges victorious will ultimately depend on which best controls costs, thinks Eric Lin of UBS, a bank.
