Beijing (PingWest)- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has expanded its logistic network with additional three logistic park in Eastern China to support growth in online consumption in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and speed up deliveries for upcoming 618 sale event.

JD has added three more automated logistics parks in Langfang, Hebei province, Dezhou, Shandong province and Zhengzhou, Henan province to increase its coverage of same or next day delivery for lower-tier cities ahead of China’s 618 shopping festival. The three new logistic parks bring JD’s total number of automated parks to 28.

JD will utilize smart scheduling and data forecasting to manage routes, product inventory and operations.

Cost per delivery for Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com reached an all-time low in the first quarter of 2020, due to the increased order volume caused by the pandemic and cost controls, according to CFO Sidney Huang said in a earning call in May.

E-commerce players in China have all been expanding their product offerings and services  to fulfil the surging need of online consumers, who typically go on a buying spree during the China’s annual midyear 618 shopping festival.

JD logistic’s rival -Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao said it plans to increase overall shipping speed with some products delivered in under an hour to support the expected surge in online shopping demand during the 618 festival.

Alibaba’s B2C e-commerce site Tmall said it predict a growing trend of revenge consumption for the upcoming shopping festival as Chinese consumer will go on a spending spree to make up for time lost in lockdown. In May, the platform said it reported record-level participation from well-known and luxury brands for its 5.20 sales campaign on May 20.

“More than 150 premium brands debuted 5,000 new products and those such as Cartier, Longines, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty and Tom Ford released special-edition gift boxes for the event. Consumers have placed over 400,000 orders of luxury goods for the 5.20 event, bring total luxury spending increased by 61% year-over-year,” Tmall said in a statement.

According to Tmall, more than 100,000 brands have signed up for this year’s Tmall 618, which is more than double than last year.

"Because of the pandemic, brands, merchants and retailers will be highly active in participating in this years’ 618 shopping event, and it will be the most popular one for industry and supplier in 17 years since the shopping event initiated,” Xu Lei, CEO of JD Retail said.