As June 18 shopping peak nears, JD.com opens vast “intelligent logistics park”

As Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com prepares for its mid-June 618 promotional sale, the company said today that its logistics division, JD Logistics, has launched phase 2 of a huge, automated package sorting facility in Jiangsu province, China.

With a floor area of 5.4 million square feet, the “Kunshan Asia No.1 Intelligent Logistics Park” is equipped with integrated warehousing and sorting capabilities with a capacity of sorting 4.5 million parcels per day.

The facility features more than 80 sorting lines and a fleet of 10,000 intelligent sorting robots. Running around the clock during peak seasons such as JD's 618 Grand Promotion shopping festival, the system delivers a sorting accuracy rate of 99.99% and a five-fold increase in efficiency compared to traditional methods, the company said.

JD.com did not disclose the specific type or vendor of material handling automation used in the center.

With the launch of Phase 2 of the Logistics Park, JD's logistics network now ensures over 93% of JD’s retail orders from the East China region, spanning Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Anhui can be delivered same-day or next-day, covering a population of 200 million people. And complemented by JD's network of over 1,500 warehouses, the company now guarantees the "211" promise: orders placed before 11:00 AM will be delivered the same day, while orders placed before 11:00 PM will arrive the following day, to almost every corner of China.

Most of the that fulfillment muscle handles inventory for external clients, not JD.com’s own online sales. During the first quarter of this year, JD Logistics posted a 59.8% year-on-year increase in revenue from external clients, who now account for 70% of its total revenue. The industries using JD Logistics’ network include electronics, industrials, apparel, medicine, and automobiles.

And JD Logistics is also replicating elements of its logistics operation in the U.S. In February, the company launched its third warehouse in California, growing its footprint in the state to over 1.3 million square feet of warehousing space.