Smart logistics drives China's logistics revolution

Logistics is a network system that connects producers, sellers, and consumers, playing an increasingly important role in the modern economy. The development of smart logistics has become a key engine for promoting supply-side structural reform in the logistics industry. Utilizing technologies such as the Internet, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, the logistics industry is undergoing transformative changes. The new era of logistics in China may well be led by smart logistics. Regarding this, Wei Jigang, Director, Researcher, and Doctoral Supervisor of the Industrial Economics Research Office of the Development Research Center of the State Council, stated that in the future, smart logistics will accelerate the modernization of China's logistics industry and drive its revolution.The essence of smart logistics lies in the informatization, online operation, digitization, and intelligence of logistics resources, elements, and services. By connecting, flowing, applying, and optimizing data, it achieves efficient allocation of logistics resources and elements, enhances the quality and efficiency of logistics services, and promotes positive interaction between logistics, the Internet, and related industries. Smart logistics mainly exhibits the following characteristics: first, it is consumer-centered; second, it emphasizes Internet thinking, platform thinking (openness, sharing, win-win), and innovative thinking; third, it features multi-dimensional connections (connecting market entities, information, facilities, and supply-demand matching) and multi-faceted integration; fourth, it involves cross-sector integration; fifth, data and digital infrastructure become new production factors, with big data empowering the entire logistics chain and supply chain, becoming a key source of new competitive strength for logistics companies; sixth, automation, informatization, visualization, and intelligence levels improve rapidly; seventh, there is an ecosystem integration based on the Internet and logistics, promoting interactive development between e-commerce and logistics; eighth, there is a new division of labor system and large-scale social collaboration.

What significant impacts does smart logistics bring to China's logistics industry?Firstly, smart logistics further strengthens the logistics industry's relevance, penetration, and influence on economic and social development, highlighting its foundational, strategic, pioneering, and leading role.Secondly, smart logistics promotes the rapid improvement of the logistics system and the continuous expansion of logistics service coverage. To meet the personalized, fragmented, diverse, distributed, timely, economical, on-demand, and high-quality demands of e-commerce, logistics systems, warehousing systems, courier systems, distribution systems, cold chain facilities, and terminal service points in third- and fourth-tier cities, counties, rural areas, urban communities, and for fresh cold chain products are being accelerated in formation, significantly enhancing the rootedness and depth of the logistics service system.

The rural e-commerce logistics system, fresh food cold chain e-commerce logistics system, and logistics system in western regions have all seen significant development. Many e-commerce, express delivery, and less-than-truckload companies are leveraging county-level networks to strengthen agricultural product circulation facilities and market construction, improving rural distribution and comprehensive service networks.

Cross-border e-commerce is driving rapid development in cross-border e-commerce logistics, and overseas warehouses are accelerating their deployment.

Logistics big data platforms, logistics cloud, logistics apps, smart logistics terminals, and other digital logistics infrastructure, along with automated and intelligent physical logistics infrastructure, have developed rapidly, strongly supporting the transformation of China's production, circulation, and consumption patterns.

Thirdly, logistics development models and business models have undergone significant transformation. Efficiency-driven, digital-driven, experience-driven, and consumer-driven trends have become more prominent. Logistics companies, through rapid technological advancement and fast iterative services, have greatly enhanced their market competitiveness. Smart logistics has changed logistics service models, significantly improving the level of organization, integration, and quality, greatly enhancing supply-demand matching and resource allocation efficiency. In the context of the national strategies promoting 'big data' and the 'Internet,' and the accelerated application of 'Internet of Things' technology, intelligent transportation and smart warehousing have developed rapidly. The 'Internet of Things' facilitates interconnection and interoperability of transportation and warehousing facilities and equipment.

4. There has been a noticeable optimization of the logistics structure. Traditional logistics industries have been greatly impacted, while the deconstruction and reconstruction of the logistics industry are progressing deeply. The logistics chain is experiencing fragmentation, cross-industry integration, and rapid emergence of new formats, new models, new technologies, and new services. The proportion of new formats in the logistics industry continues to rise.5. Logistics is integrating with the Internet and related industries. While the Internet and digital technologies are fostering new logistics formats and promoting the rapid development and upgrading of express delivery, e-commerce logistics, and distribution, they themselves are also achieving rapid growth with the efficient support of logistics.Smart logistics has brought the Internet, logistics, and agriculture, manufacturing, and commercial circulation closer together, promoting supply-side structural reforms and optimizing the supply chain system across society.6. It promotes cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement in the logistics industry. Under the impetus of smart logistics, overall service speed, quality, differentiation, personalized services, rural services, and international services have seen significant improvement. Logistics costs across society are inversely proportional to information symmetry. With the deepening of smart logistics, the allocation of logistics resources across society has been optimized on a larger scale.7. Smart logistics is reshaping the main players in the logistics market. Many entities that are not traditional logistics companies have become important participants in the logistics market, such as platform-based and data-driven enterprises. By integrating social resources or empowering the logistics chain, they are successfully driving the upgrade of the logistics industry and changes in the market landscape.What is the level of development of smart logistics in China?

Smart logistics is driving a revolution in China's logistics industry by recombining logistics elements, resources, and markets, efficiently connecting them, eliminating information asymmetry, improving logistics systems, and enhancing logistics infrastructure. This is boosting the service level of China's logistics sector, stimulating the fragmentation of the logistics chain, and prompting profound differentiation and strategic restructuring of the logistics landscape. First, the timeliness and related technologies of e-commerce logistics, same-city express delivery, same-city distribution, and intelligent last-mile services have reached world-class levels. Driven by China's immense e-commerce demand, supported by technologies such as electronic waybills, multi-level address databases, big data, cloud computing, intelligent algorithms, cloud platforms, big data-based order-routing, logistics early warning radar, and intelligent scheduling, business models continue to innovate. Coupled with China's large workforce of couriers and delivery personnel (a unique comparative advantage), express delivery, distribution, intercity freight, same-city freight, and rural e-commerce logistics are advancing towards efficiency, precision, visibility, and sharing. The level of personalized, differentiated, standardized, and shared logistics operations and services has significantly improved. Shipping speed has notably increased, big data-enabled intelligent order allocation and warehouse distribution, inventory pre-positioning, and last-mile delivery services—such as timely delivery, scheduled delivery, and time-limited delivery—have become increasingly common, error rates have decreased, and consumer experience continues to improve.

Second, rural e-commerce logistics, cross-border e-commerce logistics, social collaborative freight, and fresh cold chain logistics have seen significant development. With e-commerce reaching rural areas, the pace of e-commerce logistics and express delivery into villages has accelerated, greatly improving the level of logistics services in rural areas and significantly reducing rural logistics costs. Smart cross-border logistics has greatly enhanced logistics services for international trade. Some domestic logistics companies have proposed a strategic goal of reaching the world within 72 hours, and cross-border logistics is becoming increasingly transparent. Automation technology and artificial intelligence are being applied at an accelerated pace, greatly improving the automation and intelligence level of logistics services. Third, the safety and greenness of logistics have been significantly improved. Error rates, cargo damage rates, and accident rates have substantially declined, energy utilization efficiency in logistics has further increased, and the environmental cost of logistics has further decreased.

Smart logistics drives China's logistics revolution

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