JD.com, Alibaba in reports of bidding war for British courier firm

Chinese e-commerce giants JD.com and Alibaba are said to be competing for the services of British courier company Evri.

According to multiple reports earlier this year, Evri’s majority owner, private equity firm Advent International, is working with advisers on strategic alternatives for the delivery company, including a potential sale of the business. The company is valued at around £2 billion ($2.56 billion), including debt.

Both Chinese tech giants run their own logistics units to bolster their massive e-commerce operations, with Alibaba running the Cainiao segment and JD.com running its JD Logistics unit.

Other potential bidders include Polish parcel locker company InPost and private equity firm Apollo Global Management. JD.com is in the second stage of the tender after submitting a non-binding offer last month, according to Reuters.

At first glance, JD.com seems like a more likely candidate, given its recent partnership with Evri, which began in January. The partnership was designed to help European businesses sell their products through the JD.com marketplace, facilitating better access to the Chinese market and its consumers. The agreement will see JD.com expand its pickup services for European and British brands and businesses. The services will include local pickup, warehousing, international shipping, access to Chinese bonded warehouses, customs clearance, and end-to-end delivery throughout China.

Before the Evri deal, JD Logistics had made significant strides in international delivery, launching an express service in December 2023 that enables one-way deliveries from China to 23 countries in North America and Europe.

The company has warehouse operations that offer same-day fulfillment services in European markets, including the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Poland, and says it can now provide delivery within two to three days in 90 percent of regions in the U.S.

This ties in with Evri’s current partnership, where JD.com is able to integrate its self-service warehouses with Evri’s local distribution network across Europe. Evri’s partners use JD.com to gain more insight into the Chinese market, including consumer behavior, marketing and pricing strategies, product selection advice, and operational strategies for online retail. This partnership initially focused on the beauty and apparel sectors, areas where JD.com says it has “significant” insight into its customers’ shopping preferences.

JD.com — not to be confused with British sportswear and footwear retailer JD Sports — has recently turned its attention to the market. In February, the e-commerce giant considered acquiring electronics and home appliance retailer Currys. However, JD.com withdrew from the acquisition just a month later.

Alibaba’s main competitor would have plenty of reasons of its own to bring Evri under the Cainiao umbrella, as it too wants more European companies to sell into the Chinese market. Alibaba says Cainiao’s average daily cross-border and international shipments were more than 5 million in fiscal 2024.

Cainiao’s “intelligent logistics network,” as the Chinese online marketplace calls it, encompasses a wide range of logistics capabilities spanning first-mile pickup, line-haul, customs clearance, sortation and last-mile parcel delivery for sellers both in China and abroad. The company boasts a 98 percent on-time delivery rate, and Alibaba says it can track shipments and analyze shipping trends in 224 countries and regions around the world.

Speculation about the deal comes at a time when Evri is making several new investments aimed at strengthening its supply network.

Last month, Evri revealed wider plans to invest £19 million ($24.3 million) to accelerate the rollout of electric cargo bikes in the UK

Over the next year, Evri will expand its fleet of electric cargo bikes from 33 to 99 and increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs) from 168 to 270. The company aims to grow its fleet of electric cargo bikes to 3,000 over the next decade as part of wider plans to reduce carbon emissions across its network and become a net-zero emissions company by 2035.

Evri has also recently joined the ranks of artificial intelligence (AI) companies, announcing in June that it had invested £1 million ($1.3 million) in a new AI strategy.

The strategic investment focuses on strengthening the customer experience, including smarter use of data, increased security of shipments and optimization of workforce productivity. In the future, Evri will also research and test the use of augmented reality headsets to significantly reduce the time it takes to hire and train new couriers.