China-founded courier company J&T taps into global e-commerce trend as cross-border expansion

J&T Global Express, an international courier company founded in Indonesia in 2015 by Chinese entrepreneurs, is going back to its roots. After establishing its mainland headquarters in Shanghai’s Qingpu district in 2019, the company has taken steps to undermine the dominance of entrenched local players amid the growth of cross-border e-commerce.

Jakarta-based J&T, known in China as Jitu—meaning “fast rabbit”—was founded by Jet Li Jie, who headed smartphone maker Oppo’s operations in Indonesia. After experiencing the logistical challenges of Southeast Asia firsthand, Li decided to strike out on his own. Within a few years, J&T expanded to six other countries in the region, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, before officially launching in China in 2020.

“We wanted to increase the team’s overall competitiveness, and entering the Chinese market – by far the most competitive and largest market – was a necessary step,” Charles Hou Junyi, vice president of J&T, told the South China Morning Post in a recent interview.

In western Shanghai, Qingpu, J&T’s Chinese base, enjoys a strategic location near the busy Hongqiao transport hub to the east, home to a railway station and international airport. To the west, Qingpu borders the wealthy eastern coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu, which are crisscrossed by a network of expressways.

This geographic advantage has attracted major Chinese logistics players. ZTO Express, STO Express, YTO Express and Yunda—collectively known as “three TOs, one Da”—all have headquarters in the same district, in addition to several key sortation and distribution centers. J&T is headquartered in an industrial area just a street away from YTO and employs about 1,800 workers.