Algorithmic advantage

The delivery network's adoption of AI has come out of necessity.

The industry operates under conditions that strain conventional logistics models: enormous volume, thin margins, rising labor costs and a mandate to serve both dense cities and remote rural areas. Manual dispatching, human-dependent sorting and fixed delivery routes prove increasingly unsustainable at such an incredible scale.

AI has offered a way to absorb growth rather than be overwhelmed by it, according to Liu Jiang, director of strategic planning research at the bureau's development and research center. He added that the sector has been fueled by a mix of supportive macroeconomic policies and a steady unified national market.

As scale continues to expand, the courier industry is no longer just responding to consumption, he said, but increasingly shaping it, emerging as a key driver of domestic demand and economic stability. Technology, he added, has become a central engine sustaining that growth.

In China, the presence of a unified national market and sustained growth in parcel volumes has provided a broad testing ground for new technologies. Large-scale real-world data allows intelligent systems to be trained and adjusted more efficiently, supporting improvements in areas such as dispatching, warehouse management and route planning. These technologies are increasingly being integrated into daily operations, contributing to higher efficiency and more consistent service performance.