Chinese firms test super-fast phone delivery as coronavirus caution remains.
Smartphone makers in China including Huawei and Apple are turning to super-fast deliveries and even trade-ins at the door of consumers’ homes as shoppers remain cautious about visiting busy stores in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Meituan, a Chinese firm most known for food deliveries, signed a deal with Huawei franchise stores. Users in three cities — Beijing, Shanghai and Wuxi — are now able to buy Huawei’s new P40 smartphone via the Meituan app and have it delivered to their residence. The P40 went on sale on 8 April in China. Meituan deliveries can come in 30 minutes depending on a user’s distance to the store.
Last month, JD.com, one of China’s largest e-commerce firms and rival to Alibaba, launched a trade-in service for Apple products that can be done at a customer’s doorstep. The program includes Apple’s recently-launched iPad Pro and Macbook Air as well as iPhones. Usually, such trade-in programs require shoppers to go to physical stores.
