Suning hires expats as couriers on Chinese New Year holiday

Online shoppers in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, may be surprised to see who retail giant Suning has hired to help out with deliveries. Photo taken on Jan 30, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

As hundreds of millions of Chinese are busy traveling for family reunion, e-commerce giant Suning has hired expats to address courier shortage on the traditional holiday.

For online shoppers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing, it may come as a surprise to open the door and find a foreign face standing outside with deliveries in his hands.

Hiring part-time expat couriers could not only open a window for them to see what Chinese New Year is like, but also allow Chinese employees to take time off and spend the holiday around their family, the company's spokesperson told Jinling Evening News.