Who is Winning the Logistics War in Europe?

For years, the e-commerce conversation in Europe centered on marketplaces: who had the best selection, the slickest interface, the most competitive pricing. But the real differentiator today isn’t what you sell. It’s how you deliver it.

JD.com’s JoyExpress is a true statement of intent. The Chinese giant is rolling out operations from more than 60 warehouses and depots across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and France, promising same-day and next-day delivery in major cities. This mirrors the hyper-automated, densely networked logistics infrastructure these companies perfected at home, now exported wholesale to Europe.

And JD.com isn’t alone. Chinese e-commerce logistics powerhouses are upping their game across Europe, with Alibaba’s Cainiao building out last-mile networks in Spain (next-day delivery in nine cities, two-day delivery in more than 20 others), while Shein and Temu are expanding warehouse footprints in both mature and emerging European markets.

The goal is simple: close the delivery speed gap that once separated Chinese platforms from local players, all while maintaining their aggressive pricing advantage. For European consumers who’ve grown accustomed to ultra-low prices but slower shipping, this represents a fundamental shift.

If the Chinese platforms are the insurgents, Amazon remains the incumbent with the deepest pockets and most established network. And it’s not sitting still.

The company is finally bringing quick commerce back to Europe, doubling down on ultra-fast delivery as Chinese competitors accelerate their logistics buildout. Amazon has now launched ultra-fast delivery in London for a selection of everyday essentials and convenience products (such as household items, health and personal care products, snacks and drinks), with a broader European expansion announced as imminent, reviving the promise of sub-30-minute delivery in major cities.

Beyond quick commerce, Amazon invested around €38 billion in the EU in 2024, with plans to pour over €55 billion more into the region in 2025 alone. That includes new fulfillment centers, sortation hubs, and expanded last-mile capacity. In Germany, the company’s single largest European market, a €10 billion investment plan covers both logistics expansion and cloud infrastructure.

Amazon also continues to expand its same-day delivery footprint – already live in 135+ European cities – and is making big bets on sustainability as a differentiator. The company is investing over €1 billion to decarbonize its European transport network, including deploying more than 200 heavy electric trucks for middle-mile routes in the UK and Germany, expected to carry over 350 million parcels annually once fully operational.

No single player is winning across all dimensions. Instead, different companies are dominating different battlegrounds:

In short: Amazon still leads on sheer scale and infrastructure maturity. But Chinese platforms are closing the gap on speed and cost, and they’re doing it with a level of investment and ambition that suggests they’re in this for the long haul.

The logistics war in Europe is just getting started, and several trends are likely to accelerate:

More local warehousing and micro-fulfillment: To match the JoyExpress-style promises, all major players will continue to densify urban networks and push same-day delivery beyond capital cities.

Logistics as a merchant acquisition tool: JD Logistics has already signaled that JoyExpress will eventually serve external partners, directly challenging Amazon’s FBA model. Expect logistics infrastructure to become a key lever for attracting third-party sellers.

Sustainability and regulation will shape strategy: Amazon’s electric truck investments highlight how climate commitments and EU regulations are pushing logistics innovation as much as pure competition on speed and cost.

The ecosystem model may win: The real victors in Europe’s logistics war may not be the platforms that own the most trucks, but those that can position themselves as both infrastructure owners and ecosystem enablers, open platforms that other retailers and brands can plug into.

There’s a third player in this fight that doesn’t get as much attention: European retailers themselves. Brands like Decathlon and MediaMarktSaturn are weaponizing their dense store networks, partnering with orchestration platforms, and plugging into on-demand delivery services like Uber to offer competitive last-mile experiences without building Amazon-scale infrastructure.

Decathlon, for instance, has partnered with Kuehne+Nagel as a road logistics “control tower” across nine European countries, while also experimenting with tech platforms in Belgium that automatically select the best carrier for each delivery. MediaMarktSaturn now offers 90-minute delivery via Uber Direct from its 400 German stores.

These initiatives show that the “local” answer to the logistics war isn’t to replicate Amazon’s empire, but to stitch together smart partnerships and flexible infrastructure that can be optimized in real time.

So who’s winning? It depends on the metric. Amazon still has the largest, most mature logistics network in Europe and isn’t slowing down its investment. Chinese platforms (led by JD.com) are the insurgents with momentum, pouring billions into infrastructure that didn’t exist in Europe two years ago. And European retailers are the scrappy underdogs, using agility and partnerships to stay competitive.

The truth is, there may not be a single winner. The most likely outcome is an increasingly complex ecosystem where merchants and consumers mix and match logistics providers based on cost, speed, and reliability. In that world, the real victors will be those who can serve not just their own traffic, but become indispensable infrastructure for others.