Oct 18, 2018|

E-Commerce Giant JD.com Enters Parcel Delivery Business

JD.com, China’s largest retailer, is opening its leading logistics network up to consumers to send parcels around the country, marking the first entry by an e-commerce company into the parcel delivery business.

JD’s new parcel delivery service enables users of the company’s app in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to send items intracity and throughout mainland China, using the same fast and reliable delivery service they get when making purchases. The company, which will expand the program to include high value items like luxury products and high-end consumer electronics, as well as more diverse options based on delivery timing, aims to eventually make residential and business deliveries for shippers from anywhere to anywhere within mainland China in the future.

JD is the only large-scale e-commerce company in the world to operate a nationwide in-house logistics network, down to the last mile. The network, powered by the company’s proprietary supply chain management technology, is able to deliver over 90% of orders same- or next-day, and reaches 99% of China’s population.

The new delivery service includes a range of competitively priced options, including same-day delivery between different cities; same-day intracity delivery; standard next-day or two-day delivery and next-day delivery between cities. All packages are dispatched using JD’s network of delivery staff and make full use of JD’s logistics advantages. Depending on the delivery option chosen, packages may be sent by high-speed rail or air. Individual shippers can use the same JD app they use for shopping to schedule a pickup by one of JD’s full-time logistics staff, and have a parcel delivered thousands of miles away at the speed they choose. They will even be able to select JD’s luxury ‘white glove’ delivery service if they want to make the delivery extra special.

“We are very excited to launch our new delivery service,” said Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics. “This marks the next step in leveraging the nationwide logistics network that JD has built over the past decade, to expand the range of services available to our users. JD.com is known throughout China for the fastest and most reliable delivery, and we are confident that users will appreciate the convenience of this new service.”

The program has already begun user trials with multiple ways for customers to request pickups. In addition to the JD.com app, shippers can request pickups on a JD Delivery mini program in WeChat, China’s largest social network operated by JD’s partner Tencent, and a JD “Delivery Team” WeChat account.

The move is the latest step in JD’s strategy to open its technology and infrastructure up to other shippers, businesses and industries—something the company calls “Retail as a Service,” or RaaS. As a part of that, JD hopes to revolutionize global commerce by connecting the world with its Global Smart Supply Chain. Based on the company’s data, the new service will be most in demand by urban professionals who need fast and reliable delivery, including people in the high tech, business and communications fields. In a recent survey, 74% of respondents expressed a desire for high-quality, same-day, intracity delivery service.

JD unveiled the parcel delivery service at its 2018 Global Smart Supply Chain Summit held in Beijing on October 18. Other groundbreaking initiatives announced at the Summit – part of JD’s Global Smart Supply Chain Network Strategy – included JD’s smart warehouse management system initiative, an expansion of the company’s green initiatives, and the formation of a new energy union with 20 industry partners.

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