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Beijing, April 7, 2023 – During French President Emmanuel Macron’s official state visit to China this week, JD.com proudly announced its “France E-commerce Week” promotion beginning April 6. The week-long celebration will showcase and offer discounts on high-quality French products.

JD.com has emerged as a crucial channel for French brands and merchants to succeed in China. With a rapidly increasing number of nationwide consumers relying on JD.com for their shopping needs, the platform has become a go-to destination for launching top brands. JD.com was the first e-commerce company to partner with LVMH to bring ten top fashion brands to its platform, including Louis Vuitton, DIOR, and more. In 2022, fashion giants including Maison Margiela, Roger Vivier, and Longchamp all launched their flagship stores on JD.com, cementing the platform’s status as a trusted partner for French luxury brands.

JD.com has been tremendously successful in promoting French products in China, solidifying its position as the largest online retail channel for French brands such as Hennessey and Remy Martin. The company’s national pavilion of France, a country-themed online flagship store, recorded a year-on-year growth of 100% in sales in 2022, and sales of French brands on JD’s cross-border platform, JD Worldwide, also experienced fast growth, such as René Furterer saw 200% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2023. In March, sales of French wine increased 230% year-on-year. JD.com sources wine from all 61 of the Bordeaux chateaux included in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification for red wine producers.

JD.com’s unparalleled e-commerce expertise, quick enrollment approach for overseas merchants, supply chain and logistics capabilities, and its nearly 600 million consumers provide the foundation necessary for more French brands to succeed in China. JD.com looks forward to continuing to work with French brands and merchants to bring high-quality products to Chinese consumers.

 

(press@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

As China opens its borders for international travel, JD.com welcomed the visit of the Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Tiong King Sing, along with members of Tourism Malaysia, to its Beijing Headquarters on April 2. The visit aimed to explore collaborative opportunities to position Malaysia as a top destination for Chinese tourists in their post-COVID holidays.

Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Tiong King Sing (third to the left) visited JD.com’s Headquarters in Beijing

Minister Tiong pointed out that 3.4 million tourists from China visited Malaysia in 2019 before the COVID outbreak. With China reopening after three years, he envisions this number increasing and exceeding five million. To achieve this, the ministry is diligently working on all fronts to pave the way to attract Chinese tourists, including improving visa services, flight arrangements, travel programs, itinerary planning, and more.

Rain Ye, head of JD Travel, emphasized that JD’s robust customer base of over 588 million annual active users, including 40 million JD Plus paid members, offers an incredible pool of potential overseas travelers. JD Travel looks forward to working closely with Tourism Malaysia to provide a diverse array of unique and tailor-made travel experiences, catering to the evolving interests of their clientele.

An Overview of JD Travel

JD’s consumption data reveal shifting travel preferences among Chinese citizens as they emerge from years of pandemic restrictions. Demand for nature and outdoor-oriented tourism, family-focused trips, camping, fishing, and diving equipment has grown exponentially. Additionally, customized travel programs for kids, Gen-Zers, seniors, and business travelers are highly sought after.

Ye noted that travel-hungry Chinese tourists are already planning their week-long May vacations, summer trips, and even October holidays. JD Travel serves as a crucial platform for travel research and ticket booking during these peak periods.

Meanwhile, JD’s National Pavilion of Malaysia, a country-themed online flagship store,  offers Chinese consumers a diverse range of Malaysian imports, such as the popular Cat Mountain King durians and other fruits and snacks.

The National Pavilion of Malaysia on JD.com 

Recently, JD’s National Pavilion program established a partnership with  Guangxi Tourism Development Group. This collaboration aims to further promote selected products, cultural, and tourism resources from Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, providing Chinese consumers with an all-encompassing site for unique local flavors, cultural insights, and unforgettable travel experiences.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

 

by Vivian Yang

Following the occasion of World Sleep Day 2023 on March 21, JD.com’s Consumption and Industry Development Research Institute, in partnership with JD Home and Sina Home, unveiled an insightful report on Chinese people’s sleep patterns and the trends in sleep-related products. Surveys highlight the growing need for sleep solutions as sleep deprivation and fragmented sleep become increasingly common.

Key findings from the report:

1. Sleep deprivation is a widespread issue among the Chinese population, as indicated in the Annual Sleep Report of China 2022 by the Academy of Social Sciences. JD’s survey further discovered that over 40% of respondents under 45 years old reported less than six hours of sleep per night on average, with a notably higher proportion of people in rural areas experiencing less than 5 hours of sleep per night.
2. Sleep disorders can be broadly classified into two categories: “excessive stress” and “excess energy.” These issues are particularly prevalent among younger individuals, while older adults struggle with sleep quality and duration. Consequently, tailored solutions are required to address each concern.
3. Strong consumer demand exists for products that promote a healthy, quiet, and comfortable sleep environment, such as beds, mattresses, and bedding. First and second-tier city residents show a preference for smart devices to monitor and enhance their sleep quality.
4. The desire for an afternoon nap during lunch breaks, commutes, or travel is highly prevalent, especially among high-tier city consumers and young people who are eager to create comfortable spaces for napping.
5. Sleep-deprived individuals who experience discomfort while sleeping tend to seek products that enhance personal comfort, while those sensitive to external factors such as noise, light, and temperature tend to prefer products that improve the overall ambiance of their sleep environment.

JD’s 2022 sales data corroborates these sleep-focused consumption trends:

JD’s 2022 consumption data showed that the fastest-growing sleep-related categories include smart mattresses, beanbags, hanging baskets/chairs, cervical pillows, sleep therapy instruments, swivel chairs, and folding beds. Sofas and chairs cater to the demand for napping spaces, while cervical pillows and sleep therapy instruments address consumers’ growing desire for better sleep quality.

JD’s sales data revealed impressive YoY growth for swivel computer chairs (65%), electronic sofas (80%), zero-pressure cervical pillows (50%), gem aroma (200%), bedroom ambient lighting (50%), and noise reduction earplugs (76%).

Consumers under 25 years old gravitate toward napping products like such as beanbags, swivel computer chairs, pillows, blankets, eye masks, and ear plugs, as well as smart devices for sleep monitoring.

Furthermore, high-tier market consumers demonstrate a greater demand for smartwatches, air purifiers, latex mattresses, lazy loungers and folding beds, which may be due to the higher rental rates in big cities. In contrast,  lower-tier markets lean towards air conditioners, quiet doors, and other products that create a healthier and more comfortable sleeping environment.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Mary Ma

JDDJ and Shop Now, the on-demand retail business jointly launched by JD.com, and Dada Group (Nasdaq: Dada), has reported great growth amidst significant expansion over the last 12 months in recent annual results.

In particular, the home alliance category has seen large growth. In March, JD.com published the “JD.com Helps the High-Quality Development of the Home Appliance Industry White Paper”. The white paper revealed that the home appliance industry is embracing the innovative on-demand retail, to achieve growth.

In 2022, sales in this category on JD Shop Now increased by more than 9 times year-over-year, making it of the most important channels for top home appliance brands.

As the key players in JD.com’s omni-channel service, JD Shop Now and JDDJ has connections to 11,000 brick-and-mortar home appliance stores, which accounts for about 60% of the top home appliance manufacturers and covered 300 cities in China.

As the on-demand retail business in JD.com’s ecosystem, JDDJ provides consumers with a service of “order online, deliver from nearby stores within one hour”. Based on analysis of home appliance trends, JDDJ identified the pain points of physical stores and provided integrated solutions in connecting off- and on-line inventories, user and service digitalization, to optimize cost, efficiency and experience.

As for large and heavy appliances, together with well-known merchants, JDDJ has established a “deliver and install” service, which can be fulfilled as quickly as the next day. The innovative service has greatly improved consumers’ experiences in home appliance consumption.

Since last year, home appliance’s on-demand retail business has been growing rapidly, and the online sales of offline stores are expected to exceed RMB 10 billion yuan in the next two years.

The key of on-demand retail is the digitalization of traditional stores. As the representative of open platform model, JDDJ does not touch the inventory, and brings high quality products and services to consumers together with all-category retailers and brand owners on-board.

By merging the borders of online and offline shopping, the omni-channel retailing model extensively integrates physical and digital channels, resources and capabilities to bring the ultimate experience to consumers while stimulating greater consumer potential.

At present, there is a surging need from retailers and brand owners for access to online traffic and efficient on-demand fulfillment solutions. More retailers are now starting to build their own O2O team and by leveraging JDDJ, they can expand their on-demand retail business rapidly.

 

by Yuchuan Wang

On March 21, JD Retail announced “one-stop shopping for home products and appliances” and relevant plans for home appliances. It also announced that JD Home Appliance will stock RMB 100 billion worth of goods for the 20^th 618 Grand Promotion this year, with bulky order purchase target of 5 million units.

From 2012 to 2022, with the transition of sales channels, from offline to online to omni-channel, China’s home appliance industry developed new business models while maintaining healthy and rapid development. The industry continued to grow in 2022 and generated revenue of RMB 1.75 trillion, with a year-on-year growth rate of 19.9%. Additionally, Chinese home appliance brands also achieved great success in international markets, while creating new jobs and making innovations in brand and technology.

Despite this growth, the industry continues to face challenges, as well, including rising real estate costs, global supply chain issues, and product and innovation homogenization.

To continue to build momentum and address these challenges, JD Home Appliance is unveiling a new approach of “persistence and change”. It includes being persistent in putting customers first and upgrading services, retail-driven, healthy and sustainable development, upgrading product offerings, making structural breakthroughs, developing omni-channel and establishing an industry ecosystem, enhancing cost and efficiency, and achieving win-win outcomes with partners.

The approach also includes changes in promoting a product stratification initiative for both structural and low-priced products, accelerating sales and growth of new and trending products, improving pricing capabilities to ensure fair prices, upgrading the trade-in service to fully stimulate user demand, accelerating omni-channel layout, and expanding the marketplace business (POP platform) to create an open platform for businesses to achieve sustained profits and steady growth.

JD Home Appliance is working with partners to enhance customer experience and boost sales of new products through innovative actions such as the launch of JD Mall and trade-in services. It is also expanding to new areas, such as the lower-tier market, which offers significant potential for growth of home appliance brands. According to Yi Xiao, president of washing machine business unit of Midea, China has approximately 490 million families and daily consumption of home appliance mainly comes from 200 million of them. That means there is an untapped market of nearly 300 million to be served.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)