Jul 14, 2017|
Canadian Brands Look to JD.com and Cash in on Chinese Consumer Boom
Richard Liu welcomes delegation led by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada to learn more about the growing opportunity
Fresh, live lobsters plucked from Canada’s cool, clean waters are prized throughout the world for their quality and taste. Now, thanks to a new era of cooperation between Canada’s government and industry and JD.com, live lobsters can be delivered to the doorsteps of JD’s customers in China in as little as 48 hours from Canada.
Lobsters are part of a new, specially curated selection of Canada’s best products that will be available over time on JD. At a meeting today at JD’s Beijing Headquarters to mark the cooperation, JD’s founder and CEO Richard Liu told David Johnston, governor general of Canada; John McCallum, Canadian ambassador to China; and other dignitaries from Canada’s government and private sector that Chinese consumers rightly associate Canada’s products with purity, quality and freshness.
“Chinese consumers truly appreciate Canadian brands and the freshness of their produce, and that means huge opportunities for Canada,” Mr. Liu told the Canadian delegation. “We sold an amazing 4.5 million Canadian shrimp during our recent anniversary sale, so the possibilities are immense. JD knows how to work with brands and producers and help them tap into the enormous potential of the Chinese market.”
As part of the event, Mr. Johnston witnessed an MOU signing between JD and Destination Canada. The two sides will work to promote Chinese tourism to Canada. JD and Air Canada announced that the two sides will offer discounted flights to fliers from Beijing and Shanghai to cities throughout Canada and other parts of the Americas.
Overall interest in Canadian products has grown in popularity among Chinese consumers and on JD.com in recent years. During JD’s 2017 anniversary sale in June, the 4.5 million shrimp sold made the product the number one imported fresh food during the event. Overall during the event, sales of Canadian fresh products increased 480% compared to a year earlier and for the full year of 2016, Canadian fresh product sales increased 400%.
Unthinkable only a few years ago, satisfying China’s hunger for fresh food and other imported products is possible today because JD’s advanced logistics capabilities now covers some 98% of China’s population and because its advanced cold-chain systems ensure items remain fresh from the point of origin to the customer’s home.
On Friday JD sold 140,000 live Canadian lobsters within 24 hours as it launched a special Canadian promotion today, significantly exceeding expectations. The impact on Canadian suppliers was huge.
“We sold half of our entire inventory of 1 to 1.25 lb lobsters, far more than what we anticipated, ” said Nathan Song, director at New Brunswick-based Bay Shore Lobster Ltd., which offered nine categories of lobsters, between 1-9 lbs, for the JD.com promotion. “It can be hard for people to understand just how much demand there is in China for fresh imported products. For some, it’s unfathomable. We originally expected our inventory to last through September, but we’ll sell out much sooner than that now. The industry will surely see prices go up.”
Beyond fresh products, JD.com customers are increasingly welcoming of imported apparel brands, particularly in the activewear and outdoor categories where Canadian brands excel. On June 18th, the culmination of JD’s anniversary sale, the company sold more than a million sports apparel and footwear items.
The event at the JD Beijing Headquarters marks a step in a larger effort by the company to help more Canadian brands seize on the tremendous potential of the Chinese consumer market. Later this month, JD will be hosting business seminars for Canadian brands and companies interested in reaching JD’s more than 236 million active customers. Events will take place in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver the last week of July. Brands interested in attending should contact: Worldwide@JD.com
Jan 9, 2018|
JD.com Commits to Sell €2 Billion in French Imports as President Macron Meets CEO Richard Liu
JD.com, China’s largest retailer, has announced plans to sell €2 billion of French goods to Chinese consumers over the next two years, and to purchase another €100 million in French industrial products.
With French President Emmanuel Macron on hand during his official state visit to China, JD.com signed an ambitious agreement in Beijing today with Business France, France’s official trade promotion agency. JD Chairman and CEO Richard Liu and Business France CEO Christophe Lecourtier were on hand for the signing. President Macron also met with Mr. Liu to discuss opportunities for more French brands reach JD’s 266.3 million customer base.
Separately, JD also signed an MOU with French industrial engineering giant Fives Group to purchase €100 million of Fives’ technology. Fives has been assigned by the French Government to lead the “Industry of Future” and “Made in China 2025” plans, and the company’s advanced sorting technology will be used in JD’s highly automated “Asia No.1” warehouse network around China.
The agreements come as JD launches its ‘Celebrate France’ sales promotion for French goods on its e-commerce platform, showcasing unique promotions and discounts on a range of carefully curated, high-quality French products from brands including Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), Remy Martin, Evian, L’Oreal, Lacoste and others. Such sales promotions are hugely successful for suppliers and brand partners, including brands that are lesser known in China but have significant potential on JD because they leverage the company’s immense marketing resources and consumer insights to reach new audiences, often achieving record sales.
JD is already a key channel for French products to reach Chinese consumers, and counts popular beauty brands L’Oreal, Clarins and Sephora as key beauty partners. In 2017, sales of fresh food from France on JD.com, including oysters and cod, increased 640% year-on-year. Sales of French brands on JD’s cross-border e-commerce platform, JD Worldwide, increased nearly 200% in the same period. In addition, JD is now the biggest online retail channel in China for Lafite. At the end of last year, La Poste jointly launched a La Boutique France flagship store on JD.com to promote more French products in the Chinese market.
JD and Business France will work together to hit the target of €2 billion in sales by the end of 2019 by building out a ‘one-stop shop’ solution for French brands and retailers to get their products to Chinese consumers quickly and conveniently.
In addition to access to JD’s unparalleled supply chain and logistics capabilities, quarter billion-plus customers, and marketing solutions, JD will offer education and training programs about the Chinese e-commerce market targeting senior executives across France. It will provide a dedicated express enrollment service for French companies to get them up and running on JD.com as quickly as possible.
Future collaboration is expected to include logistics support on the ground in France to facilitate the transport of goods from France to JD’s customers in China.
Aug 7, 2017|
Baby Lifestyle Brand Munchkin Launches Cross-Border Flagship Store on JD.com
Munchkin, an established international baby lifestyle brand for over 25 years, recently expanded its partnership with JD.com with the launch of a new flagship store on its cross-border platform JD Worldwide. The move adds a range of product offerings to customers in China. This is not only great news for babies, children and parents across China, but also marks another important step in the JD’s growing cooperation with top US brands.
Munchkin develops innovative, modern and high-quality products for babies and children that make parents’ lives easier and more enjoyable by thinking of “the little things.” Passionate, creative and focused on producing only the best and most trusted products, Munchkin, on average, is currently awarded more than one patent per month. The company now holds more than 182 patents across their product portfolio.
Parents looking for the safest, most enjoyable and best designed feeding products, toiletries, toys and accessories for the smallest members of a young family can find an incredible assortment of products on the JD Munchkin store. Some examples include:
● A full array of baby dinnerware, with features that parents trust to keep their kids safe such as White Hot Infant Spoons that turn white when a baby’s food is too hot (approximately 43.3 degrees C and above), or a set of Love-a-Bowls, 100% guaranteed to be spill-proof, leak-proof, and break-proof.
● Bibs, because things can be a little messy at meal times. Munchkin’s disposable bibs with a leak-proof liner and front pocket keep food and spills off the baby; perfect for at home or outside.
● And for the toddlers learning to hold their own at the table, there’s the award-winning Miracle 360 Degree Training Cup with a dentist-recommended spoutless design and 360° edge that allows drinking from any side of the cup. The cup also automatically seals when children stop drinking; completely eliminating spills!
JD’s cross-border channel has been the site of choice for upwardly mobile Chinese mothers, with sales of baby and maternal products increasing nearly 300% year-over-year during JD.com’s most recent June 18 anniversary sale. The growth of high-quality products for babies and children on JD.com comes at the perfect time. New government policies promoting larger families, combined with the recent memory of poor-quality, or even harmful, products for young children, mean that more families are paying close attention and are actively searching for only the best and most trusted brands for their kids.
“Munchkin was created by parents for parents,” said Steven Dunn, CEO of Munchkin. “We developed an outstanding portfolio of baby lifestyle products because we know that it’s the little things that make a big difference for little ones, and the parents that love and care for them. Munchkin is so pleased to partner with JD Worldwide in China because it is the most trusted e-commerce platform parents look to when shopping for their kids. We look forward to growing with JD Worldwide and millions of families in China for generations to come.”
“Our customers, especially parents, look for quality, and the Munchkin brand is synonymous with products kids love and parents trust,” said Kaisi Li, Deputy General Manager of JD Worldwide. “Our customers are highly sophisticated and know exactly what quality children’s products mean, and we are proud to help them shop for their family members worry-free.”
Munchkin is more than a collection of superior products for babies and young children, it is also a caring company with a conscience. One of its social responsibility programs, Get a Pail, Give a Tree, promises that for every Diaper Pail sold by Munchkin, the company will plant one tree to offset carbon emissions. JD.com, which recently launched an initiative to make it easier for customers to recycle delivery boxes, is proud to work with companies that share its values.
In Japan Push, JD.com Expands Logistics Partnership with Yamato, Launches Flagship Stores for Three Leading Japanese Brands
