by Ella Kidron

JD’s long-time strategic partner P&G recently released its fourth quarter and full-year 2020 earnings results. For the fiscal year 2020 which ends on June 30th, the company reported net sales of US$71 billion, an increase of 5% versus the prior year, and net profit of US$13.1 billion, an increase of 230% YOY, as well as fourth quarter net profit of $2.8 billion. Among several factors driving the results was increased consumer demand for household cleaning, personal health and cleansing products, particularly in North America and China, related to COVID-19.

As P&G’s second largest market globally, Chinese families’ demand for cleaning and personal health products become one of the consumer goods giant’s key growth engines. P&G’s fabric and home care segment, which includes Tide and Comet cleaning products, saw organic sales rise 14% in the quarter. Behind P&G’s strong results are changing consumer habits under COVI9-19 on the one hand and the company’s strong partnerships with leading channels on the other hand.

JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, is P&G’s largest detail channel and strategic partner. Since the beginning of their partnership, JD and P&G have collaborated deeply in personal health and home cleaning products. Several of the flagship brands under the P&G umbrella enthusiastically participate in JD’s 618 Grand Promotion, Singles Day (November 11^th) and other key sales events.

Under COVID-19, JD fully opened up its supply chain capabilities to expand cooperation with P&G across businesses such as enterprise procurement, JD New Markets, JD Daojia, and more. As a leading partner of JD Super, P&G and JD have continued to invest and co-create in new projects such as JD’s Omnichannel Innovation. JD Super also treated the 618 Grand Promotion as an opportunity to provide a strong driving force for P&G’s sales growth in the fourth quarter (April to June) of 2020.

Nielsen market data shows that online has become a key source of growth for brands. This year, with the rise of what the “stay-at-home” economy, a large number of traditional offline high frequency consumer categories have seen significant growth online. More consumers are buying comparatively high quality, time-sensitive categories online, representing a clear change in consumers’ shopping patterns. With this trend in mind, JD will further enhance cooperation with P&G, exploring joint-marketing innovation, data-based C2M initiatives, omnichannel, supply chain efficiency and more.

At the beginning of July, JD & P&G Beauty jointly launched a new sustainability project, timed with JD’s inaugural Green Stream Initiative (GSI) Day. The recycling program encourages customers to use green boxes and participate in charity programs more easily. To join the program, customers in selected cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou can buy products on JD from P&G’s brands such as Head & Shoulders, Pantene and Herbal Essences, and opt to use JD’s reusable “green box” on the checkout page. Traditionally, when customers participate in the green box program, JD couriers will take the empty box back from the customer. With this program, however, customers can keep the box and package toys or plastic bottles in the green box, and scan a QR code on its surface and have the donated items delivered to a sorting location. The materials will then be sorted, professionally cleaned, and ultimately used to make products like tables, chairs.

(ella@jd.com)