Jun 19, 2019|
Consumers “Trading up” and Seeking Quality Drives Record-breaking 6.18
Total sales transaction volume during JD.com’s June 18 Anniversary Sale (“6.18”) reached new heights this year of $29.2 billion. Key drivers leading to breakthrough results with China’s largest retailer were new products as well as Chinese consumers’ continued interest in and pursuit of higher quality.
New products were a laser focus of JD’s retail strategy overall this year. JD has launched an exclusive channel within its platform to socialize and promote these products as well as bring them to market, making them easy for consumers to find, and helping brands strategically reach new consumers. Consumers are also “trading up” from lower tier cities, showing greater interest in brands similar to consumers in higher tier cities.
Transaction volume growth was twice as high in lower tier cities than the overall growth on JD.com. The percentage of new users from lower tier cities was also much higher than the percentage of new users overall. Two campaigns involved participation from over 100 million users. One was an innovative “birthday red envelope” campaign, which encouraged and rewarded consumers for sharing on social platforms. Another campaign engaged users to share, vote for and win shared rewards for their cities.
JD has discovered a powerful way to market to Chinese consumers called Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M). This initiative employs big data and consumer insights, providing insights to brands to adjust their manufacturing and marketing approaches with the goal of providing consumers with products they want before they even know they want them. Transaction volume of new products and C2M products during 6.18 increased 289% compared with the same period last year. One out of every three monitors sold during this year’s 6.18 campaign were C2M products. HP saw a 100% increase in sales of its Zhan 66 laptop, a C2M product, during 6.18.
Several new brands have also launched on JD during 6.18. Most recently, beloved Italian designer brand Prada, as well as Miu Miu and Car Shoe, two sister brands under the Prada Group, launched authorized flagship stores on JD.com. Farfetch also launched a flagship store on JD during the period, enabling JD consumers to access more than 3,000 brands through Farfetch’s network of more than 1,000 brand and boutique partners. JD also worked with the world’s top hotel brands to empower subscribers of its premium membership program, JD Plus, with exclusive privileges at 15,000 high-end hotels around the world, marking the first time JD Plus benefits can be enjoyed outside of China. During this 6.18, JD sold more than 2.8 million JD Plus memberships.
Technology continues to be key to improving the consumer experience and exceeding expectations during the sales festival. 91% of orders coming from JD fulfillment centers were delivered same-or next-day. During this year’s 6.18, JD’s smart customer service robot fielded more than 32 million inquiries, of which it solved 90% of those independently, freeing up human customer service for more complicated inquiries.
For more 6.18 sales highlights, please refer to the graphic below.
* Transaction volume is calculated to include total value of all orders for products and services placed in the company’s online platform, regardless of whether the goods are sold or delivered or whether the goods are returned and shipping charges paid by buyers to sellers, and excludes products or services with list prices above RMB100,000 as well as transactions conducted by buyers who make purchases exceeding RMB1,000,000 in the aggregate in a single day (similar to the company’s major industry peer GMV definition)
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