Oct 14, 2022|
How JD.com Made a Produce Star out of Suqian Hairy Crabs
by Vivian Yang
More than 160,000 “Suqian Hairy Crabs” were sold on JD.com in less than three weeks during the first Harvest Carnival and Shopping Festival of Agricultural Specialties this September. The crabs emerged as a top-ranking best-selling category on the platform during this crab season, marking another milestone for JD in empowering high-quality yet less well-known agricultural products, an ambitious goal the company has set for itself in contributing to China’s rural revitalization on its own terms.
Suqian, a humble city in northern Jiangsu province, is blessed with variegated waters including the Hongze and Luoma lakes. These lakes are perfect breeding homes for hairy crabs, but their marketability has long been curbed by conditions including scattered raisers, varying quality resulting in the undercutting of purchasing prices, and weak branding.
To tackle these hurdles and build up a local specialty image, the Suqian Rural Bureau joined hands with JD.com in early 2021. Under an all-around partnership, JD supported local farms to establish standardized crab-raising systems, jointly developed product criteria for “Suqian Hairy Crabs” and its source-tracing system, and set up near-shore warehouses for temporary crab farming, hand-picking, packing and fresh delivery. On the marketing and sales side, JD offered over RMB 10 million worth of resources and leveraged its omni-channel capabilities to incubate the brand, as well as implementing strict brand authorizing policies, with the sole purpose of introducing the best Suqian hairy crabs to customers nationwide.
Thanks to all these efforts, during last year’s Singles’ Day Grand Promotion, sales of Suqian hairy crabs increased 600 times YoY; and that of the whole year rose by 173 times. Moreover, JD also brought the crabs to the limelight during China’s 2022 Spring Festival gala show on national TV , which JD was selected as this year’s exclusive interactive partner, to let the whole country know about the name of the crabs.
“Many people of my generation who grew up in the countryside are eager to change our hometowns for the better, but oftentimes, our condescending and wishful thinking will do no good,” said Richard Liu, Chairman of JD.com. As a Suqian native who feels indebted to his hometown and the village folks who all chipped in for his university tuition, Mr. Liu has a natural calling and grounded understanding of supporting rural development. “We need to bend down, see the details and think in their shoes, then start with patience from the basic business infrastructure work,” he added.
As early as 2015, JD.com introduced the “3F plan”, namely Factory to Country, Finance to Country, and Farm to Table, which is designed to form a complete loop to boost the rural economy in which farmers receive financial and other support in selling produce, and then are able to purchase more industrial supplies for a better life and greater reproduction.
After years of investment on infrastructure in rural areas, in October 2020, JD.com further announced the “March to Rich Plan (MRP)”, aiming to establish a modernized circulation system with its digitally intelligent supply chain capabilities, to promote both high-quality agricultural products and the consumption upgrading in China. The plan vowed to drive RMB 1 trillion yuan output value for rural areas in China in three years’ time span, and by this August, it has achieved more than RMB 620 billion yuan in 22 months. Millions of farmers have directly benefited from the MRP that helped increase their income remarkably.
Apr 22, 2024|
JD.com Debuts AI Digital Representative of Founder Richard Liu During Livestream, Drawing 20 Million Views in Under One Hour
During a livestream on April 16th, JD.com introduced an AI digital representative of its founder, Richard Liu (Qiangdong Liu), nicknamed “procurement and sales manager Brother Dong (采销东哥).” Liu appeared in both JD Home Appliances and JD Supermarket’s livestreaming rooms, attracting over 20 million views within the first hour and generating RMB 50 million in sales throughout the entire livestream.
The digital representative almost perfectly replicates Liu’s facial expressions, body language, gestures, and voice, capturing even the subtlest movements of his fingers. Behind this technology is JD Cloud’s ChatRhino, an advanced large language model (LLM) that brings the avatar to life.
Behind the Technology
The LLM precisely mirrors Liu’s distinctive expressions and movements, naturally weaving in his occasional finger twiddles while he speaks, accentuating points with hand gestures, and adding nods at just the right moments for emphasis, creating a natural and authentic representation. Perfecting the voice proved to be a greater challenge. Those who have heard Liu speak are well-acquainted with the distinct inflections of his Suqian accent—a characteristic touch from his small-town roots in Jiangsu province. Observers will note the brisk pace of his speech, lighter enunciation, and his tendency to meld words in a seamless flow. His “sh” sounds carry a nasal quality, and he often addresses people as “brothers” to boost morale.
While programming the standard Mandarin dialect is relatively straightforward, teaching the AI to adopt the nuances of the Suqian dialect and Liu’s unique vocal patterns required a precise level of customization from the ChatRhino LLM. For example, the LLM had to provide accurate judgments on when to introduce the nasal tonality or the specific moments to merge words, ensuring the AI’s linguistic output mirrored Liu’s signature speaking style authentically.
Beyond replicating vocal characteristics, the AI’s voice must also be suitable for the casual, dynamic atmosphere of e-commerce livestreaming, such as adopting colloquialisms like “xiong di men” — a phrase comparable to “folks” or “guys” in English — to create a friendly rapport with the audience. JD Cloud’s ChatRhino team fine-tuned the model to focus on sociable nuances. The initial dataset for the LLM consisted predominantly of Liu’s formal speeches—spirited and compelling, yet too ceremonious for the interactive world of livestreaming. To cultivate a more congenial and approachable persona, the team utilized Liu’s recent casual conversations as the primary source material, rich with personal anecdotes and travel tales. This approach shaped the AI’s voice into one that is that is not only natural and approachable but also genuinely engaging for the end user.
As a fully self-developed technology product of JD Cloud, the ChatRhino Digital Representative solution has already served over 4,000 brand merchants, contributing to a 30% increase in order conversion rate during idle hours and helping merchants reduce livestreaming costs, enhance operational efficiency, and optimize user experience. Equipped with 50,000 hours of voice data, this technology enables digital representatives to intelligently adapt to various livestreaming styles dynamically.
The AI is also adept at managing 70% of routine live chat inquiries autonomously without any manual intervention, while also optimizing its responses with a self-improving algorithm. For instance, digital representatives can autonomously fields questions using product details and scripts, and post-livestream, and assimilate new information. Mirroring the acumen of seasoned sales professionals, it boasts a 90% accuracy rate in offering tailored product recommendations when solicited by customers.
The recent introduction of a cutting-edge livestream control console serves as the “brain” for the digital representative solution. It diligently monitors real-time inventory, adjusting the showcased products in the livestream and tailoring the script to ensure relevance—sidestepping items that are out of stock and spotlighting those in high demand. It also gauges and fine-tunes the frequency and style of interactions based on live audience engagement. With this advanced platform, businesses managing multiple livestreams can effortlessly operate thousands of sessions concurrently via cloud services, bypassing the need for intricate local setups. This innovation yields a substantial cost reduction of 30%.
Human-Machine Synergy
The intention behind digital avatars is not to outshine or compete with human talent but to harness the potential of technology to work in concert with livestreamers, maximizing overall growth. Essentially, the digital representative solution serves as a tool for brands and merchants to leverage long-tail traffic once real livestreamers conclude their broadcasts. JD’s analytics indicate this strategy can boost order conversion rates by 30% during off-peak hours, such as late into the night.
Digital representatives also excel in specific product categories that require detailed explanations, such as health products like nursing beds, electric wheelchairs, and oxygen concentrators. The solution can provide constant, round-the-clock guidance, adding substantial value to livestreams when traffic is typically lower.
Last week, JD.com announced an investment of one billion yuan into video content creation. This investment underscores JD’s commitment to leveraging the power of short videos and livestreams to transform the online shopping experience for its users and create new growth avenues for brand merchants.
Apr 20, 2024|
JD.com Unveils Ambitious Plans for 618 Grand Promotion: Aiming to More Than Double High-Performing Merchants
JD.com is gearing up for this year’s 618 Grand Promotion with an ambitious goal: to more than double the number of merchants achieving sales over one million yuan on its platform. At the recent Conference of Merchants and Ecosystem Partners on April 18, JD.com introduced a range of supportive initiatives aimed at achieving this ambitious target.
Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com, noted at the conference that the company will dedicate significant resources to bolster traffic support, incorporate advanced AI technology, and enhance service capabilities. These efforts are particularly focused on empowering third-party merchants, including small and medium-sized enterprises in its marketplace.
Key initiatives include optimizing the platform’s traffic distribution ecosystem to prioritize highly-rated stores and products and competitively priced products through enhanced search and recommendation mechanisms. Additionally, JD.com will continue to offer merchants free access to high-traffic channels, which include significant incentives such as the popular 10-billion-yuan discount and free shipping programs.
To engage more content creators, JD.com recently announced that it will allocate over one billion yuan in cash incentives and traffic resources. This investment aims to cultivate a vibrant ecosystem that supports merchants’ traffic, business growth, and innovation.
At the core of JD.com’s strategy is technological innovation, which involves integrating AI-driven solutions into merchant operations. This includes the deployment of JD’s proprietary large language model, ChatRhino, and an AI-empowered merchant operation platform that offers are variety of free AI applications, and more. These technologies streamline various operations scenarios, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs for merchants.
For instance, On April 16th, JD.com unveiled an AI digital avatar of its founder, Richard Liu, as a sales host on its livestreaming platform. This event attracted 20 million viewers in just one hour and generated sales exceeding RMB 50 million ($6.9 million). This AI-driven virtual host technology, developed by JD Technology, is now supporting over 4,000 brands on the platform. Additionally, merchants such as a sashimi knife seller can utilize JD.com’s AIGC content generation tool to quickly produce high-quality demonstration images, bypassing traditional costs associated with product photography.
JD.com also continues to enhance its service capabilities, particularly for small and medium-sized merchants. This includes personalized business guidance, comprehensive training programs, and upgraded after-sales services, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers.
As of March 2024, JD.com has seen a significant increase in active third-party merchants on its platform, surpassing one million. This growth is a testament to the platform’s effectiveness and its appeal to both new and established merchants.
JD.com is Runner-Up Chinese Company on Forbes’ 2022 World’s Best Employers
