Feb 25, 2021|

JD Central in Thailand Announces Quality, Price and Service as Benchmark to Grow Sustainably

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by Ella Kidron

JD CENTRAL (JDC) announced the release of a new benchmark to enable sellers to grow sustianably based on quality, price and service. The benchmark (referred to as QPS) was announced during the JOYFUL AWARDS ceremony the company hosted at its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand on Feb. 25.

A total of 23 Thailand and international brands were honored, and their performance was based entirely on QPS. CEO of JD CENTRAL Vincent Yang, who announced the QPS benchmark in his keynote speech during the ceremony, explained: “Our awards aren’t about which sellers sold the most products, but about how they performed in terms of QPS. This is what creates real value – it’s not pure reliance on traffic and subsidies.“

Thai ready-to-drink milk brand Foremost was among the award recipients of the SUPER JOY AWARD. A Foremost representative said: “FOREMOST is committed to continue providing our quality products made of 100% cow milk to JD CENTRAL’s shoppers at special prices to enjoy the best shopping experiences on the JD CENTRAL platform.“

Foremost Thailand’s SUPER JOY AWARD

Foremost Thailand’s SUPER JOY AWARD

Even as COVID-19 put extreme pressure on Thailand’s GDP, JDC achieved 169% YOY growth in 2020.“ Our purpose of holding this event is threefold,” said Yang. “We want to provide sellers with a clear vision of where we are going, share with them what we have achieved, and articulate our competitive advantages going forward.”The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) and basket size continues to increase. Continued strong performance is attributed to an ongoing commitment to the essence of retail, which can be measured by QPS.

“JD CENTRAL is not a typical e-commerce company,” explained Yang. “We want to grow together with and empower our partners.”

(From left to right) JD CENTRAL CEO Vincent Yang, Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) senior vice president, Chatchai Khunpitiluck and JD CENTRAL CMO Korlap Suwacharangkul

Consumers have demand for e-commerce but they have been misguided by a market where there previously was not enough attention on quality and service. According to Yang, JDC is focused on enabling its sellers, but also offline partners through omnichannel models. “JD CENTRAL is not a typical e-commerce company,” explained Yang. “We want to grow together with and empower our partners.”

In addition to Yang, JD CENTRAL CMO Korlap Suwacharangkul, as well as Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) senior vice president, Chatchai Khunpitiluck spoke at the event to a room of sellers, and a local and international press corp who joined online. CMO Suwacharangkul provided a granular explanation to merchants of how to increase their QPS, in particular as it relates to product quality, attractiveness of promotions and prices, and services from pre-sales to aftersales.

DEPA representative Khunpitiluck shared that e-commerce in Thailand has grown significantly in the last several years, owing some of the growth in 2020 to living under a “new normal” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized the importance to promote SMEs and ensure they can benefit from e-commerce. Khunpitiluck also advocated for a range of measures to make it easier for SMEs to benefit from e-commerce and to protect the market from unequal competition, predatory pricing, and to reduce tax burdens among Thai entrepreneurs among other efforts.

Although the pendulum has increasingly swung in favor of e-commerce under COVID-19, e-commerce only accounts for roughly 5% of total retail sales in Thailand. This is not because of lack of internet access. The number of internet users continues to increase reaching 48 million in 2020, according to a data report by the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, the number of internet users in Thailand continues to increase, reaching 48 million in 2020.

JD CENTRAL CEO Vincent YangJD CENTRAL CEO Vincent Yang

About JD CENTRAL

JD CENTRAL is a leading e-commerce and business retailer in Thailand and is a joint venture between Chinese retail giant JD.com and Thailand’s largest retailer Central Group.

JD CENTRAL officially began operating in 2018 and is a combination of direct-to-consumer and marketplace businesses. Its self-defined role as a digital enabler differentiates the company from most e-commerce players in Thailand, the second largest economy in Southeast Asia.

The company is the first online shopping platform in Thailand to claim to provide 100% authentic products, echoing the “zero-tolerance to counterfeits” promise of e-commerce parent JD.com. Before JDC entered the market in 2018, Thailand’s e-commerce market was made up consumer-to-consumer (C2C) players. Combining the forces of Thailand’s powerful offline retail conglomerate Central Group, with the long-term e-commerce expertise of JD.com, the company introduced the concept of an online mall with guaranteed quality. Thanks to its own and third party delivery resources, including eight self-built warehouses. Today it is able to cover the whole of Thailand with rapid delivery services.

 

 

(ella@jd.com)

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