Oct 30, 2020|
JD CEO Richard Liu: Alarm Clock, RMB 15B Yuan, And User Experience
by Vivian Yang
Providing the best user experience has always been the central point around which all JD’s businesses keep on expanding and evolving, wrote China Securities Journal (中国证券报) in a recent report following the announcement of upcoming IPOs from JD Digits and JD Health.
The Journal shed light on several stories about JD’s founder and CEO Richard Liu with a common thread about his persistent pursuit to improve the user experience, which is believed to be the starting point for Liu to develop JD’s strategies and choose what business areas the company should take on.
In the early days of JD.com, Liu handled all customer’s inquiries online by himself. To ensure a timely response, Liu slept on the wooden floor in his office every night, setting an alarm clock every 2 hours. When the alarm rang, it rattled so loudly on the floor that he had no choice but to get up and work. This intermittent sleeping pattern lasted more than 3 years until he had someone to help on customer services.
When JD was a small company, Liu would organize annual events in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou respectively to get together with his customers and invite them to visit JD’s local offices and warehouses. Liu would take down all their feedback and did internal reviews to improve the company’s services. During some of these events, he could often identify exactly which customer had previously raised a complaint and how JD had solved the issue.
When the company moved to a new building in 2007, Liu assigned the best office area to the customer service team, as he wanted customers to always experience the best part of JD in every aspect.
In the same vein, JD was the first e-commerce company in the country to start 24/7 customer service all year round. It was also the first company that promised to go to customers’ homes to pick up their return items or old-for-new exchange items. Over the past ten years, JD has accumulatively put in over RMB 15 billion yuan in developing its customer services.
The most classic example that shows JD’s customer-centered decision-making logic is Liu’s single-minded decision to build JD’s own logistics network, which he believed was the only way to reduce the risk related to parcel delivery and truly improve customers’ online shopping experience. Against the objections of many, Liu went ahead with these plans in 2007, putting heavy investment into building JD’s own logistics network. Ten years later, his efforts have clearly paid off. Nowadays, JD Logistics’ network and its services cover 99% of the total national population, with 90% of orders delivered within 24 hours. The service continued running efficiently even during the COVID-19 lockdown period earlier this year.
As the Journal concluded, “JD’s services are the best”— a standard Liu wants his customers to always benefit from too—whether in JD’s various businesses and services related to retail, technology, healthcare, insurance, and more.
Apr 1, 2024|
JD Chief Economist: Tech-Driven Supply Chain Revolutionizes Gen-Z Consumer Engagement in China
At the inaugural FORTUNE Innovation Forum in Hong Kong on March 28th, Dr. Jianguang Shen, chief economist of JD.com, highlighted the transformative impact of tech-driven supply chain solutions in meeting the dynamic needs of Gen-Z consumers in China.
“Gen-Z consumers are very discerning and pragmatic,” said Dr. Shen. “They don’t care if the brand is local or global.” Dr. Shen began by discussing the increasing sophistication of younger Chinese consumers. “The rising popularity of local products can be attributed to China’s supply-side reform, which has enabled brands to provide lower-cost products with higher quality,” he said. Shen also emphasized the strategic advantage that brands can achieve by leveraging advanced digital supply chains, which offer deep insights into consumer behavior, thereby tapping into substantial market opportunities.
Joining Dr. Shen were industry leaders including Angela Wei Dong, Global Vice President China at Nike; Pontus Erntell, President and Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA China; and Doreen Wang, CEO of Kantar China and Global Head of BrandZ. Together, they shed light on the shifting preferences of China’s youth towards quality, sustainability, and enhanced social engagement in their retail experiences, especially amid economic headwinds, prompting brands to adapt swiftly.
Drawing examples from JD.com’s platform, Dr. Shen discussed the rising popularity of eco-friendly mini refrigerators among Gen-Z consumers. These products, aligning with Gen Z’s penchant for tech-savvy and environmentally conscious offerings, underscore the necessity for brands to evolve and align with consumer preferences.
Furthermore, Dr. Shen discussed the positive impact of a new government policy encouraging trade-in of consumer goods, which is expected to boost consumption. Leveraging JD.com’s robust supply chain capabilities, customers not only can easily trade in old appliances for more modern and eco-friendly goods but also benefit from a suite of JD’s attentive services such as doorstep pickup, installation, and recycling.
The conversation also touched upon the strategic collaborations under the Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) model between JD.com and numerous brands, aiming to streamline the journey from product ideation to distribution. This collaboration has welcomed over 4,000 brands to JD.com’s C2M platform, drastically reducing product research and market introduction times by 80% and 70%, respectively, thereby fostering a mutually beneficial ecosystem for brands, retailers, and consumers.
Dr. Shen concluded by emphasizing JD.com’s commitment to technological innovation, with its deployment of AI-driven chatbot customer service, highly automated warehouses, autonomous delivery vehicles, and integrated retail solutions that bridge both online and offline domains. These innovations are designed to meet the dynamic preferences of consumers, enhancing the overall shopping experience and setting a new standard in consumer engagement.
An O2O Experience of Buying Properties on JD.com
