Jan 14, 2021|
JD Cloud and AI Helps Miniso with Digital Transformation
by Rachel Liu
As Chinese New Year is around the corner, popular Chinese retailer and variety store chain Miniso(名创优品) is eying for a sales campaign for JD’s CNY themed promotion to be launched on Jan. 20th. During Miniso’s effort of moving online and achieve digital transformation, JD Cloud and AI has played an important part.
As digitalization becomes a trend for retailers, especially after the break of COVID-19, JD’s rich technology and customer service experience in retail, logistics, finance, cloud computing, IoT and big data has brought comprehensive intelligent solutions to retail enterprises.
Even during the epidemic, Miniso saw a sales increase of over two times and fast development on digitalization. Through working with JD Cloud and AI, Miniso has successfully moved its big data and supply chain platform onto the cloud. In the future, Miniso hopes to achieve digitalization on inventory management, store operations and product customization by leveraging JD’s digital platform.
“The digitalization in the retail industry in China began very early, and the epidemic accelerated it,” said Guofu Ye, founder of Miniso. “Now digitalization has become a more important portion in the business.”
“Miniso is developing very fast,” said a spokesperson for JD Cloud and AI. “Especially in this August and September, Miniso needed to expand its big data platform quickly. Its cloud host and cloud storage needed to be expanded by 125% and 300% respectively. We formed an emergent project team to help Miniso make an expansion plan and leveraged resources from different business departments to help Miniso achieve this goal.”
“By 2030, all companies will become technology companies. Technology will drive the revolution of the retail industry profoundly in the next 10 years,” said Bowen Zhou, Chair of JD Technology Committee. He hopes to help clients with over 80% of their digital transformation demands, and for the remaining 20%, JD Cloud and AI can provide customized capabilities for clients.
Miniso’s cooperation with JD on retail goes back to 2017, when Miniso opened the first flagship store on JD, and launched its first-party store in 2018. In 2019, Miniso opened an offline store in JD’s Beijing headquarters. From 2018 to 2020, sales of Miniso increased over 10 times on JD. During the 2020 Singles Day Grand Promotion, sales of Miniso surpassed RMB 10 million yuan. Miniso is looking to work deeper with JD on launching new products, developing customized products and joint marketing campaigns.
Miniso was founded in 2013, and soon became popular among Chinese consumers. In the 2020 fiscal year, its annual revenue achieved RMB 8.97 billion yuan. According to the Frost & Sullivan report in 2019, it had become the largest private label brand retailer around the world. As of Sep. 30, 2020, it owns 4330 stores in 85 countries and regions, including 2633 stores in China. Miniso listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.
Sep 27, 2024|
Leveraging AI to Drive Innovation, Reduce Costs, and Create Jobs: Insights from JD.com’s Chief Economist
At the 2024 FORTUNE Global 500 Summit in Guangzhou on September 26th, Dr. Shen Jianguang, Chief Economist of JD.com, shared how the company utilizes AI to transform its operations across retail, logistics, and more, while driving significant workforce expansion. “By integrating advanced technologies throughout our business, JD.com has more than tripled its workforce in the past six years from 180,000 to 620,000, all while increasing salaries,” Dr. Shen explained during the panel discussion titled “‘Changes and Opportunities’—Chief Economists’ Perspectives.”
AI tools have enabled JD.com to boost efficiency and elevate the customer experience. For example, JD’s AI-driven digital human livestream hosts have helped over 5,000 brands increase off-peak hours’ sales conversion rates by 30%. Additionally, AI-powered customer service representatives offer more personalized support, and logistics couriers use AI to deliver packages faster and with greater sustainability.
JD.com’s customer service representatives
“The competition in China is so fierce, and that’s what drives innovation—you have to innovate to survive,” said Dr. Shen, underscoring the role of innovation in reducing costs and increasing productivity. This is especially crucial in China’s e-commerce landscape, where consumers are becoming more price-conscious. “Consumers are looking for the ‘extreme quality-to-price ratio,’ meaning they want high-quality products at lower prices,” he added. At the same time, Dr. Shen noted a growing trend in rural and lower-tier markets, where significant growth opportunities are emerging.
Dr. Shen also discussed China’s recent economic stimulus packages. “Policy initiatives are important. When people perceive a shift in policy, the market responds,” he said, referring to the government’s subsidies for home appliance trade-ins introduced earlier this year. This program has stimulated demand for affordable, high-quality products, as reflected in the increased sales of subsidized items.
Guangzhou, the host city for the summit, launched a new round of consumer goods trade-in subsidies on September 1st, positioning online platforms like JD.com as essential providers of seamless trade-in services. Over 800 home appliance brands have partnered with JD.com in Guangzhou, offering more than 8,500 products. Additionally, JD.com is working with its brand partners on a Customer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) model, leveraging consumer insights to drive innovation for more tailored products.
JD.com provides one-stop trade-in services for home appliances and home goods
The panel discussion featured Dr. Shen alongside Minggao Shen, Global Chief Economist at GF Securities, and Robin Xing, Chief China Economist at Morgan Stanley, with FORTUNE Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell moderating. The panelists agreed that while AI is still in its early stages, its potential is vast. With China’s stimulus policies and a functioning capital market, the private sector is well-positioned to unlock considerable industrial and social value.
JD.com ranked #47 on the 2024 Fortune Global 500, moving up five spots from the previous year. Guided by its mission to “Make Lives Better through Technology,” the company remains committed to cost management, operational efficiency, and enhancing user experiences, while continuing to invest in employee development and upskilling to foster both business growth and workforce advancement.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
Sep 13, 2024|
JD.com Showcases Cutting-Edge Supply Chain Innovations at 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS)
JD.com unveiled its latest digital supply chain technology advancements at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), held in Beijing from September 12 to 16. As a global partner of CIFTIS for the fifth consecutive year, JD.com demonstrated its commitment to driving digital transformation across industries. Notably, JD Cloud’s digital human powered by its ChatRhino (or Yanxi in Chinese) large language model (LLM) and JD Health’s Dermatology Service Platform were recognized with the “China Service Practice Case” and “Innovation Demonstration Case” awards, respectively.
JD Cloud’s ChatRhino AI digital human, a pioneering innovation in the field, played a key role during JD.com’s 618 Shopping Festival, becoming the first large-scale commercialized digital human in the industry. Developed entirely in-house, ChatRhino has supported over 5,000 brands, increased off-peak hours’ conversion rates by over 30%, and logged more than 400,000 hours of live streaming with a reach of over 100 million viewers and more than five million user interactions, the digital human has driven over RMB 10 billion in gross merchandise value.
In April 2023, JD Health launched China’s first online skin hospital, featuring over 6,000 registered doctors, including more than 3,500 from top-tier hospitals. Using JD Health’s Jingyi Qianxun (京医千询) LLM, the platform integrates vast medical expertise to deliver smart diagnostic support. The Dermatology Service Platform streamlines the diagnostic process at every stage of patient care, improving treatment efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of medical care.
At CIFTIS 2024, JD.com also introduced several breakthrough retail technologies, including JD.Vision, an early native application for Apple Vision Pro; Jingyan （京言）, an AI assistant for e-commerce; and Jingdiandian （京点点）, an AIGC-powered content generation platform. JD Logistics presented a virtual logistics park leveraging digital twin technology to simulate operations such as storage, packaging, sorting, and highlighted carbon-neutral logistic park practices. JD Industrials launched the “TAIPU”(太璞) digitally intelligent supply chain solution, tailored to optimize demand, procurement, fulfillment, and operations for industrial products. Additionally, JD Finance presented its suite of digital financial products and services, including consumer finance, payments, and wealth management.
JD’s exhibition also highlighted its digital and physical supply chain integration advancements across various business sectors. Key initiatives included cross-border e-commerce operations through JD Worldwide, omnichannel retail by ochama (JD.com’s Europe-based brand), country-specific online flagship stores known as JD National Pavilions, and on-demand retail and instant delivery service under JD NOW. These innovations attracted significant attention and reinforced JD.com’s leadership in advancing the digital transformation of supply chains.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
JD Works with JDDJ to Provide One-hour Delivery on Mobile Phones
