JD.com Announces Partnership with Leading German Brand Continental Tires

On March 23rd, JD.com held a signing ceremony for its landmark partnership with Continental Tires, a globally recognized German tire manufacturer. The partnership marks a major development in JD.com’s efforts to provide the best and most convenient tire purchasing experience. The German tire company’s products will be available for direct sales on JD.com.

Tires have traditionally been a difficult product to supply through online sales channels, as customers tend to buy tires from offline shops that then provide installation and post-sale service. The lack of convenient, trustworthy options for purchasing and installing tires has been a long-term headache for car owners in China.

To resolve this bottleneck, JD.com is cooperating with a vast network of offline stores, including auto repair stores and auto beauty shops located throughout China to provide a true O2O end-to-end solution. Customers can buy tires on JD and enjoy the integrated service in the cooperating offline stores, including installation, repairs and post-sale service.

Tires are already the fast growing product category in JD.com’s auto products business, and are especially popular in tier 1 and 2 cities. Users from tier 1 and 2 cities accounted for 48% of total tire customers.

“Our partnership with JD.com demonstrates our unremitting commitment to enhancing Chinese consumers’ experience through sales channel innovation,” noted Dalibor Kalina, General Manager of Continental Tires (China) Co., Ltd. “The e-commerce experience provided by JD.com will enable us to provide premium products, leveraging advanced German technology to more Chinese consumers, therefore further expanding our footprint in China.”

“JD.com has worked hard to develop a network of high-quality offline stores, and we’re excited that Continental Tires is now joining us to provide a superior O2O solution covering the entire tire purchasing process,” said Lijun Xin, President of JD Home and Life, which covers home furnishings and auto supplies, among other products. “We truly appreciate the trust that Continental Tires has placed in us. It is a clear indication that global market leaders understand the importance of placing their products on China’s most trusted e-commerce platform.”

To kick-off this new collaboration, JD.com is holding a special sales event from March 21-28. Customers will receive special promotional coupons during this period, and JD.com has collaborated with offline shops to provide a special “e-card” that can be used to reserve tires in offline stores.

In addition to the collaboration with Continental Tires, JD.com has agreements with many international brands across a wide range of auto-related product categories, covering parts and components, electronic equipment, home decorations, beauty products. Many international brands are already available on JD.com, including Bosch, Philips, 3M, MAHLE, Valeo, Denso, VARTA, OSRAM, Hella, Total, Gulf, Meguiar’s, Johnson & Johnson and Karcher.