Feb 16, 2024|
JD.com Wins 2024 Gartner Power of the Profession Supply Chain Award
On February 14, leading research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc. announced JD.com among the winners of its “Power of the Profession Supply Chain Awards for 2024”. JD.com won the Process or Technology Innovation of the Year award for its “powerful planning technology that drives an innovative approach to resilient planning.”
The awards, presented by Gartner in four categories, including customer or patient innovation, process or technology innovation, social impact, and people breakthrough, highlight continuous innovation focused on enabling customers, developing talent, and driving sustainability. JD.com was the sole Asia-based company recognized by Gartner this year.
“This year’s entries demonstrated growth in technological innovations through the use of AI,” said Maria Nieradka, VP analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “At the same time, the number of submissions related to people-related breakthroughs more than doubled. It’s clear that people ultimately make supply chains work, while in many cases AI is helping them to work even better.”
Harnessing the power of probabilistic forecasting and explainable AI technology, JD.com’s intelligent supply chain team has engineered a robust planning solution. This innovative approach delivers reliable decision-making support amidst external uncertainties and rapid market changes. Notably, this technology significantly enhances supply chain flexibility, particularly during intricate shopping scenarios such as large-scale promotions, holiday seasons, and challenging weather conditions. In doing so, it has played an instrumental role in reducing costs and enhancing operational efficiency.
JD.com’s highly automated “Asia No.1” logistic park
Transforming rapidly from an e-commerce giant to a supply chain-focused technology and service provider, JD.com has made significant technological strides in supply chain arena. As indicated in JD’s 2023 third-quarter financial report, the company has optimized inventory turnover to just 30.8 days while maintaining a global leadership position with self-operated SKUs numbering in the tens of millions. Currently, JD.com boasts a procurement automation rate exceeding 85%, all while maintaining an average inventory availability of no less than 95%.
During the 2024 Chinese New Year Shopping Festival, spanning from January 17 to February 3, JD.com’s intelligent supply chain system generated over 620,000 decision recommendations daily. These recommendations proved instrumental in assisting brand partners and merchants with precise demand forecasting, production guidance, and inventory management, markedly boosting supply chain efficiency across the entire industrial chain.
As the exclusive interactive platform for this year’s Spring Festival Gala, hosted by China Media Group and broadcasted live on February 9, JD.com captivated users, amassing over 52 billion interactions on its app. Additionally, the platform distributed one million physical gifts through lucky draws during the 4.5-hour extravaganza.
Ms. Wang in Beijing received JD’s flower gift during the Spring Festival Gala
To ensure seamless gift distribution and order fulfillment, JD’s intelligent supply chain system integrates seamlessly with its expansive logistics network, comprising numerous “Asia No.1” intelligent industrial parks, along with hundreds of smart warehouses and sorting centers. This synchronization extended to over 1,000 air and rail cargo routes, spanning more than 100 airports, high-speed railways, and freight trains. This extensive network ensures that customers across more than 2,000 counties and cities nationwide enjoy a premium shopping and logistics experience during the festive season.
Apr 25, 2024|
JD Logistics and MINISO Announce Expanded Partnership to Enhance Logistics Efficiency
JD Logistics (also known as JINGDONG Logistics), a leading global logistics provider, recently announced the expansion of its partnership with MINISO, the renowned household and consumer goods retailer. This collaboration, which began in 2022 with operations in Australia, now extends to MINISO’s network in Malaysia.
JD Logistics’ robust global supply chain infrastructure includes nearly 90 bonded, direct mail, and overseas warehouses across key markets such as the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Committed to replicating its proven supply chain management expertise from China in international markets, JD Logistics provides extensive support to a broad spectrum of clients, including international enterprises and Chinese brands expanding overseas.
MINISO’s diverse product range and rapid restocking requirements, combined with its strategic store locations in bustling commercial areas, present unique logistical challenges. These include critical delivery lead times and the need for off-hours operations to ensure uninterrupted customer experiences. JD Logistics has effectively met these demands through reliable and adaptable warehousing and fulfillment service solutions.
Notably, the trust built with MINISO has led some store managers to entrust their store keys to JD Logistics’ drivers to facilitate smooth and timely deliveries. Among them is JD Logistics driver Nick Yang, responsible for delivering goods to all MINISO stores in Sydney. Yang’s daily schedule involves commuting between JD Logistics’ warehouse and approximately 10 MINISO outlets throughout the city.
Over the next three years, JD Logistics will continue to develop its comprehensive global supply chain logistics network, which integrates overseas warehouses, international transshipment hubs, local distribution networks, and transnational transportation networks.
This partnership is not only a testament to JD Logistics’ proven expertise and global operational capabilities but also underscores the commitment of both companies to foster innovation in supply chain management for retail operations worldwide.
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.
JD.com’s “Sending New Year’s Gifts to Villagers” Initiative Brightens Over 8,000 Areas in Rural China in One Week
