by Rachel Liu

Due to the coronavirus, many retailers in China face various challenges from supply and delivery to after sales service. JD has leveraged its capabilities to help its brand partners tackle some of these problems.

200,000 RMB worth of masks and other supplies in an hour

Located in Heilongjiang province, Qianjin Farm has 42,000 employees, half of whom are migrant workers. When the coronavirus broke out, its employees were panicking given that there were already several coronavirus patients in the local hospital. To make matters worse, the farm lacked enough masks to cover their staff so that they could check on the thousands of families around the farm. They tried to reach out to people and groups in the surrounding area but failed to get any help.

Upon learning about JD’s Cloud and AI smart calling system that uses AI calls to help efficiently check residents’ health condition and remind them of epidemic-related information, the farm was able to check on the health of people in the surrounding areas while avoiding the risk of disease transmission.  The Farm also posted their request for masks and protection supplies (worth a total of 200,000 RMB) on JD’s “Emergency Resources Information Platform”, and was connected with a suitable supplier within just one hour.

The parent company of Qianjin Farm, Beidahuang Group, has a flagship store on JD that sells rice, flour and cooking oil. During the epidemic the store has been working with JD to ensure the enough supply for customers and that the prices of goods will not rise. Thanks to JD’s subsidy policies for merchants, the store also received sales and logistics support. During the epidemic, visitors to the store have increased four times year-on-year, and sales have tripled in the same period.

400% year-on-year sales increase

Shiyuedaotian is a Chinese brand that mainly sells rice and grains, and has been working with JD for 10 years. When the coronavirus first broke out, the inventory that the brand had in JD’s warehouses was only enough to last one month. Thinking that customers’ needs from online for daily necessities could rise significantly because of the epidemic, JD’s sales team immediately worked with the brand to ensure enough supply. The brand’s factories were also back to work before the end of Chinese New Year holiday to ensure adequate production. Thanks to JD Logistics’ continuous operation during the holiday period, the brand was able to deliver the products to customers in time. During the epidemic, sales of Shiyuedaotian on JD increased 400% year-on-year.

AI powered customer service solution

Australia’s Own flagship store is a third-party store on JD that mainly sells dairy products from Australia. During the epidemic, the store’s sales increased 50% year-on-year, thanks to having adequate inventory and stable prices, and to JD Logistics’ continuous delivery service.

However, with the increase of orders, inquiries from customers has also increased significantly and the store only had one-third of its customer service staff back at work.

The store owner turned to JD’s AI powered customer service solution for help. JD is offering its AI powered customer service solution to merchants for free until March 31^st. Merchants can also receive free training on how to use the service. AI customer service has solved half of the queries the store has received during the epidemic, and the customer satisfaction rate is as high as human services.

(liuchang61@jd.com)