by Ella Kidron

JD Q2 2020 Earnings: FMCG and Fresh are Champion Categories, JD Health Shines, Lower-Tier Cities Strategy, and more…

It’s been quite a week here at JD. We reported second quarter 2020 earnings on Monday, followed by the eight year anniversary of JD Logistics and the launch of our Family Doctor program.

First thing’s first – earnings. JD reported net revenue of RMB 201.1 billion (US$ 28.5 billion), an increase of 33.8% YOY. General merchandise revenue was RMB 64.0 billion (US$ 9.1 billion), an increase of 45.4% YOY, the highest growth rate for the past nine quarters. This growth was led by star categories such as supermarket and healthcare. Annual active customers for the past 12 months (TTM) reached 417.4 million, an increase of 29.9% YOY, representing the highest growth rate in the last 11 quarters.

Read the earnings press release: https://ir.jd.com/news-releases/news-release-details/jdcom-announces-2020-second-quarter-and-interim-financial

Listen to the earnings call webcast playback: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/kfyx5tm7

EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS

Active Customers up 30% annually; 80% of New Users Come from Lower Tier Cities

As JD CFO Sandy Xu revealed during the earnings call, over 80% of new users for Q2 came from lower-tier cities, the highest level on record. Xu also explained that JD’s strong topline growth was backed by sustained improvement in user engagement, especially from lower-tier cities users. Put simply, a look at the numbers indicates that JD’s long term commitment to and investment in the lower-tier cities is paying off.

JD started investing in the lower-tier cities with its logistics network several years ago. The commitment to the lower-tier cities does not stop there, however. JD’s social e-commerce platform, Jingxi, as well as the light version of the JD app, are meant to make it easier for lower-tier cities consumers to find appropriate products. Another of the ways JD is seeking to make more suitable products available is by working directly with the hundreds of industrial belts across China. Get the full story.

FMCG and Fresh Are Champion Categories

JD’s position as not only the largest supermarket, but as Chinese consumers’ grocery store of choice was made clear in this earnings report. On the call to discuss results, CFO Sandy Xu explained that the supermarket category, including FMCG and fresh produce, became the single largest product category by revenue in the first half of 2020, surpassing mobile phones, home appliances, and computers – JD’s former “champion categories” (which also performed well).

Behind the strong results is both customers’ and brand partners’ recognition of and trust in JD as a reliable provider of essentials. JD’s own big data found that as of June 30, 2020, over 10,000 brands have achieved YOY turnover growth of over 100%, 7000 brands saw over 200% YOY turnover growth, and 5,000 brands saw 300% growth YOY. Two hundred brands saw transaction volume exceed RMB 100 million yuan, while over 20 brands realized transaction volume of over RMB 10 billion yuan. Get the full story.

JD’s Investment Strategy: Complementary, Long-Term Business Value, Strategic Growth in Key Areas

We’ve announced a handful of important investments recently in several categories across the business. On the earnings call, JD CEO Dr. Jon Liao succinctly summarized the company’s investment strategy. He said, “We are committed to investing in companies which are complementary in terms of scale, scope, capability and long-term business value to build long-term strategic value.” He added, “We will continue our strong investment in lower-tier cities, supply chain and infrastructure.” Here we recap several recent investments, all of which align with Liao’s investment ethos explained on the call: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-earnings-cso-jon-liao-on-jds-investment-strategy/

JD Health Sees Online Medical Consultation Volume up 400%

In the second quarter, JD Health, which saw strong topline growth in online pharmacy sales, also realized 400% YOY growth in online medical consultation service volume as more people became aware of and accustomed to the new service. On the call to discuss the results, JD Retail CEO Lei Xu said, “JD Health is the largest pharmaceutical retailer in the healthcare industry in China, and more than that, it’s the front runner and a first mover in the Internet-led healthcare area.” Get the full story.

On August 18^th, the day after the earnings call, JD Health announced a new JD Family Doctor initiative. Through the program, up to eight family members can share a package of extremely high quality medical services, bringing the best medical resources to consumers at accessible prices. JD Family Doctor is meant to supplement China’s existing public medical resources, and is part of JD’s commitment to use its resources and technology strength to improve people’s lives. One of the biggest benefits is that it can be used for individuals to manage their own health, as well as to have visibility into and be able to support health management for family members such as parents, from afar. Learn more about our Family Doctor program: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-health-launches-family-doctor-telehealth-services

Are We Heading into the “JAT” Era?

We are all likely familiar with the term “BAT” to describe Chinese internet giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Recently, Fortune magazine has coined a new term, JAT”, referring to the three most prominent Chinese technology companies, JD.com, Alibaba and Tencent, who keep on transforming and growing against all odds and uncertainty arising in the past year. Last week Fortune announced its Global 500 list, on which JD ranked 102^nd, jumping up 37 places compared with last year. Get the full story.

JD LOGISTICS STRATEGY UPGRADE

On August 18^th, JD Logistics celebrated its eighth anniversary, following its official registration as a company in 2012. Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics, sent a congratulatory letter (in Chinese) to JD Logistics employees, in which he announces the upgrade of JD Logistics’ mission and vision, organizational structure and brand image, to further its goal towards becoming a leading global supply chain and logistics company. A courtesy translation of the letter is available here: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-logistics-upgrades-its-brand/

Want a visual picture of what we’ve been up to? This week at JD in photos, here: https://jdcorporateblog.com/photo-gallery-this-week-at-jd-august-17-august-21/

Have a bit more time? Check out some of our recent long reads and data reports here:

• JDD Leaders Series: Yu Zheng: Dancing in the Sea of Data to Build Intelligent Cities – A profile of JD Digits’ head of smart cities: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jdd-leaders-series-yu-zheng-dancing-in-the-sea-of-data-to-build-intelligent-cities/
• Sizzling Adult Products Consumption under COVID-19. JD Data Doesn’t Lie: You heard it here first. Here we look at adult products trends on JD during different stages of COVID, just in time for Chinese Valentine’s Day, known as “Qixi”: https://jdcorporateblog.com/sizzling-adult-products-consumption-under-covid-19-jd-data-doesnt-lie/
• JD Data: Summer “Must-Haves” for China’s Consumers: What do the hot summer months have Chinese consumers craving? JD Big Data has the answer: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-data-summer-must-haves-for-chinas-consumers/

(ella@jd.com)