Aug 24, 2022|
JD PLUS Premium Membership Surpasses 30 Million
by Doris Liu
JD PLUS, a premium membership program offered by JD.com, saw a record high growth rate, with the number of members growing from 25 million at the end of 2021 to over 30 million by July this year, continuing to be among the largest paid membership programs in the industry.
As the first program of its kind in China’s e-commerce sector, JD PLUS joined hands with more than 1,200 well-known brands to create a full-scenario ecosystem covering both online and offline businesses, becoming an entry way to the good life for consumers, said Chen Lin, vice president of JD.com and head of platform business for JD Retail.
The rapid growth of JD PLUS indicates a positive win-win-win for consumers, brands and JD.com. The participation of more and more brands stimulates the offering of membership benefits, which further attracts more customers to take part, thus driving the high-quality growth of both JD.com and brand merchants, as well as creating value for the platform’s refined user operations.
1. Robust and Sustained Momentum for JD’s Growth
According to JD’s data, the JD PLUS program has demonstrated its members’ characteristics of high consumption, high activity and high loyalty. For instance, the consumption amount and frequency of the newly joined JD PLUS members rose more than 150 percent and 120 percent respectively in the first year of the membership. Meanwhile, such members were more inclined to try new products across more categories.
JD PLUS members lead high-end consumption, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total new product sales during this year’s 618 Grand Promotion. On Samsung PLUS Member Day in March this year, the members also showed an obvious preference for high-end products and new launches, with the transaction amount reaching 50-90 percent in most of the single products priced above RMB 5,000 yuan.
Furthermore, the members are more willing to proactively participate in JD’s business with a higher level of activity in JD Health, JD Fresh and more. Lin believes that the membership program has become a sustained momentum for JD’s high-quality development.
2. One-stop Solution for Better Life
About 80 percent of JD PLUS members are family-oriented users, meaning that daily necessities are crucial for their shopping. So far, delivery vouchers offered by JD PLUS program have helped save nearly RMB 1.8 billion yuan in shipping costs; co-branded bank cards have saved RMB 1.18 billion yuan; and the 24-hour “exclusive customer service for PLUS members” has been provided for more than 30 million times. A JD PLUS member in Shanghai had saved RMB 300,000 yuan during this year’s 618 promotion.
The average number of online benefits available for JD PLUS members every day exceeds 130, which has become the largest number in terms of paid membership programs in the industry.
“Saving money is not the only purpose,” Lin said. “Our original intention is to let more people enjoy a high-quality life conveniently.” JD continues to expand new industries, new benefits and new cards through opening up benefits internally with the broader external ecosystem, so that JD PLUS members get exclusive benefits and services as well as full-scenario benefits.
3. Certain Growth for Partners amid Uncertainties
“Affected by the uncertain market environment, major brands are no longer simply pursuing traffic growth, but focusing more on the refined operation of users,” noted Chunhui Meng, general manager of JD PLUS. As the largest membership system with the highest stickiness in the industry, JD PLUS supports both JD’s high-quality development and growth with external partners, Meng said.
To date, 1,200 established brands including P&G, Dyson, Apple, McDonald’s and KFC, among others, have collaborated with JD PLUS to offer high-value services. Earlier this year, the system also opened to third-party merchants for the first time, so that the merchants can now access PLUS marketing tools with traffic support to select products based on the “PLUS Preference Index”, set special prices for PLUS members and accurately reach target consumers.
JD PLUS was first introduced in 2015, and officially came online in March 2016. From the perspective of brands and merchants, JD PLUS helps achieve higher return-on-investment results, and will leverage JD’s capabilities in digital intelligence and supply chain to explore more needs under different consumption scenarios, said Meng, who is confident that JD PLUS will continue to bring more value to partners and customers.
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.
Apr 20, 2024|
JD.com Unveils Ambitious Plans for 618 Grand Promotion: Aiming to More Than Double High-Performing Merchants
JD.com is gearing up for this year’s 618 Grand Promotion with an ambitious goal: to more than double the number of merchants achieving sales over one million yuan on its platform. At the recent Conference of Merchants and Ecosystem Partners on April 18, JD.com introduced a range of supportive initiatives aimed at achieving this ambitious target.
Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com, noted at the conference that the company will dedicate significant resources to bolster traffic support, incorporate advanced AI technology, and enhance service capabilities. These efforts are particularly focused on empowering third-party merchants, including small and medium-sized enterprises in its marketplace.
Key initiatives include optimizing the platform’s traffic distribution ecosystem to prioritize highly-rated stores and products and competitively priced products through enhanced search and recommendation mechanisms. Additionally, JD.com will continue to offer merchants free access to high-traffic channels, which include significant incentives such as the popular 10-billion-yuan discount and free shipping programs.
To engage more content creators, JD.com recently announced that it will allocate over one billion yuan in cash incentives and traffic resources. This investment aims to cultivate a vibrant ecosystem that supports merchants’ traffic, business growth, and innovation.
At the core of JD.com’s strategy is technological innovation, which involves integrating AI-driven solutions into merchant operations. This includes the deployment of JD’s proprietary large language model, ChatRhino, and an AI-empowered merchant operation platform that offers are variety of free AI applications, and more. These technologies streamline various operations scenarios, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs for merchants.
For instance, On April 16th, JD.com unveiled an AI digital avatar of its founder, Richard Liu, as a sales host on its livestreaming platform. This event attracted 20 million viewers in just one hour and generated sales exceeding RMB 50 million ($6.9 million). This AI-driven virtual host technology, developed by JD Technology, is now supporting over 4,000 brands on the platform. Additionally, merchants such as a sashimi knife seller can utilize JD.com’s AIGC content generation tool to quickly produce high-quality demonstration images, bypassing traditional costs associated with product photography.
JD.com also continues to enhance its service capabilities, particularly for small and medium-sized merchants. This includes personalized business guidance, comprehensive training programs, and upgraded after-sales services, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers.
As of March 2024, JD.com has seen a significant increase in active third-party merchants on its platform, surpassing one million. This growth is a testament to the platform’s effectiveness and its appeal to both new and established merchants.
JD Welcomes Unprecedented Number of Brands and Products
