Aug 7, 2020|
JD Supports Farmers to Move from Exports to the Domestic Market
by Vivian Yang
Carp and pigeon farmers crushed by export order cancellations due to COVID-19 have turned their products into hot sellers on JD.com for domestic customers. This is made possible through the “National Fresh Produce Green Channel” that JD established in February to support sales of agriculture products and provide customers access to more high quality and fresh produce during the special period.
For carp farmers in Kuandian county of Liaoniang province and pigeon growers in Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, export revenue accounts for more than half of the whole year’s income. In one month’s time from January to February this year, the virus had reduced Kuandian’s carp price from RMB 20 yuan to 15 yuan per kilogram and the price of Hotan’s pigeons dropped from RMB 17 yuan to 5 per bird.
As farmers seek help from domestic sales channels, JD immediately realized these agricultural products are a good fit for its farm-to-table initiative which works to provide support to farmers and bring naturally-farmed products to customers.
The carp and pigeon products joined JD’s special projects, which enabled them to enjoy more online traffic, marketing and promotional support. In the meantime, JD’s cold chain logistics ensured fast and secure transportation of the products directly from the farms to JD’s warehouses.
To date, nearly 500,000 carp and 300,000 pigeons have been sold on JD, almost doubling the year-on-year sales and sparing farmers more than RMB 6 million yuan in economic losses.
In addition, compared to trading with purchasers in the past, farmers selling on JD through more direct formats such as livestreaming and flash sales get to know about consumers’ demands and preferences firsthand.
With the unsalable crisis brought by export restriction in the first half of the year now solved, farmers in both Kuandian and Hotan have now started a new round of breeding.
Aug 1, 2022|
JD Logistics Announces Supply Chain Decarbonization Initiative
by Doris Liu
JD.com’s logistics arm JD Logistics (JDL) and the Green Supply Chain Professional Committee of the All-China Environment Federation jointly released action guidelines on July 27 for achieving a more sustainable and low-carbon supply chain.
The Supply Chain Decarbonization Initiative, proposed at the second Sustainable Consumption Forum, which is part of the CICPE (China International Consumption Products Expo) held in Haikou, capital of Hainan province, is based on the belief that setting up a unified standard for calculating carbon emissions is the foundation of decarbonization to ensure accurate, fair and comparable results among companies. By focusing on technology and application, companies can achieve life-cycle carbon reduction goals through designing more sustainable products and services. Also, the initiative encourages the companies involved in the industry chain to share a common goal during collaboration to slow and eventually stop global warming. Previously, JDT has already committed to reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030 (starting from 2019).
“The ‘Supply Chain Decarbonization Initiative’ not only enables companies with relatively small carbon footprints to have the same significant impact globally, but also eases the cost investment for companies and provides a way for consumers to reduce carbon emissions by dispersing the decarbonization cost along the value chain,” said Wenming Zhe, head of the smart logistics park innovation department at JD Logistics.
In addition, JDL also announced that it will officially join the Global Sustainable Consumption Initiative with the commitment of always fulfilling “responsible supply chain” and promoting end-to-end green and integrated supply chain together with upstream and downstream partners as well as consumers.
As a leading supply chain solution and logistics service provider in China, JDL helps its partners cope with external uncertainties and promote high-quality development based on an agile, stable and sustainable supply chain, noted Yanping Su, Deputy General Manager of JD Logistics’ Southern China Branch, during the forum held on the sideline of the second China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE).
The Global Sustainable Consumption Initiative was proposed a year ago at the first CICPE by China Sustainability Tribune together with companies that actively push forward green consumption. It advocates companies to provide sustainable products and services, conveying the concept of sustainability to customers and foster a sustainable consumption culture, etc. As of now, 12 renowned domestic and overseas companies and brands have taken part in the proposal.
Jul 11, 2022|
JD Incubates New Professions: Robotics Technician, Digital Twin Engineer, Carbon Consultant and More
by Vivian Yang
As a company dedicated to supporting the real economy with its technology and infrastructure in supply chain, JD.com has become an incubator for many emerging professions across its diverse businesses, especially in line with the trends of digitalization and carbon neutrality.
China’s human resources authority recently announced 18 new professions for public summons including robotics engineering technicians, data security engineers, digital solution designers, carbon sequestration assessors and more, reflecting the country’s occupational development and aim to boost college graduate employment and encourage entrepreneurship.
Here are examples of these new positions from JD.com you may want to take a look.
1. Digital solution designer
Jin Zi is an expert of digital solutions for JD Retail’s intelligent supply chain. His work helps to ensure the company’s daily operation efficiency in managing a scale of nearly 10 million SKUs of all categories from electronics, home appliances, general merchandise to fresh food and more, as well as overseeing their optimal fulfillment plans.
By applying cutting-edge technology in inventory prediction, deployment, replenishment and more into a nationwide network of 1,400 warehouses, nowadays 85 percent of JD Retail’s procurement activities happen automatically, further driving down JD’s inventory turnover time to as low as 30.2 days, which is a world-leading performance especially given its size.
2. Robotics engineering technician
Cai Cai is a “trainer” of JD Logistics’ autonomous driving vehicles. She tests these robots not only on the computer for simulations, but also on the real road. New iterations have happened fast in the past few years, and now it is the fifth generation of the self-delivery vehicles. “Before I can follow them by walking, but now as they run faster, I must ride a bike to catch up,” she said.
JD.com is the first company in China to deploy autonomous driving into real logistics scenarios. To date, it is operating hundreds of the self-delivery vehicles on a daily basis in more than 25 cities in China. They also played an important role to perform contactless delivery work during COVID outbreaks in Wuhan, Shanghai and other cities.
3. Energy efficiency and carbon neutrality consultant
Ms. Shen is a building designer from JD Property, a subsidiary of JD.com focusing on developing and managing logistics infrastructures, manufacturing parks and more. Building with a low-carbon concept is at the core of her daily work. Last year, her team delivered a tailor-made BMW parts distribution center in the Central China region, which became the client’s first LEED-certified “green warehouse” in the country. The next such center in North China will also be finishing soon, further extending sustainable development in the entire value chain of the automotive business from production to the after-sales.
As of this June, JD Property has completed project designs for 135 JD Intelligent Industrial Parks, over 40 percent of which adopted the “sponge city” modern rainwater management system.
4. Technician for agricultural digitalization
As part of a new generation of farmers, Wen Ya’s job at JD Farm applies IoT, blockchain, AI and other technologies to the supply chain of agricultural industry, in order to make digitalized standards for farm production and management.
To date, JD Farm has rolled out over 70 projects on nearly 400,000 mu(1 mu equals to 666.67 square meters) of plantation bases in over 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China, digitalizing the farming process of 13 produce categories including rice, millet, apples, citrons, Chinese wolfberries and more, and adding brand and marketing value for the produce such as promoting dedicated channels like JD Farm’s flagship online stores.
5. Digital twin engineer
Dr. Wang has been a fan of science fiction since childhood and was often fascinated with the idea of bringing people to life from still photos. After graduating from the field of AI generative modeling, he joined JD Explore Academy, applying digital twin technology to organize and present visual content in the digital world. “It is not only a dream come true to me,” he said. “More importantly, we can use these technologies to accompany and serve many people in need.”
JD Explore Academy’s multimodal super deep learning model, known as “Zeus”, has made a series of breakthroughs in the area of digital twinning and achieved first place in several public datasets on task generation in complex scenes.
6. Integrated energy service worker
Bo Wen works on the rooftops of JD’s warehouses, to ensure the stable operation of the photovoltaic panels built by JD Property to generate clean energy to run many of its intelligent industrial parks. He said he has climbed high to “plant the sun” in all weather conditions, and the rooftop view gives him inspiration for a greener future.
By the end of 2021, the first batch of JD’s 12 industrial parks had been installed with PV power generation systems. JD Property plans to build 1,000 megawatts of PV power generation capacity in the next three years, which will sufficiently cover energy use for 85 percent of its industrial parks. This March, JD’s Asian No.1 Logistics Industrial Park in Xi’an was certified to be China’s first carbon-neutral logistics park.
7. Business data analyst
Mr. Kong works for JD Retail’s private-label brand J.Zao. He acts as a “product doctor“ who examines and diagnoses market and consumption trends, identifies high-potential categories with the help of professional tools and experiences, and reviews users’ feedback so as to provide precise solutions for product R&D.
This systemized ability in generating acute product and category insights enables J.Zao to develop highly cost-effective products that meet customer demand better and faster. At this year’s JD618 Grand Promotion, a number of new J.Zao releases had achieved rapid sales growth month-over-month.
A JD Courier in Wuhan and his over 200 “Grandparents”
