May 14, 2021|
JDer Kelly Dawson: Falling in Love with Beijing’s Nooks and Crannies
by Ella Kidron
For JDer Kelly Dawson, life in Beijing has always been about the “nooks and crannies” that one discovers throughout the city. As a former journalist with many bylines under her belt, Dawson is no stranger to exploration and revels in the ability of Beijing to surprise her. “It’s a place that not only challenges me but also inspires me,” she said in an interview at JD headquarters in Beijing.
Her video, “Unexpected Beijing”, takes viewers on a journey of Beijing’s Hutongs, which have become home to Dawson in her over six years in the city. The video is part of a video competition called “100 Reasons to Love Beijing”, hosted by the Beijing municipal government. Dawson accepted a third place award for the video at a ceremony in Beijing’s Forbidden City Museum on May 14. Larry Lee, vice president of Global Corporate Affairs at JD.com and Cheng Jigong a vice president at Kuaishou adminstered the awards.
“I’m an expat in the city I call home,” explains Dawson in the video. “In that way, maybe it’s easy to keep looking, to keep collecting the reasons I stay,” she continues as the camera pans to her taking photos in the Hutongs.
Though Dawson is the protagonist of this story, it is emblematic of one of her favorite hobbies, using her own lens to capture the unexpected throughout Beijing. “Exploring the different parts of Beijing and the little nooks and crannies that you stumble across represents the way that I have discovered and fallen in love with Beijing over the course of my time here,” she said.
One of Dawson’s latest discoveries has taken her to Yizhuang, a rapidly developing area in the southeast of Beijing, and home to JD.com’s headquarters. In the video, she is seen walking with the JD headquarters building in the background before swiping her employee card as she enters the building. It’s a nod to another adventure she has undertaken since joining the company last year. Dawson has fully embraced the experience and the culture of the place, appreciating the camaraderie she has with colleagues. She welcomes the challenges offered by the new experience. “Since joining JD, I’ve learned so much and being in this environment has been both exciting and inspiring,” she said. “I’m still learning and exploring, and this has also become a major part of my experience here in Beijing.”
In the final shots of the video, Dawson is seen against a backdrop of traditional Chinese architecture as she explains: “What I love most about Beijing is that what you grow to love about it won’t be obvious right away. It’s up to you to figure out what that might be.”
Dec 28, 2022|
JD.com’s CEO Lei Xu Named Among Most Influential Chinese Entrepreneurs of 2022
by Vivian Yang
Lei Xu, CEO of JD.com, was named one of the 25 most influential Chinese entrepreneurs in 2022 by CHINA ENTREPRENEUR magazine, a leading Chinese business publication focusing on reporting and building the country’s community of entrepreneurs.
“Since becoming the CEO of JD.com this April, Xu led the company to focus on its strengths, and improve operating quality and efficiency, while strategically investing in long-term innovation,” said the publication in the announcement on December 12.
As a real “doer” – the theme of the publication’s 2022 nomination – Xu is widely recognized for his down-to-earth spirit in helping the company navigate a challenging time. He has been driving the company to be increasingly “heavy” by exploring technology and service on supply chain, and positioning JD.com as a new type of real economy enterprise, noted the magazine.
“We all wish our enterprise to be built to last, to become a century-old brand,” said Xu in his interview with CHINA ENTREPRENEUR. “This is undoubtedly a marathon, and the only way to complete it through (economic) cycles and against complex uncertainties, is to stay on target and keep running.”
On many occasions in the past year, Xu has expressed his views that China’s economy has cycles that do not cancel its development momentum. JD’s core business focus is on the retail sector and has strong capability to ride out the cycles. Over the years JD.com has been building a solid infrastructure across three networks, including that of products, warehouses, and cloud technology. Coupled with a responsible supply chain, this safeguards the company’s smooth development despite external headwinds.
“Throughout JD’s 19 years of history, we have never dwelt long over short-term and local gains or losses. Our core logic of business is clear, i.e. our business model and strategic positioning have always revolved around customers and business partners,” said Xu in an earnings call in 2021.
The magazine also noticed Xu’s optimism during JD’s latest earnings call this November, when he commented that “the sign of economic recovery is in sight and JD is ready for it.”
Xu was promoted from President to CEO in April 2022. Richard Liu, the founder and Chairman of JD.com, is dedicated to the company’s long-term strategies, cultivating young talents and initiatives on rural revitalization.
Previously, Xu headed JD Retail for about four years as CEO, a role in which he demonstrated excellent management skills and delivered high-quality business growth under the philosophy of “trust-based and customer-centered value creation.” During this period from 2018 to 2021, JD’s annual active users grew from 300 to 570 million, and full-year net revenue nearly doubled from RMB 461 billion to 951.6 billion yuan.
A decade ago, Xu took the lead in transforming JD’s wireless business into JD App, bringing the company into the mobile era. Xu was also the key person in conceiving the idea of JD618 Grand Promotion, and in bringing the shopping festival to life.
Beyond his professional life, Xu is not shy to show his personality as a genuine Beijinger who speaks from his heart. He is also a rock-and-roll enthusiast and a lover of fashion brands and soccer, all of which make him a magnet for many fans, added the report.
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.
JD Opens Small Home Appliance Warehouse in Its “Capital”
