Sep 26, 2021| ESG

JD’s Digital Contracting Platform Save Resources Tremendously

Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

JD Technology kicked off a new round of promotion of its digital contracting services on September 17th, aiming to bring the blockchain-based technology to more SMEs and support them to go paperless in business operation.

To date, JD’s digital contracting platform has assisted on managing over 4 billion contracts for more than 500,000 enterprise users. If a contract uses 10 pieces of A4 paper on average, the platform has accumulatively saved 40 billion pieces of paper so far, which equates to the save of 13 million trees and reducing more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

A number of China’s well-known enterprises such as Xiamen ITG Group Corp. adopted the platform recently, and estimates show that the service will help them save 80% time in the work of contract processing, and lower costs of contract signing by 60%.

Enabled by digital certificates and blockchain, the service makes sure that all parties in a transaction can share the same view of a live contract, and every step and revision of the contract is recorded, creating a tamper-proof audit trail. The blockchain system can also enable hashlock on confidential contracts to ensure the safety of the original document and data privacy.

As a one-stop solution, the platform offers contract templates, digital stamps, e-signing, archiving services and more. All data is strictly scrutinized before being connected to the platform, and will continue to go through rigid reviews in every step of data generation, transfer, storage and other actions to secure data authenticity. More importantly, the complete evidence chain is synchronized with courts, notary offices and other judicial bodies, ensuring contacts’ judicial validity and management efficiency.

Heavy technology aside, the platform is easy to use, as it supports multi-interfaces on computers, app, Wechat mini program and more, as well as simultaneous actions by different people.

New users of the platform will not only enjoy discounts and a service package for free, but also become a certified member of JD’s “zero-carbon enterprise” program.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

Oct 1, 2022| ESG, JD Retail

JD.com Helps Boost Sales of Rice Named after Agronomist Yuan Longping

Doris Liu

by Doris Liu

JD.com recently deepened collaboration with the farm that produces Yuan Longping Rice, which is named after China’s father of hybrid rice, in terms of quality control, digitally intelligent supply chain and branding as the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival fell on September 23 this year.

In the first eight months of 2022, the sales of Yuan Longping Rice have grown up over threefold compared with the same period last year, according to JD’s data. To stimulate a positive cycle of high-quality agricultural products and rural consumption upgrading, JD.com maintains a strict control process to ensure that all such rice products sold in JD Super, JD’s omni-channel supermarket business, are of first-grade quality.

From the paddy field to household table, rice needs to go through planting, storage, processing, packaging, delivery and other procedures, showing obvious characteristics of the long industrial chain.

“Although vacuum packaging and low-temperature storage can largely reduce the smell and taste differences of rice caused by water evaporation and oil oxidation, there is still a certain impact,” said Jason Cao, director of the rice, noodles and food grains business of JD Super. “Therefore, JD continues to refine each node in the rice industrial chain to ensure perfect-tasting rice for every family.”

Many local agricultural products, despite being of high quality, lack brand awareness and a solid quality control system, and have no opportunity to develop its supply chain infrastructure. To tackle these issues, JD.com is supporting Yuan Longping Rice with resources including its platform channels, marketing advantages, various promotions and live streaming—reaching a win-win in both sales and popularity.

Yuan Longping (1930-2021), a Chinese agronomist renowned for developing the first hybrid-rice strain in the 1970s, devoted his life to the research of high-yielding hybrid rice that is strategically important for China, the most populous country of the world.

JD launched the “March to Rich Plan” (MRP) in 2020 with a goal to drive an output value of RMB 1 trillion yuan in China’s rural areas over the following three years and facilitate rural revitalization. After 22 months, JD had driven the rural output value to exceed RMB 620 billion yuan by the end of this August, helping millions of farmers increase their income.

As of now, JD Logistics has realized same- and next-day delivery in 94 percent of counties and districts across China and 84 percent of villages and towns nationwide, upgrading the logistics system for rural areas to a great extent.

(liujun215@jd.com)

Sep 16, 2022| ESG

JD.com Ranks in BCG’s Most Innovative Companies 2022

Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com has been recognized for the second time as one of the most innovative companies in the world by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in its 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2022 list released on September 15, ranking at 30^th place.

The ranking is based in large part on a survey of more than 1,500 global innovation executives, with a combination of the company’s performance on four dimensions including global mindshare, industry peer view, industry disruption and value creation. Six other Chinese companies, namely Huawei (8^th), Alibaba (22^nd), Lenovo (24^th), Xiaomi (31^st), Tencent (41^st) and ByteDance (45^th) are also on the list this year.

BCG’s ranking this year specifically recognizes companies’ efforts in climate and sustainability (C&S). According to BCG, two-thirds of the companies in the 2022 survey ranked C&S as a top corporate priority and many of them were among the earliest to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and to establish decarbonization commitments.

JD.com has always attached great importance to C&S. The company’s “Green Stream Initiative” has addressed key environmental issues in the retail and logistics industry in terms of green warehousing, transportation, packaging and more.

In 2019, JD set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030, and its logistics arm, JD Logistics, became the first company of China’s logistics sector to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This year, JD.com also incorporated the TCFD framework in its annual ESG report for the first time.

To view BCG’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022 overview, visit: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2022/innovation-in-climate-and-sustainability-will-lead-to-green-growth

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)