by Vivian Yang

JD.com launched a home cleaning service operated fully in-house on Apr. 8, which marks another big step for the e-commerce giant in the local service market. The company’s trust-based and high-quality brand image gives it a leg up when introducing its self-managed domestic services and addressing some knotty problems in this industry.

According to JD’s website, customers can enjoy four main benefits of home cleaning services: standardized services – all cleaners need to complete strict training programs provided by JD and pass more than one hundred skill tests both in written and practical to get the qualification to serve on JD’s platform; transparent prices – consumers just follow the fixed price rates on JD’s app to order services and add hours for any overtime work via the platform; customer service hotline – customers can feedback to JD’s own customer service hotline anytime for the company to track and ensure the quality of the cleaning service; three layers of insurance – for each service order, JD will purchase personal safety insurance for both the customer and the cleaner, as well as the insurance against damage or loss of customers’ property.

As part of the standardization effort, each JD cleaner must be equipped with more than 30 items in their toolkit. For example, the cleaning cloth set alone includes nine towels and four rags that are specified to be used in different rooms to ensure hygiene and cleaning effectiveness.

Cleaners need to follow multiple anti-COVID measures to conduct the door-to-door service, such as showing their health code, wearing masks and shoe covers, strictly adopting the seven-step handwashing technique, taking all waste with them in customized trash bags after service and more.

“This home cleaning service is a new addition to JD’s local life service offerings within a 3 kilometers radius,” said Keren Wu, general manager of JD’s local life business unit. “Such JD-standard premier services in customers’ vicinity will be gradually introduced in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and more cities.”

In addition to home cleaning, JD operates a number of local life services in-house including food delivery, car maintenance, pharmacy, healthcare services and more.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD plans to provide comprehensive senior-friendly services on its app, targeting to begin in May, according to a domestic media Ceweekly on Apr. 7. The services will include optimized design and operation appealing to senior customers, covering nearly the entire shopping process, from login, homepage, search, product description page to payment.

Seniors may face challenges when purchasing online, such as small font size, unfamiliar shopping processes, or navigating after-sale services. By searching “长辈版” （Zhangbeiban, which means seniors’ version）on JD’s app, all of these problems can be solved immediately.

In the seniors’ version, JD has made the font size larger. The version also includes access to a special customer service team for seniors, who are available to help with after-sales queries and other issues. More importantly, the service will emphasize the relationship with senior customers’ family members, enabling them to ask for help from their children within the app by just clicking a button. For example, their children can pay for their orders remotely. In the future, JD will also consider enhancing the audio function to add local language variants like Sichuan and Chongqing dialects, for example.

Zhiqiang Wang, head of the seniors’ version of the JD app program said, “JD will continue to adjust our shopping process specifically for seniors, providing a safer and easier experience for them, covering purchasing, medical service, as well as travel. We also hope to work as a bridge between them and their children, and promote them to enjoy a healthy, high-quality and happy lifestyle, by addressing the ‘digital gap.’”

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD released the 2021 Online Consumption Liquor Trends White Paper on Apr. 6. The white paper shows that more customers are looking for high-end baijiu and sauce-flavored baijiu. As for beers, sales of black beers and crafted beers are increasing quickly. Female and Gen Z are new growing customer groups for liquor. Sparkling wine and low-alcohol liquor are their favorites.

The white paper shows that sales of high-end liquor is growing quickly: Sales of liquor that is over RMB 600 yuan per bottle increased 160% YOY on JD, and accounted for 55% of total sales of liquors. Sales of high-end baijiu are increasing particularly fast.

Sauce-flavored baijiu is a hot product recently. The market of sauce-flavored baijiu had been growing continuously for 10 years from 2009-2019, as shown in the white paper. Sales of sauce-flavored baijiu increased 10 times YoY on last Nov.11, the height of JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion.

“We noticed that recently many new baijiu brands, such as Guanyun, Kaishan and Jiangxiaobai, have become popular among customers. Customers are not just looking for time-honored brands or big brands like Moutai and Wuliangye. We think that cultivating new baijiu brands will be important for us this year,” said a sales manager from JD Liquor.

Sales of yellow beer ranked No.1 on JD among the beer category in 2020, followed by black beer and craft beer. Craft beer like IPA, Trappist beer and stout are most popular among Chinese consumers.

Gen Z customers are more reasonable and responsible when drinking, and they like low-alcohol liquors such as sake and fruit wine. They also like to try new flavors such as cream, flower and grape. Female customers especially like sweet wine and sparkling wine. The most popular wine among young female customers is the sparkling wine from Jacob’s Creek. Torre Oria wine from Spain saw a 110% YoY increase in female customers last year.

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

To bring fresh West Lake Dragon Well tea to more Chinese customers, JD has partnered with local brands in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province to leverage JD’s supply chain to deliver the popular product nationwide. JD and the Hangzhou government held an opening ceremony where the news was announced on Mar. 30^th.

The best Dragon Well tea is picked in spring, and among spring tea, leaves picked prior to Qingming Festival (Apr. 4 of solar calendar this year) is of the highest quality. As time is of the essence in guaranteeing freshness, JD Logistics ensures that over 90% of spring tea can be delivered within 24 hours. JD and local tea brands also formed a “tea tracing alliance” to allow customers check the information of the tea throughout the whole production process, enhancing transparency.

“As a trusted platform for Chinese consumers, JD hopes to provide more diverse and high-quality tea for customers,” said Xiaojun Wang, head of packaged foods at JD FMCG.

Pre-sales for premium spring tea from all over China on JD kicked off in late February. Many brands that produce West Lake Dragon Well tea, such as Luzhenghao (卢正浩) and Lions (狮峰), have been highly popular on JD since March.

JD’s recent consumption report on spring tea shows that West Lake Dragon Well tea is the most popular type of spring tea among JD customers who are willing to buy high-quality products with higher prices. Sales of premium Dragon Well tea pricing over RMB 1,000 yuan accounts for 18% of all pre-sales, a 12% increase YOY. .

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

Mo Yan, the Chinese novelist and Nobel Laureate of Literature released the audiobook of his latest work “The Late Bloomer” exclusively via JD Books on Apr. 8. The print version which was put on market in August 2020 has been a hot sale on JD’s platform.

“The audiobook is a new attempt for Mo Yan. It also shows the virtuous circle of cooperation between the author and JD.com,” said Tao Wang, head of digital reading at JD Books.

The audible format marks a “childhood dream come true” for Mo Yan as he recounted in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that when he was a boy he often acted as a storyteller to cheer up his mother.

JD Books invited China’s top-notch actors Mingjun Wang and Xiao Zeng for the 12-chapter audiobook production. Their measured tone and delivery bring the book to life, unfolding the stories and personas from the author’s hometown.

Meanwhile, along with the audiobook release, Mo Yan published “A Letter to the late bloomers” via JD’s platform in which he further elaborated on his understanding of “late bloomers” and sent his blessings and messages to young readers.

Mo Yan’s choice of JD Books as the exclusive partner to release his first audiobook is based on a solid foundation of cooperation. Last year, the author’s appearance on JD Books’ new book recommendation livestream program helped set up records, with more than 100,000 viewers in only 10 minutes and over 100,000 copies sold within 30 minutes.

JD’s reading app now has over 600,000 digital books and more than 500,000 hours of audio data, providing a one-stop reading platform that covers paper, digital, audio and e-learning content.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)