by Rachel Liu

JD data shows that during the Chinese New Year Grand Promotion, “JD Citywide Shopping” service, JD’s omnichannel fulfillment program which provides instant delivery, increased 180% YoY.

JD announced on Feb.9 that it will provide omnichannel shopping and one-hour delivery service throughout the national holiday. Customers have high demand for fresh food and daily use products during Spring Festival, and many of them chose to use the one-hour delivery service provided by JD. Together with JDDJ (JD Daojia) and over 20,000 supermarkets around China, JD has largely increased the categories of products and shortened delivery speed.

“This year’s spring festival is a little special for us because of the pandemic,” said Mr. Wang , a customer who lives in Beijing. “We try not to go to crowded supermarkets or stores, and JD’s one-hour delivery service is very convenient. The products are all from large chain supermarkets, and delivery is fast. We bought most of the fresh food and cleaning products through [the service] during the holiday.”

JD also provided health-related products, such as medicines and PPE with one-hour delivery through JD Health.

The couriers that provide one-hour delivery service received multiple rounds of nucleic acid testing to ensure the safety of delivery.

“We will further expand the one-hour delivery service and make ourselves to be customers’ first choice,” said a spokesperson of JD Citywide Shopping.

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

John Lobb, luxury shoes and boots brand from London under Hermès Group, launched a flagship store on JD.com on Feb. 23, which is the first and only e-commerce platform to partner with John Lobb in China.

To mark the store’s opening and the 75^th anniversary of the creation of its memorable shoes, the William double-buckle, the brand will bring JD the William New Standard, which is the new iteration of the classic William double-buckle, to JD’s consumers. The memorable shoes are named after its creator’s son William Hunter Lobb, and popular because of its distinctive double buckles. In addition to the classic leather shoes, the lightweight sole series, casual shoes and accessories are now available on JD as well.

“For a luxury brand like John Lobb, which has a long history and attaches great importance to the protection of brand values and customer experience, the selection of e-commerce platforms is even more stringent,” said Kevin Jiang, president of international business, JD Fashion and Lifestyle.

“JD’s zero tolerance for counterfeit goods is in line with the spirit of luxury brands and also the reason why an increasing number of luxury brands have chosen to work with JD, especially since the outbreak of pandemic.”

JD’s consumers are loyal, high spenders. As of October 2020, the number of JD PLUS (JD’s paid premium membership program) members has exceeded 20 million. During the third Luxury Shopping Festival from Dec. 18-25, 2020, over 80% of users purchased more than two product categories as a result of the high-quality offerings across multiple categories. The number of the first-time purchase consumers grew over 180% YoY, and purchasing luxury goods.

John Lobb has been in business since 1851 and is known for its craftsmanship, service and style. It creates handmade shoes, boots and leather goods such as wallets, belts ,etc. The brand was acquired by the Hermès Group in 1976 and has developed the John Lobb ready-to-wear shoe brand around the world.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

Chinese New Year (CNY) meals provided by JD.com’s omnichannel supermarket SEVEN FRESH were popular among customers during the CNY festival. Items high in demand include ready-to-cook meal gift boxes and meal packages, which include Boston lobsters, steamed fish, as well as cooked crabs.

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

Sales of exam preparation books for China’s college entrance examination(Gaokao) saw a spike on JD Books as China just confirmed on Feb 20 that the national exams for 2021 will be held on June 7 and 8.

Gaokao in China never fails to become a heated social topic each year. The decision to hold the Gaokao at its normally scheduled time in June reflected the country’s confidence in controlling the virus spreading. Last year, the exam was postponed by one month due to COVID-19.

According to China’s Ministry of Education, the exam will be the biggest organized collective event since the pandemic outbreak, gathering more than 10.7 million candidates in 400,000 exam rooms in more than 7,000 venues across the country.

“The announcement gave all Gaokao candidates a sense of urgency,” noted a representative of JD Books, adding that the demand of relevant books keeps growing despite the Lunar New Year Holiday from Feb 11 to 18, which was amid students’ winter vacation.

Meanwhile, propelled by the Gaokao’s increasing emphasis on extensive readings, rather than rote learning, classic literature books are gaining increasing popularity among young readers. For instance, the Top 10 bestsellers on JD Books during the holiday period included well-known sci-fi series The Three-Body Problem （三体）, influential Chinese novel Ordinary World （平凡的世界）, and the popular history book series on the internet 30 Minutes of Chinese History / World History in Illustration and（半小时漫画中国史/世界史), all of which are highly useful extracurricular reading selections for students.

As China’s leading book-selling platform, JD Books offers comprehensive education products and services for customers in different age groups and on all kinds of subjects, throughout K-12 and beyond to adult education. During this year’s winter school break, JD Books offered more than 5 million products in promotion and proposed 40 reading suggestion lists at the disposal of different types of student readers to facilitate their learning needs.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

“Since 2017, we have cooperated with Hommy, one of JD’s private label brands focusing on home furnishing to create over 100 products, with a 90% success rate for new product development, and annual sales reaching RMB 15 million,” shared Weiyuan Zhou, the e-commerce manager at Linkfair, in an interview with Chinese domestic media New Business Trend. Linkfair is a Guangdong-based manufacturer or stainless steel cookware, aluminum cookware and smart appliances.

For a long time, Linkfair was mainly an export-oriented manufacturing business, whose domestic market accounts for only 10% of its total sales. With the complex COVID-19 situation as well as the government’s advocate for dual-circulation, Linkfair has seen a chance to expand in the domestic market.

The company previously had less experience and know-how regarding customers’ consumption habits in China. Zhou shared, “For example, people in Europe and the UK will tend to buy a set of pots with different sizes, while Chinese customers prefer to buy just one specific and suitable pot. This forced us to redesign our products.”

With the help of JD, Linkfair was able to understand customer profiles and shopping preferences more accurately, enabling the company to design more suitable products. Additionally, JD will open up its experience in e-commerce operation, sales forecasting, warehousing and logistics, marketing and after-sale service to Linkfair and other partners.

As Xutao Xie, general manager at Feibang, a Zhejiang-based fitness equipment manufacturer that also cooperated with JD’s private label brands said, “Going forward, after the product has been produced, we will have JD to handle all of the next steps.”

Zhou’s team has also gradually gained experience from JD after the long-term partnership, he said. “The cooperation is very effective, and has helped us increase sales growth by 50% to 70% annually.”

After over two years of exploration, JD has created four private label brands focusing on different categories and markets, as well as over 8,000 SKUs (stock keeping units), including Jing Zao, a comprehensive brand; LATIT, focusing on sports-related products; and Huixun (literally means “seeking discounts”), which targets customers from lower-tier markets, as well as Hommy. In 2020, sales of JD’s private label brands increased 200% YOY.

“Leveraging JD’s supply chain, brand awareness and technology-driven capabilities, JD hopes to join hands with partners together to focus on creating a value chain in the industry, helping manufacturers undergo digital transformation,” said Xiaosong Wang, senior vice president of JD.com and head of JD Original, JD’s private label brands department, during a partner conference at JD’s headquarters held in last December.

(ling.cao@jd.com)