by Ling Cao

SEVEN FRESH, JD’s omnichannel supermarket brand, has opened 14 stores in just one-month beginning Dec. 18, 2020. The stores include SEVEN FRESH supermarket, as well as the community store model SEVEN FRESH LIFE, and are located in Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Langfang, Guangzhou and Huizhou.

Leveraging JD’s omnichannel experience, all of the stores can provide doorstep delivery service to customers nearby in as fast as 30 minutes.

To ensure livelihoods in the face of a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, JD’s SEVEN FRESH in Beijing and Hebei have increased inventory of daily necessities by 300%. Furthermore, the delivery services have been expanded to more areas, enabling more customers to receive products in a timely fashion.

Some of the stores also provide tailored services. For example, the newly opened store in Fangzhuang, Beijing has a special service section for elderly people, as well as a service to teach elderly people how to place orders online from their apartment compounds.

Lixia Duan, head of SEVEN FRESH supermarkets said, “Leveraging JD’s expertise in e-commerce, retail and logistics, we hope to bring business innovation and a safe shopping experience to local customers.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Kelly Dawson

 

With COVID-19 restricting travel, much of China faces the prospect of a second Chinese New Year away from home. In lieu of the usual family celebrations, many families are making use of JD’s guaranteed express delivery leading up to and during the holiday period to send special treats and gifts to ensure their children living in other cities still feel loved.

“I usually spend most of my time packaging and delivering business goods, but since entering the twelfth lunar month, more and more parents have been needing our help to send New Year’s gifts,” said Li Guobin, a courier in the Wuhan Tingziqiao sales department of JD Express. Items requested for delivery by parents have included cured fish and bacon, pickled foods, non-perishable items and more.

During this period Li has seen New Year’s gift deliveries increase by 3 to 5 times compared to last year, and as the lunar New Year approaches he expects a steady increase. On one recent day he processed more than a thousand kilograms of goods, he said.

Last week one customer, Ms. Dai, arranged to send pickled herring and vegetables to her daughter in Shanghai. “My daughter told me she can buy everything in Shanghai, and not to tire myself out, but I know that food from home just tastes better,” Dai said. In order to prepare the package, she woke at 6 am to visit the market, purchasing a large herring for pickling. Then, she visited two other vegetable markets to taste lotus root from a dozen vendors before finding the ideal selection. Her daughter was thrilled to receive the package, she later recounted.

Another customer, Mr. Yi, bought a special vacuum packaging machine specifically for the purpose of shipping his special home-cooked meatballs and crispy fish to his son in Singapore. “My son has told me several times that he can’t wait to come home to eat our fried meatballs, and I was hoping to fry it for him when he came home during Chinese New Year. Since that won’t happen, at least I know I can send this special treat to him. We will see our son when the spring blossoms.”

Observing these gestures, the courier Li has felt emotional, he said. He himself is from Fujian, and will not be able to travel home. His mother sent him some local treats including chicken feet and brined chicken, two dishes he would normally eat with family during the holiday.

It will be tough to be far from home during the traditional holiday, but Li feels confident that it’s the right decision for everyone, he said. “On the one hand, it’s important that we ensure steady delivery during the holiday period; and on the other hand, the current situation with the epidemic is still unclear, so we will go home later in the year,” he explained.

Two days ago, JD Logistics announced that it will ensure delivery during the Chinese New Year period, for the ninth consecutive year. As the first logistics company in the country to offer this service, JD is now also expanding its delivery policy to include the first three days following New Year’s Eve, during which customers in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, nearly 300 cities and 1,500 counties and districts can receive orders as fast as usual.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

by Martin Li

 JD Auction has been continuously successfully selling hugely valuable and diversified lots.

One of the latest successful auctions saw assets of Quanzhou Shipyard Co., Ltd. in Fujian province sold at RMB 1.2 billion yuan after 87 bids and 75 delays by three bidders. The premium rate reached 76.9%.

The company’s fixed assets, projects under construction and intangible assets were all included in the auction.

The intangible assets include the use rights for five land lots, as well as a 2.06-square kilometer sea area.

According to the relevant laws and regulations of China, it is necessary to obtain the right to use the sea area to engage in maritime navigation, undersea oil exploitation, marine aquaculture, fishing and more.

Among the other hugely valuable lots sold on JD Auction were an RMB 260 milllion yuan hydropower station, an RMB 800 million yuan airline, an RMB 3.8 billion yuan highway and RMB 2.48 billion yuan toll rights.

JD Auction provides both pre-auction and post-auction services, including VR aerial photography, and promotions targeting the most relevant investors.

The recent auctioned lots also included a poplar forest and a silver mine.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

 

 

 

by Rachel Liu and Ella Kidron

JD’s 2021 Chinese New Year promotion will kick off next Wednesday, Jan. 20, with various kinds of products, interactive activities and continuous logistics service to help consumers enjoy an abundant and convenient Chinese New Year, even as new cases of COVID-19 crop up in some areas around the country. The promotion will cover products traditionally sold during CNY as well as some new products.

JD will provide products from time-honored brands, top domestic brands and cultural heritage-themed products. New products from imported brands and customized gift boxes will also launch on JD. This includes items such as the C2M mobile phone for elders, limited edition of SK-II skincare products, and the 2021 Spring/Summer collection from Prada and Miu Miu.

JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, and JD Fresh will jointly launch over 10,000 CNY gift boxes, covering nuts, candies, chocolate, liquor, beverages, seafood, instant food and more. There will also be health-supplements gift boxes and physical examination sets for elderly customers. Niche products such as Year of the Cow-themed masks and fragrant disinfectant liquid will also be available.

All kinds of marketing activities will provide a fun experience and competitive prices for customers during CNY. JD will provide RMB 10 billion yuan each  for subsidies and  coupons for this promotion. All product categories will provide different shopping benefits. For example, customers from all over China will be able to apply for trade-in service for air conditioners.

JD is keeping to its promise of continuing to deliver during the CNY period for the ninth consecutive year, making sure that consumers can get the products they need to enjoy the holiday season. As the first company to make a promise to keep delivering during the period, this year JD is further expanding the scope of its services to cover 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, nearly 300 cities and 1,500 districts and counties across the country. The number of districts and counties represents an increase of nearly 50% since last year. Furthermore, consumers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan and 17 other cities can place order of JD’s first party goods in the morning and receive them in the afternoon, even at the  the Chinese New Year’s Day. In addition, JD Express will provide parcel delivery service in over 200 cities, meeting consumers’ most urgent needs.

JD Auto stores in seven major cities will remain in operation the entire holiday period, while consumers can enjoy one-hour delivery of fresh flowers at a discount rate in a 3 km radius.

 

 

(liuchang61@jd.com; ella@jd.com)

 

by Ling Cao

JD Fresh announced today to increase its inventory of daily necessities by 300% for residents of Beijing and Hebei. This comes as Hebei province recently saw a spike in COVID-19 cases. Target categories include noodles, ready-to-cook food, vegetables, milk, eggs, and more.

JD’s offline fresh supermarket chain, SEVEN FRESH, also joined the initiative. Furthermore, the delivery services were expanded to more areas, enabling more customers to receive products in a timely fashion.

JD Fresh’s customer service team will provide 24-hour non-stop online service as well as a special refund policy without the need to get back the products.

For cold chain products, JD will undergo strict disinfection process and nucleic acid testing of fresh produce before stocking items in the warehouses. Once products enter the warehouses they will undergo an additional three rounds of disinfection and regular nucleic acid sample testing.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

JD Fresh kicked off an annual sales promotion on Jan.13 for the upcoming Spring Festival which falls on Feb. 12, and one of the ready to cook dishes — Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (Fotiaoqiang)— was widely welcomed by Chinese consumers.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which used to be a common cuisine in high-end restaurants, is one of the traditional dishes originating from Fujian province. The dish, which usually needs one to two days to prepare, consists of many ingredients, including abalone, sea cucumber, ginseng and scallops. Luxury version of recipes even require up to 30 main ingredients and 12 condiments. All the ingredients are simmered for long hours over a slow fire to ensure the essence can be extracted.

The name comes from a story in which a monk jumped over a wall to eat some of this dish, which was cooked at a home nearby. Although monks are not allowed to eat meat, he replied that it was so good that even a buddha couldn’t hold himself by jumping over a wall to taste it.

As COVID-19 cases spike in China, 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China have already called on local residents to refrain from traveling for the upcoming Spring Festival. For young consumers who don’t know how to cook a big and fancy meal to celebrate the annual festival, ready-to-cook products have become one of their convenient and favorite choices.

As Chinese customers have increasing disposable income, combined with the fast-paced lifestyle in cities, they have more demand for buying convenient food online. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall witnessed significant sales growth during the 2020 Single’s Day Grand Promotion on JD as sales of the dish increased by over 4 times within only 5 minutes during the shopping event.

“JD’s supply chain, ecommerce team and logistics advantages can help enterprises and restaurants to better understand their target consumers, and will ensure high quality products reach consumers quickly and securely,” said a purchasing manager from JD Fresh.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)