by Kelly Dawson

The results of the 4^th JD Photography Awards have been announced in Beijing, with a photograph titled “Collecting the Blue of the World” by photographer Jiang Kaiwen taking the top prize for best photograph. Additionally, 13 brands including Canon, Sony, Olympus and Leica won JD Best Partner Awards.

Organized by JD.com, the competition received more than 130,000 entries, which were solicited through JD’s main website, Weibo and Chinese photography platforms. Submissions were divided into three categories: scenery, city, and people. Additionally, a separate category accepted short videos. Online exposure for the competition reached 450 million impressions, with online interactions exceeding 35,000.

Jiang Kaiwen, who took the winning photograph, “Collecting the Blue of the World”, a magnificent photo of an aurora borealis, attended the event to receive the award. Judges selected the photograph as a result of its unique perspective, and powerful visual impact.

“The JD Photography Awards are open to all people to participate in, with an aim to encourage JD shoppers and others to push themselves to produce excellent work, and gather a large amount of high-quality content that shows contestants their own value,” said Tao Ren, General Manager of Computer and Digital Products at JD Retail, in a speech during the awards ceremony, which was held at JD headquarters. JD has been committed to creating value for both manufacturer partners and consumers, and the competition is a way to connect the two, Ren said.

“It’s a win-win for both consumers and the growth of our brand,” he added.

The awards ceremony was attended by renowned photographers who helped judge the competition, including documentary photographer Zhao Kang, portrait photographer Shen Siyuan, Weibo chief photo editor Yang Weidan, and others. Also in attendance were representatives from more than ten global top image brands including Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Fuji and more.

Since the official launch of JD’s photography strategic cooperation alliance in 2019, many photography brands have achieved significant growth on JD’s ecommerce platform. According to JD’s data during a JD Light and Camera Festival held in September of this year, the transaction volume for the photography equipment category exceeded RMB 10 million yuan in 2 minutes; and the transaction volume for the whole day increased by 577% YOY. Additionally, on the first day of the Singles Day Grand Promotion, the sales volume of the full-frame camera category increased by 6 times compared with the same period last year.

In addition to its role as a platform for photography brands to reach consumers, JD is also beginning to offer full-link product solutions for the industry via C2M initiatives.

“Facing the need for brand new product concept verification, JD.com has established a new product simulation test platform,” a spokesperson for JD’s Computer and Digital Products said. “Based on JD’s quality users, the platform gathers information regarding new product research and testing needs, offline users experience with the products, multiple test methods, and reclaims real user feedback. In this way we’re able to form diversified new product solutions regarding pricing, design and more. Our goal is to build a trustworthy brand that offers a cultural service to consumers.”

(kellydawson@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

He-Hui expressway （鹤辉高速）, an unfinished road project in Henan province, was auctioned at over RMB 3.1 billion yuan on JD.com on Dec. 5, 2020.

This legal auction was entrusted by the intermediate people’s court of Hebi city, with a “sale package” including all the roadbeds, pavement, bridges, tunnels and more that have been constructed and some sealed construction materials that have remained.

The 61,213-meter long He-Hui expressway, named for the starting point Hebi city to the east and the finishing point Hui county of Xinxiang city to the west of Henan province in central China, was planned to serve as an major expressway of the provincial traffic network and as a shorter path for coal transportation from Shangxi province. The project started in 2009 and was put on hold in 2017 due to funds mismanagement.

The project was listed for public auction on JD.com this October. It is said that after the takeover, construction will resume early next year and the project will be completed in two years.

In 2020, JD Auction also sold a string of high-value legal case-related assets, such as an airline at RMB 800 million yuan, a hydropower station at RMB 260 million yuan, and  right to use a coastal area at RMB 850 million yuan.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD Business has signed a cooperation agreement to deepen its partnership in supply chain with Shiyue Daotian(October Rice Field), a domestic agriculture brand famous for its rice, providing enterprise clients with tailored and diverse procurement services.

The cooperation agreement, which the two companies signed on Dec. 8^th, specified that JD will leverage its capabilities in the digital procurement solutions to help Shiyue Daotian connect with more enterprise clients on JD’s platform, and help collect clients’ different purchasing demands efficiently and communicate that information to Shiyue Daotian’s factories in China, such as special requirements on logo design and package size, and more. Shiyue Daotian will then produce and distribute the products based on the requirements. Additionally, the model can help factories to optimize the inventory.

Bing Wang, Chairman of Shiyue Daotian said, “Based on the order production model from demand, design, production to fulfillment, we have already seen sales surge for the past few months.”

Chunzheng Song, president of JD Business said, “With the fast development for the enterprise business market, the standard products model cannot satisfy all kinds of increasing demand. Going forward, JD will continue to invest in building B2B supply chain, and work with our partners to provide more valuable services.”

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

The newly released McKinsey China Consumer Special Issue 2020 further confirmed Gen Z’s (defined as post-1995 for the purpose of this piece) pursuit of “unique” products and services.

According to the findings, 51% of Gen Z consumers prefer brands that provide personalized products and 53% choose brands that provide customized services. This is good news for JD.com’s Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) initiative, which helps brands and manufacturers bring customized products to market based on real consumer feedback and demand. Consumer preferences are becoming increasingly fragmented and specific, and having the capability to precisely understand and target consumers with the right products and services is key to winning their loyalty. This is especially true as consumers have more and more choices of platforms to shop on.

One area of custom products that draws attention from Gen Z is gaming phones. According to the China Industrial Research Institute, the number of mobile game players in China has reached 630 million. Screen size, battery capacity, heat dissipation capacity and more all affect the experience of mobile gamers. JD has worked with major brand manufacturers to create gaming phones through C2M. Red Magic, Nubia’s gaming phone brand and Black Shark’s 5G gaming phone are just a few examples of some of the products which have sold well on JD. In 2018, Black Shark launched the first gaming phone in China based on JD’s big data analysis. That same year, the first Red Magic gaming phone was also launched, with sales surpassing 10,000 in just 37 seconds.

The C2M model for product development not only improves customers’ experience, but also helps brands gain a deeper understanding of consumer trends and improves sales performance. The initiative also showcases JD’s supply chain strength. Over half of C2M phones sold on JD are gaming phones.

Customized services are another draw for Gen Z, which is less price sensitive as a generation than older generations and pays more attention to the holistic shopping experience. Providing services such as flexible broken screen insurance, full price trade in and more, go a long way in gaining loyalty from younger consumers.

(ella@jd.com)