by Ella Kidron

The Singles Day Grand Promotion wrapped up last Wednesday (Nov. 11^th), with JD recording RMB 271.5 billion yuan (US$ 41.1 billion) in transaction volume during the 11-day sales period (Nov. 1^st-11^th). On the back of the sale, the JD Big Data Research Institute did an analysis of consumer behavior during the period, and in particular, of consumer trends across generations and geographies.

 

Internet consumption trends transcend age and generation

Results from this Singles Day Grand Promotion indicate a very obvious move of Gen-X and people who were born 1965-1980 and baby boomers (people who were born 1946-1964) to e-commerce. Compared with the 618 Grand Promotion (June 18^th), the increase in purchases by age 45 and up consumers is particularly evident in the medical and health care, food and fresh, and home categories, all of which are high frequency, and related to health, safety and family. COVID-19 has accelerated this trend, but did not create it. Another factor is reliable platforms.

Source: JD Big Data Research Institute

Compared with the 618 period, sensitivity of promotion information and customer reviews for this group is up 70% and 75% respectively. Mobile device dependency has also increased – mid-to-old age users who previously preferred cash are adjusting to placing orders and making payments with their mobile phones. Across all ages, JD’s advantages in categories such as home appliances and consumer electronics, grocery and medical and health care, as the first choice for consumers was made clear. This is driven by quality services, in addition to quality products.

 

“Lower-tier markets” do not equal mid-to-low end products

Many consumers in lower-tier markets skipped the use of PC and went straight to mobile. China’s 3-6 tier markets account for more than 70% of China’s population, among which there are 670 million mobile internet users. The data shows that these consumers are demanding high quality products. In the first five minutes on November 11^th, JD Super saw transaction volume generated by lower-tier markets consumers up 12 times YOY. Users in lower-tier markets accounted for 80% of JD Super’s new users during the Singles Day period. In the same period, remote orders (orders where the recipient and sender address are different) grew 40% YOY, among which the proportion of orders of high price products with a high environmental friendliness from higher-tier market users to mid-to-low tier market recipients was even higher than in the higher-tier markets themselves.

 

New products, C2M satisfy consumer demand, influence supply chain

During the Singles Day Grand Promotion, JD sold over 300 million new products, including Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M), many of which became No. 1 in their categories. In addition to satisfying diverse consumer demand, a wider range of products also boosted brand performance. Over 264 brands realized over RMB 100 million yuan in sales; 13,532 key brands saw sales their sales more than double. In addition, 205 time-honored Chinese brands saw transaction volume double. Transaction volume generated by JD PLUS members, who make up 98% of JD’s loyal user pool, grew 71% YOY.

 

(ella@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD Home stores, JD’s offline retail experience stores, have seen an increase of over 1 million members coming from both online and offline during this Singles Day period (November 1^st to 11^th).

JD started to build JD Home stores in 2016, aiming to provide a place for customers to touch and feel products, especially electronics products, before they shop online. With JD’s brand endorsement, customers have strong trust in the stores. JD Home also shares supply chain, inventory and logistics with JD, providing rich choices on products. Based on JD’s big data and Location Based Services (LBS), JD can also help with store location selection. As of November 2020, JD had 2,000 JD Home and JD Mobile Stores.

To help the JD Home store owners better run their stores, JD has provided multiple kinds of support covering livestreaming, customer attraction and one-hour delivery.

During COVID-19, many JD Home stores saw declining customer numbers as people were hesitant to be in stores. JD helped the store owners to do livestreaming to expand sales channels by providing trainings and awarding livestream shows. JD Logistics continued to support fulfillment and delivery service.

On November 1st, JD Home stores held over 300 livestream shows on JD, Wechat and Kwai (one of China’s most popular short video platforms), and many stores saw sales generated from livestream reach RMB one million yuan. On November 11th, over 60% of sales in JD Home stores were generated by customers from third to sixth tier cities. During the entire Singles Day period, JD Home’s livestream received over 100 million views on JD, Wechat and Kwai, and over 40% of customers were from lower-tier markets.

Earlier this year, JD Home and JDDJ (JD Daojia) jointly launched one-hour delivery service. Customers who order products on the JDDJ platform from JD related offline stores, can enjoy one-hour delivery service provided by Dada couriers. Under this model, when receiving the orders, JD doesn’t need to send the orders through warehouses, fulfillment centers and delivery stations. Instead, the orders can be transferred directly to the offline stores near the customers through LBS, optimizing customer experience and efficiency.

During Singles Day, new customers who used one-hour delivery increased four times YoY. The average delivery time for the service on November 11th was 36 minutes.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Kelly Dawson

In late October, Mr. Qin bought seven multimedia teaching systems on JD.com for his tutoring organization in Beijing, at a price of around RMB 30,000 yuan each. Weeks later during JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion in November, his heart sank to see that each system was now selling for 4,000 yuan less. He feared he’s missed out on a great deal—and worried that his supervisor would be unhappy.

Then he remembered that he had purchased the machines with price protection insurance, and that he was well within the 30-day grace period. He quickly submitted an application on JD, but was skeptical that he would actually receive the refund. When he had attempted to redeem price protection insurance on other ecommerce platforms, he had only received coupons to apply to other purchases.

But as he contemplated this concern, his phone rang: It was the company’s financial department, announcing that they had received a refund of RMB 27,000 yuan. It had been only one minute since Mr. Qin submitted his application.

Mr. Qin’s case is only one example of JD’s increased focus on customer services this year.

Another beneficiary of JD’s customer services during the Singles Day period was Mr. Ma, who purchased a cotton coat from a third party seller on JD as part of the promotion. When he received the coat, he realized it was a bit tight to wear over his favorite lined puffer jacket, a must during the frigid winters of his northern city of Beitun, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He applied for JD’s “free door-to-door exchange” service that ensures door-to-door exchange regardless of where a customer lives—even 30 kilometers away from the nearest JD delivery station, in Mr. Ma’s case.

In order to ensure that Mr. Ma’s exchange went smoothly, a JD courier named Wang Pun rose before dawn on the morning of November 8^th. He washed his face with cold water, and set out on a 250-kilometer journey from JD’s sorting center in Beitun to the sales department of the third party merchant that had sold Mr. Ma his coat. Around 1 pm, he arrived at the office—it was the first time the coat company had received such a visit for a customer exchange. Coat in hand, Wang turned around and set off for Beitun. Over the course of the day, he traveled a total of eight hours to ensure Mr. Ma would receive his return within 24 hours of his application for an exchange.

During this year’s Singles Day period, more than 90% of JD’s third party merchants offered the door-to-door exchange service—with ultimate savings estimated to be more than RMB 30 million yuan of freight and 33.6 million hours of waiting time, according to JD Express.

Additionally, JD Express reported that during the Singles Day period, JD’s price protection insurance saved consumers more than 100 million accumulatively, enabling consumers who bought products before the promotion to receive refunds for price differences.

In fact, JD’s value-added services ranked first among all e-commerce companies during the Singles Day period, according to a customer satisfaction survey published by Southern Metropolis Daily, a Guangzhou publication.

During that period JD’s customer service recorded more than 15 million customer service interactions, a development also driven by a rising willingness among customers to pay extra to enjoy value-added services, according to the report.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

 

 

 

by Hui Zhang

JD.com, Suning and Tmall remained top three in the home appliance market in terms of both online and offline business, according to a new report released by the China Association of Market Information and Research, a subsidiary of the National Bureau of Statistics. The three companies claimed market share of 28.5%, 18.4% and 14.6% respectively from November 1^st -11^th—reinforcing JD’s position as the most trusted platform for Chinese consumers.

The report also confirmed a prediction by Nielsen before the promotion period that JD would be the most trusted platform for consumers of 3C products and home appliance consumption.

Both domestic and foreign home appliance brands have witnessed robust sales growth through JD.com during this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion. Sales of air conditioners exceeded RMB 100 million yuan in the first 15 seconds, and sales of refrigerators and washing machines surpassed RMB 300 million yuan in the first 2 minutes on November 11^th. The number of 70-inch flat-screen TVs and rice cookers sold through JD.com exceeded 10,000 and 100,000 units respectively. Sales of Haier, Midea and Gree products hit RMB 100 million yuan on JD.com in just one minute on November 11^th.

In addition to its online home appliance business, JD led in omnichannel sales of home appliances in China by opening offline flagship stores in various cities, such as Nanjing, Kunming, Suzhou, Ma’anshan, Bengbu, Deyang and Jiaozuo, each of which has offline stores spanning over 10,000 square meters in size. Additionally, JD opened more than 1,000 JD 5Star stores across China to further improve consumers’ shopping experience.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)