by Vivian Yang

The winners of the 2020 JD Literature Awards were announced on October 31^st. The awards ceremony was livestreamed on JD.com, which also marks the closing of the JD Literary Festival jointly organized by JD.com, xinhuanet, BTV (the satellite channel of Beijing Television Station) and China Arts News(中国艺术报, the newspaper run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism).

Organizers of 2020 JD Literary Festival

Since the founding of JD.com, it is Richard Liu, the chairman and CEO, strongly advocated to add books as an important category at JD.com. As of now, JD has become one of the most attractive platforms of books for Chinese readers.

The festival kicked off on August 31^st and consisted of several stages including works collection, expert reviews and public voting over the past two months.

Winners of the 2020 JD Literature Awards in the five categories are:

• Annual International Literature Award: Babel Tower, by A.S.Byatt
• Annual Children Literature Award: A Summer with Pigeons (有鸽子的夏天), by Liu Haiqi
• Annual Science Fiction Award: Memory Deviation (记忆偏离)，by Wu Chu
• Annual Literature IP Award: Joy of Life （庆余年）, by Mao Ni
• Annual Chinese Literature Award: The Records in Yunzhong Village (云中记) by A Lai

Mo Yan (莫言), winner of Nobel Prize in Literature; Xu Zechen (徐则臣) and Mai Jia (麦家), winners of China’s Mao Dun Literature Prize(Chinese highest award for novels); Gao Hongbo (高洪波), vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, and more were invited as book recommenders for this year’s event.

Mo Yan and other writers shared their thoughts on literature at the ceremony

The year 2020 marks the 10^th anniversary of JD Books. “It is both JD’s passion and mission to hold the literary festival,” said Lei Xu, CEO of JD Retail on the ceremony. “This is also consistent with our company’s original intention which is to do things of more values for society. The literary festival does not only bring more good books to the readers, but also helps to promote excellent knowledge and culture.”

In the past 10 years, JD Book keeps on promoting China’s books and reading ecosystem. The platform offers millions of authentic books at low prices. In addition to its self-operated book sales channel, the platform also supports about 2,000 third-party book merchants and more than 100,000 book recommendation alliances. Nowadays, JD Book has grown into China’s only comprehensive reading platform that provides paperback books, e-books, audiobooks, reading hardware and software, as well as knowledge services.

Lei Xu, CEO of JD Retails (Center)

In addition to the literature heavyweights, the ceremony also invited several well-known individuals as the reading guides who lead people into the stories of the awarded books, including China’s Go Champion Ke Jie (柯洁), table tennis Grand Slam player Zhang Jike (张继科), favorable CCTV anchors Chen Duo (陈铎) and Ju Ping (鞠萍), and the actor of the popular TV series Joy of Life Liu Duanduan (刘端端).

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

O&O Consulting, a monitoring and research institution specializing in e-commerce big data released a pre-sales report on Singles Day covering the whole Chinese market from October 21^st to 28^th. According to the data, nearly 140 million items were sold during the pre-sales period, an increase of over 42.3% from the same period last year, of which JD’s figure increased by 85.5%.

The report highlights JD’s focus on quality-driven pre-sales, as opposed to a pure focus on price. It cites the fact that goods worth more than RMB 1,000 yuan accounted for 48.3% of JD’s pre-sales.

Furthermore, “rigid demand” categories have continued to shine on the platform. Pre-sales of medicine and health care on JD increased by 378% YOY, while home furnishings increased by 79.3%. One of the reasons cited for the increase is people’s yearning for a sense of security and stability after a very tumultuous start to 2020. During the pre-sales, home appliances, computer and office supplies, maternal and child, medical and health care and other categories saw growth of over 100% YOY, indicating that after the epidemic consumer demand to “settle down” has become more important.

Separately, according to JD’s own big data, from October 21^st-29^th advanced orders for health equipment, Chinese and western medicine, and traditional nourishment on JD’s platform increased more than 10 times compared with the same period last year. Orders for fitness and exercise equipment increased more than three times, while health-conscious small home appliances increased four times YOY.

In terms of key sub-categories such as computers, electrical appliances and home furnishing, JD’s pre-sale volume of mid and high-end goods exceeded peers, especially in the home decoration category. JD has been able to win the trust of consumers in this category through strict quality control, fast logistics, and special service.

O&O data finds that consumers have a tendency to turn to JD for purchases in the durable consumer categories such as large household appliances, computers, and household appliances, with the platform making up 62.7%, 82.6% and 82.7% of pre-orders respectively by category.

The report points out that the consumption upgrade from a quality perspective has helped drive the rapid recovery of the consumer economy. However, while the National Holiday and Mid-Autumn Festival in October contributed to the recovery of consumption, there is still improvement to be made. Therefore, the Singles Day shopping festival this year has taken on a new significance in terms of its role in continuing to boost the economy. JD has launched a series of measures to ensure consumers a quality-driven, convenient and enjoyable Singles Day.

(ella@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

JD participated in an event hosted by HP and SAP on the China opportunity titled, “A New Era for Globalization – The China Wave” on October 28^th. The event, which was held virtually, gathered nearly 50 technology executives from Fortune 500 companies based in the Nordic region (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway).

Christina Boutrup, renowned author and journalist, gave the opening presentation, focusing on the “Chinese tech revolution.” “We tend to underestimate China and Chinese companies,” she said. She explained that not only are Chinese companies developing leading innovation in areas like 5G, AI, solar, electric cars and more, but also that China’s technology-driven approach to COVID-19 control – such as the apps for people’s health codes based on previous destinations traveled and temperature sensors. In her talk, Boutrup mentioned that companies like JD are paving the way in Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) and omnichannel, among other areas. Last year Boutrup published The Great Tech Revolution, a book focused on Chinese innovation, in both English and Danish. JD was featured in the book. Following the event, Boutrup also posted on her LinkedIn, writing “the future is happening right now – in China!”

Christina Boutrup’s LinkedIn post

JD shared on how, in addition to its eight consecutive-year commitment to keep delivering during Chinese New Year, agility, as well as technology played a key role in its support of the fight against COVID-19. From January 20^th to February 28^th, JD supplied 220 million food items weighing 290,000 tons. JD Health’s online medical consultations platform handled over 10 million requests during the epidemic period. Additionally, the company deployed autonomous delivery robots for contactless delivery in Wuhan. ‘Da Bai’, the robot that was used to make deliveries to key hospitals was made part of the National Museum’s exhibition on the fight against the virus.

Participants were curious about JD’s C2M model. As people are demanding more health-related appliances following the outbreak, JD has worked with several leading home appliances brands to create products that address this need. JD and LG alone have developed seven C2M refrigerators and washing machines in just two months.

(ella@jd.com)