by Vivian Yang

JD Auto announced that it will upgrade its car maintenance products on October 30^th, offering more standardized and transparent services for car owners via its ominichannel platform.

High saturation of car ownership in China has propelled the automotive aftermarket to provide more high-value and specialized products and services, said Yan Qing, general manager of JD Auto, at a press conference about the announcement.

At present, JD Auto has opened over 1,000 car maintenance stores that integrate online and offline services in 163 cities across China. Car parts for these stores are supplied from JD’s multi-channel inventories that ensure low purchasing cost and high delivery efficiency for the end-users.

Yan Qing, general manager of JD Auto

Meanwhile, thanks to its O2O (online to offline) service model, car owners can order car maintenance products and services on JD.com, such as tires, machine oil, and more, and also visit nearby JD Auto Services stores for offline installation and other services.

The ominichannel model is widely welcomed by JD Auto’s partners. Representatives at the press conference from Continental tires, Tongyi lubricants, and Mahle automotive parts manufacturer all expressed their hope to strengthen collaboration with JD on this front.

“In the future, JD will further open all the services and user’s benefits across our online and offline channels, ensuring consistent offers to our customers,” said Qing Yan.

As measured in September 2020, China has become one of the largest automotive markets in the world with over 275 million cars. The average age of cars in China is about 4.9 years, which is getting closer to the 5 years’ threshold when car maintenance demand will surge, as experience shows from the international market, ushering in the boom of the trillions-of-yuan worth automotive aftermarket.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

JD and Kuaishou will partner to bring high quality products to Chinese consumers this Singles Day. From November 1^st to 9^th, many leading Kuaishou hosts will take turns presenting on a 200-hour (8 days and 8 hours) uninterrupted livestream.

During the livestream, Kuaishou viewers can get a secret code, which can be inputted on the JD app to receive coupons to be used on JD.com. Tied to JD’s Super Category Day promotions, the live broadcasts will cover computer and digital products, mobile phone, home and everyday use, watches and jewelry, makeup and skin care, fresh food and other categories, providing users with high quality yet high value products.

This livestream cooperation is an extension of JD’s existing partnership with Kuaishou, which was announced just ahead of JD’s 618 Grand Promotion earlier this year. Through the partnership, Kuaishou users are able to purchase JD’s first party retail model products without leaving the Kuaishou app, and enjoy fast delivery and high quality after-sales service provided by JD. Overall, JD and Kuaishou are focused on strengthening to quality of products bought through livestreaming, and providing a tool for merchants to reach their target customer bases more effectively. Twenty-two million viewers tuned into the JD-Kuaishou livestream held during 618.

According to news reports, the world record for the longest livestream is currently held by Welsh content creator Reece “Reecesy” at 200 hours 30 minutes 28 seconds. The record was previously held by Twitch streamer Louis “Los PollosTV” Sammartinos, and before that, by video streaming platform Hulu at 161 hours 11 minutes 32 seconds.

(ella@jd.com)

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)