by Ling Cao

Sales of health-related products and services increased 104% YOY on JD’s super healthcare day on September 16^th, according to JD Data. Among the best-sellers were household medicine, consultation services on JD Health’s platform, and HPV vaccines, which respectively increased 600%, 474% and 104%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the prioritization of healthcare among consumers, with influenza vaccine sales increasing nearly 17 times in the previous month, and a “family medicine suitcase” program launched in May of last year helped to drive a 230% YOY increase in customers for medicine management services. The program provides integrated healthcare services including notifications featuring medicine recommendations and instructions, and healthcare consultation – available via SMS, WeChat messages or directly in the JD Health app.

Additionally, healthcare products, medical apparatus and medicine all jumped in popularity. Data showed that Omron sales increased 148% YOY, while Johnson & Johnson sales increased 387% YOY. Swisse sales increased 193% YOY, and some Chinese brands selling bird’s nest soup also saw a boost. In the consumption medical service category, sales from ikang’s JD store increased seven times, and YOY sales from Amcare Women’s and Children’s Specialized Health increased over nine times.

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD has launched Jing Gong Bang (京工帮, literally means JD Industry Helper), a system that will help digitalize the MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) industry by connecting big companies with industry-leading service providers for manufacture-level omnichannel service solutions.

The system, which was announced at the ongoing 22^nd China international Industry Fair (CIIF) in Shanghai, will ensure the MRO industry is equipped to handle “unexpected occasions,” said Deming Ding, general manager of JD MRO, JD.com’s B2B subsidiary for industrial MRO products and services.

“When those occasions happen, it’s hard for a company to respond entirely based on its own capabilities,” he said. “Building a service system with industry partners is the only road to go digital.”

These days supporting services like installation, repair and maintenance can play an essential role in driving purchase—and are rapidly becoming a customer expectation. Jing Gong Bang hopes to fill that gap.

In the first phase, the system will focus on three service scenarios: deploying a team to the client’s factory to provide purchasing recommendations and consultation; completing the last mile supply chain by providing forward warehouses or space in JD’s warehouses, and access to smart lockers; and professional maintenance services such as instant installation and maintenance services.

For example, in this year’s one road construction project in Sichuan, JD helped build forward warehouses that improved construction efficiency for the project.

As part of the announcement, JR MRO signed a cooperation agreement with six industrial product service providers.

In addition to Jing Gong Bang, JD also launched other products including an app providing a factory-to-business procurement platform.

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD’s premium membership-only online store Yihaodian, the first online membership-only retail platform in China will partner with DQY (德青源) Ecological, the leading egg producer in China, to develop exclusive, high-end eggs free of chemicals, antibiotics and bacteria.

“We’re excited to form this partnership with DQY Ecological to provide exclusive benefits to our members,” said Tiger Dai, general manager of Yihaodian. “This is also a beginning for us to develop products for our own Yihaodian brand in the future. In fact, we hope that in the future 50% of Yihaodian’s products are unique and customized.”

Yihaodian will continue to develop tailored products leveraging JD’s strong supply chain system, big data capability and its professional buyer team, Dai said.

The partnership also represents a new approach for DQY Ecological, which has twice won the highest award in the worldwide egg industry, in 2008 and 2013.

“We have always attached great importance on the safety and quality of eggs, but to work with Yihaodian on customized high-end eggs is a fresh strategy for us,” said Daliang Zheng, CEO of DQY Ecological.

The store also updated its app this week, providing 30 free eggs every month for each member for one year, as part of the benefit for new partnership.

This August, JD upgraded Yihaodian, which was a B2C e-commerce platform primarily selling groceries. The new Yihaodian model is targeted at middle-class family customers who want affordable high-quality products.

Yihaodian’s upgrade is part of JD’s larger strategy to not only target “down” to lower-tier city customers, but to also target “up” to higher-income customers seeking a premium shopping experience.

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

JD and the local government and enterprises in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province in northeast China announced a partnership on September 15^th to co-develop pig farming and pork products. As a poverty alleviation effort and under the company’s “support agriculture” program, JD announced the plan at a signing ceremony to sell RMB 200 million yuan of Harbin’s “running mountain pig” within one year in China.

The first project for JD is to revamp the pig farms in Yuquan Hill (玉泉山), a poverty-stricken mountainous scenic area near Harbin. JD will work with local government to create a healthy and happy environment for black pigs to grow.

Several playgrounds will be built inside the farms, allowing the pigs to do sufficient daily exercises in a space that is ten times larger than the average pig farm. Pigs can swim in the pool during summer and play in the snow during the winter. Thanks to the diversified activities available, pigs raised in Yuquan Hill farms have earned the name “running mountain pig”. They contain less fat than ordinary pigs.

At the same time, to support households living below the poverty line in this region, JD will give farming tasks to poor households and once they meet JD’s standards, the pigs will be sold on JD, and the company will ensure they are compensated for their farming costs and receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale.

With the support of JD, “running mountain pig” products such as pork heads, bellies, and ribs saw the quickest growth rates both online and offline in the fresh pork category during this year’s 618 Grand Promotion.

“JD has set a goal to help sell RMB 2 billion yuan of running mountain pigs this year,” announced Xiaofei Li, the head of the program, during the signing ceremony. “We have confidence in the comprehensive supply chain management and quality control of the pork products, and we also know that the program can indeed increase income for the local farmers and serve as a good model for agriculture support and poverty alleviation.”

The “running mountain pig” program has so far directly increased incomes for 540 poor households and provided 4,000 working opportunities for local residents in Harbin.

JD will also support local pork enterprises to develop more C2M (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) products based on its big data and consumption analysis. For example, a local manufacturer’s C2M “juicy black pork grilled sausage” product became a hot seller on JD.com thanks to its quality guarantees backed by JD and the increase of home-made barbecue demand because of the epidemic.

The “running mountain pig” program is part of JD’s poverty alleviation initiative that aims to provide job opportunities for people in impoverished areas and high-quality “farm-to-table” agricultural products to urban consumers. Other projects under this initiative include JD’s “running chicken”, “swimming duck” and “flying pigeon”.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD has opened the doors of its first home appliance flagship store in Bengbu, a fourth-tier city in Anhui province, a move that is in line with JD’s strategy to open 300 home appliance flagship stores in prefectural-level cities on a one-city-one-store basis by 2025. Sales in the store reached RMB 45 million yuan between August 28^th to September 14^th, making it the city’s most popular home appliance and electronics shopping place.

Unlike traditional home appliance stores, JD’s new store in Bengbu aims to go beyond retail. The store will also include entertainment zones for testing the store’s products through activities like cooking, driving go-karts, piloting a drone to take photos, and more.

“We’re trying to create a relaxed environment that encourages customers to try things out and enjoy themselves in the process of finding products that meet their needs, instead of purchasing only based on a dry recommendation from a salesperson,” said Naiqing Tong, head of the Bengbu store.

The test-before-purchase concept is consistent with the consumption philosophy of younger generations today, and has resulted in a customer base of mostly people in their 20s, Tong said.

In addition to a unique experience, the store also offers reasonably priced products ranging from high-end home appliances, to more affordable options including refrigerators and washing machines under RMB 1,000 yuan, and more.

Ms. Chang, a customer at the store, told store manager, “I saved several thousand yuan recently on a purchase of home appliance sets totaling around RMB 40,000 yuan. I got big discounts, and colorful products!”

JD provides full refunds within 7 days, or within 30 days for valid complaints, ensuring a best-in-class customer experience.

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

JD.com attended an online panel during the Global Retail Show, a large retail event heavily attended by Brazilian executives, to discuss China retail trends and provide practical case studies from JD’s business.

The Global Retail Show aims to promote the debate between players and peers in the retail space throughout their experiences, strategies and ideas. The event, held from September 13-19, promotes a total of 150 hours of content, with curators from 12 countries inviting leaders of different segments, resulting in a team of 267 speakers. It is usually held in Brazil but under COVID-19 was held entirely online this year.

The panel was organized by top Brazilian business school Fundação Dom Cabra (FDC) and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Rodrigo Zeidan, Associate Professor of Practice of Business and Finance at NYU Shanghai and Visiting Professor at FDC, as well as Dr. Yang Li, Associate Professor of Marketing at CKGSB. Mary Wadsworth Darby, Chief Representative of CKGSB Americas, moderated the discussion.

As the only representative from a retailer on the panel, JD’s presentation focused on how innovations in retail are applied throughout the business to improve the customer experience and help brand partners and merchants in the market. The sharing focused on four areas, omnichannel, customization, consumption of services and interactive forms of consumption such as AR/VR and livestreaming.

In omnichannel, the emphasis was on providing a consistent shopping experience across different shopping formats and giving brands and merchants insights into how their consumers behave offline, as well as online, while the section on customization focused on how matching supply and demand from the consumption and production ends can ensure more satisfaction throughout the entire retail process. The trends shared can be summarized in a few words – consistency of experience, customization and interactivity.

Slide from JD.com’s panel discussion sharing

Rodrigo Zeidan opened the discussion with an overview of China’s economy. “We overestimate China in the short run and underestimate it in the long run.” He added: “Everyone is enamored by the scale and size of China,” referring to the double digit growth of the last 40 years. “But they underestimate China in the long run… the success of China is going to be earth shattering 20 years from now, much more than it is today.” He went on to explain that the total GDP per employed person in China is now 20% of that of the U.S., but if we assume 5.5% growth for the next 30 years, while the American economy grows at 2.5% per year, labor productivity of China could hit U.S. levels in 2048. “The Chinese economy has so much space to grow…The retail sector is going to explode – it’s already doing that”

Yang Li used the different components Chinese translation of the word “internet”, hulianwang (互联网) to explain the current trends in today’s internet: Connectivity (lian 联), Network (wang 网) and Social (互). In terms of connectivity, Li focused on lowering the cost of connectivity, doing between e-commerce and online advertising and online-to-offline integration. As for network, he explained that today’s network is very diverse. Many people are connected and control their own usage of the Internet and their time. This is one of the reasons that information can go viral. Li also explained how the internet celebrity trend has also emerged from this network diversity.

Finally, in sociability, Li referred to how the social networks built by WeChat and other players is “smaller, but more genuine”. The trust of the social network has also played an integral role in some aspects of e-commerce. He mentioned how Tencent makes money not on WeChat, as Facebook would through advertising, but rather through the programs built on WeChat. He referenced JD.com as one of the mini-programs accessible through WeChat thanks to JD’s strategic partnership with Tencent.

The Global Retail Show panel hosted by FDC and CKGSB, attended by JD.com and CKGSB speakers

(ella@jd.com)