by Ling Cao

JD Data showed that during the JD super flowers day held on Chinese Valentine’s Day “Qixi” on August 25^th, sales were 22 times that of the daily average during the previous 30 days.  Total sales surpassed whole day on 618 Grand Promotion by10 am. ROSEONLY sales broke its previous year’s record for the day in just half an hour.

JD has launched a fast intra-city delivery service which can deliver to consumers in as fast as 20 minutes. Data shows that 30% of JD customers will select this service and opt to have their orders delivered by nearby flower shops. Orders delivered by this service have increased 197% y-o-y, sales increased 286% y-o-y, and the average basket price is a record RMB 358 yuan.

Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shandong are the top five provincial-level markets in terms of sales. Lower tier markets also saw sales surge. The top five cities in terms of sales growth are Huanggang, Qixia, Liu’an, Tianshui and Liuzhou.

In terms of demographics, 60% of consumers are male customers, and 26-31 years old age group makes up the highest proportion. Twelve-and-a-half percent of customers are above 56 years old. JD data also shows that for the week before “Qixi”, orders made remotely increased 33% y-o-y.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Martin Li

JD had maintained steady growth in sales of kitchen and bathroom appliances in the first half of this year, despite an overall slowdown in the home appliances industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sales of dish washers, integrated stoves and gas stoves increased by 58%, 57% and 34% respectively in the first half of this year, compared with the same period of last year.

On the contrary, home appliances sales across China decreased by almost 10% during the same period, among which kitchen appliance sales dropped by 20% to RMB 97.7 billion yuan, according to a JD market insights report.

During the pandemic – from January to June -the real estate  market saw a decrease of 7.6% in total area of sold homes, taking its toll on most relevant industries like kitchen and bathroom appliances. Meanwhile, consumer demand for new categories was on the rise, according to the report.

However, JD rose to account for a market share of 28.86%, according to a report published by the China Center for Information Industry Development.

JD gathered renowned kitchen and bathroom appliances brands on its e-commerce platform, including Midea, Robam, Fotile and Siemens, providing diversified categories like built-in dish washers, all-in-one machines with oven and steaming functions and vertical sterilization  cabinets.

The e-commerce giant has been also developing logistics and after-sales capabilities to improve experience of consumers in the industry.

“The industry failed to get off to a flying start at the beginning of this year. However, it started recovering from May and JD helped drive the growth, especially in sales of new categories,” said Xu Dongsheng, vice chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliance Association.

JD launched a promotional campaign for kitchen and bathroom appliances on August 28th, providing consumers with various discounts in cooperation with major brands.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

 

 

 

 

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by Martin Li

JD Books has been chosen as the exclusive e-commerce partner by the organizer of the 27th Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) to support its first-ever online reading promotion campaign.

The annual book fair is due to kick off on September 26th and the online campaign started on August 26th and will last until Sept.30th.

Named World Reading Season, the campaign will feature six livestreams on JD.com and its livestreaming partner Kuaishou. The six livestream themes will be around Cuba, Arabic language, the UK, Poland, drama and picture books respectively in an effort to broaden people’s horizon by introducing diversified culture.

JD will cooperate with the fair organizer and publishers to invite professionals as hosts for each livestream to share related cultural stories, as well as recommend reading lists covering culture, music, photography and cuisine.

People can directly buy recommended books on JD’s e-commerce platform.

In addition, the campaign will also feature short videos and offline bookstore activities.

Book lovers can also visit the fair’s offline venue and buy recommended books on JD by scanning QR code.

“JD Books has a huge advantage and influence in promoting books online. Our cooperation with JD can not only give more readers access to quality books, but also give fair exhibitors better experience. The cooperation also serves as a trial for traditional publishing industry to explore new ways for promotion,” said the fair organizer.

The BIBF is the largest of its kind in China. It was inaugurated by China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Corporation in 1986.

JD is becoming increasingly popular with publishers, book sellers and writers as a channel to promote reading online. On July 31st, Chinese laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mo Yan, saw over 10,000 copies of his new book A Late Bloomer sold within only 30 minutes during a livestream by himself on JD.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

 

by Ling Cao

On Chinese Valentine’s Day, Qixi, which falled on August 25^th this year, one Beijing customer, Ms. Chen bought a voucher to purchase hairy crabs on JD.com’s auction platform, for RMB 9,999 yuan. The voucher was provided from JD’s TopCrab flagship store, and can be exchanged for ten top-of-the-line crabs, five male and five female, weighing over 3 kilograms in total, as well as accessories.

When the crabs are ready, Ms. Chen can enjoy delivery by air as well as personal chef service.

Chen said that the voucher isn’t intended as a gift. She bought it for her family as they love eating crabs and spend quite a lot of money on them each year, and it is hard to find good quality ones.

JD Fresh has also launched a series of preferential policies for customers of its hairy crabs. For example, weighing the crab without the ties, offering two live crabs in compensation for any dead one – the highest level refund in the industry, price protection through year-end, and more.

Ms. Chen added, “I buy different categories on JD, and I trust the service and quality. This is my first time to buy hairy crabs there, and I have no doubts about the service level. If the experience is good this time, I will consider to buy more fresh food on JD.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD has upgraded Yihaodian (literally means No.1 Store) to Yihaodian Membership Store, the first online membership-only retail platform in China. Besides going “down” to target lower-tier city customers through Jingxi and offline channels such as JD Mobile stores and JD Computer and Digital stores, JD is also going “up”, providing higher quality shopping experience for customers with better income.

JD’s big data on the consumption habits of customers from six first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou show the following characteristics: 1) For online shopping, customers are most unsatisfied with the prices and product selection; 2) Customers like to buy high quality products frequently on more reliable e-commerce platforms; 3) Customers with higher incomes are more likely to accept membership models; 4) Though advertisements and reviews will impact customers’ decisions, the higher the incomes they earn, the less they will be impacted by these factors.

The insights show that many customers with higher incomes are demanding a better shopping experience, such as Yihaodian’s membership model. Before Yihaodian, there were no such online membership e-commerce platforms in China. Yihaodian provides carefully selected high-quality products based on big data, reviews and customers’ feedback, with the most competitive prices. Customers with higher income are usually have less time to browse for products. In this way, customers can easily find the products they want and save their time. Yihaodian’s services such as membership fee insurance, 24/7 customer service and free refunds can make customers’ shopping experience hassle-free. The logic behind Yihaodian’s business model is to focus on all aspects of the customer experience and ensure its high quality.

Upgrading Yihaodian is new move for JD’s membership programs. Since JD launched its JD PLUS membership program in 2015, it has gathered rich experience in operating paid membership programs. Another advantage for Yihaodian is that it can leverage JD’s years of accumulation in e-commerce operations and supply chain capabilities, which is particularly important, as a strong supply chain can ensure lower operations costs as Yihaodian expands.

Yihaodian was founded in 2008 as a B2C e-commerce platform that mainly sells groceries. Walmart first invested in Yihaodian in 2011. In 2016, JD acquired Yihaodian as part of its deepened partnership with Walmart.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang and Rachel Liu

For 2021, Mazda has decided to express a “stand-out” attitude through its new CX-4 SUV that caters to the younger generation’s pursuit of fashion and personality. To prepare for its release, Mazda joined hands with JD.com to create a number of brand-new marketing activities at the end of this August.

For starters, JD’s online and offline networks will provide multiple touch points for customers. Leveraging the digital payment screens in JD’s offline convenience stores, customers can scan the QR code from the screen to join Mazda’s mini-app while they shop for groceries. On the mini-app, they can play games, win gifts and become fans of the brand.

JD Logistics provides another opportunity for engagement between the brand and its customers. A batch of standard JD delivery boxes could be folded into a CX-4 car model after consumers receive their orders. Again, they can scan the QR code on the boxes and join more online activities.

Thirdly, JD hand-picked four other premier brands in other categories that share similar characteristics as Mazda’s new edition. They are: China’s leading sports brand Li-Ning, cell phone maker Xiaomi, high-end mineral water brand Voss, and JD’s creative design product brand JOY STUDIO. Products from this brand alliance will be presented on the dedicated Mazda CX-4 page to gather more like-minded customers and better provide them with tailor-made interactions and shopping benefits.

Following a celebrity-filled Mazda livestream event on JD Live on August 21^st, Mazda’s AR experience space will be launched on JD’s app on August 26^th. It will include several online games such as car-racing competitions, car painting games and a modern music museum.

JD and Mazda also worked together during COVID-19 to provide health related support to Mazda customers. Mazda customers can come to JD and play a simple game to win the online medical consultation and health checkup sessions or healthcare products. JD has also launched a Mazda accessories first-party section on its platform to provide auto parts and accessories to JD customers.

 

(yanghan6@jd.com; liuchang61@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

The results are in for this year’s JD Beer Festival, which is somewhat of an online version of ‘Oktoberfest’（the world’s largest funfair held in Munich）, was held across one month from July 13^th to August 13^th. The event brought the world of beer to Chinese consumers, both online and omnichannel. Leading domestic and international brands such as Budweiser and Tsingtao participated in full force to make the event a success, demonstrating the JD platform’s important role in fostering brands’ development in China.

During the peak period of the festival, from August 1^st to the Super Category Day held on August 5^th, JD saw sales volume increase over 57% year-on-year. Craft beer has continued its impressive growth streak, increasing 120% YOY, while high end beer also saw 148% growth year on year.

This is the first year for JD to have a designated IP (including logo, slogan, and more) for the beer festival, and the increased awareness made a difference in helping to attract new customers. The number of new users coming to JD (from outside of the JD platform) through the event increased 227% YOY, indicating the success of both JD and brand partners’ omnichannel marketing campaigns.

Omnichannel integration has been a major focus for JD Super this year – the beer festival included. JD’s 7FRESH offline supermarkets and JD Liquor world franchise stores both participated in the event to enable delivery of cold beer to consumers in 29 minutes in selected regions. Thanks to JD’s Omnichannel Fulfillment program the fastest offline delivery was made in seven minutes. 7FRESH, JD’s offline supermarkets, also had a strong showing with in-store sales increasing 3 times YOY.

In the lower-tier cities, a target growth market for JD, transaction volume increased 300% YOY, with the lower-tier cities accounting for more than half of the orders. JD saw new users from lower-tier cities double. More than 10 types of beer saw transaction volume of over RMB 100 million from the lower-tier cities alone.

More data on the beer festival can be found in the infographic below:

 

(ella@jd.com)