by Yuchuan Wang

On August 11^th, JD.com officially completed its investment in China’s fourth largest convenience store chain, Xiamen Fook Chain Store Management Limited Company (Fook Convenience Store), representing JD.com’s first investment in the chain convenience store industry.

Fujian province-based Fook Convenience Store was established in 2006. It currently operates 1,700 convenience store outlets. Thanks to industry-leading warehousing and supply chain abilities, the company has established its own self-built fresh food factories and logistics centers.

Leveraging the investment in Fook, JD will further expand the omnichannel strategy for its supermarket business. Fook will supplement JD.com’s online retail business, improve last-mile delivery, and increase user loyalty. The two parties will explore “e-commerce + convenience store” model initiatives, such as social group buying, O2O, omnichannel fulfillment and more.

JD.com is already the largest retailer of many well-known international FMCG brands including P&G, Unilever, Nestlé, Mars, Wyeth and more. Its business covers 1 million offline stores. The company has partnered with more than half of the country’s top 100 chain supermarkets in more than 200 cities.

“JD.com will leverage its strong capabilities in supply chain, data, technology and marketing to promote the branding, chain development and intelligent nature of convenience stores, to better serve consumers and facilitate consumption growth,” said a JD representative.

Since 2019, JD.com has completed a series of investments in market leaders such as 5Star, Gome and D.Phone in the electronics and home appliances industries. Ahead of this year’s 618 Grand Promotion, JD also partnered with Kuaishou to provide its supply chain abilities to the leading live streaming platform.

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

On August 10^th, JD and Gome jointly initiated a purchase plan worth from brands RMB 30 billion yuan, including products such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, small home appliances and electronic products. The products will be sold via Gome, JD’s first-party stores, and the Gome flagship store on JD. This is the largest purchase of home appliances and electronics products in China this year. The joint purchase will not only provide more high-quality products to customers, but also drive domestic demand and help combat influences of COVID-19.

The two sides plan to purchase 2.1 million televisions, mainly OLED, laser and 8K models; 2 million refrigerators and washing machines; 3.6 million air conditioners;1 million dishwashers and kitchen appliances; 10 million small home appliances from brands including Midea, Joyyoung and Dyson; and 1 million mobile phones from Apple, Huawei, Honor and Xiaomi. The two sides will also purchase a total of 785,000 laptops, desktops, smart wearables, cameras, and entertainment equipment.

Junzhou Wang, CEO of Gome Retail said:” The joint purchase plan by JD and Gome is an update on the previous cooperation. We hope to bring more high quality products and a better shopping experience to customers through the integration of our supply chain, traffic and premium customer service.”

Xiaobing Yan, president of JD Electronics and Home Appliancse said: “JD and Gome have always strived to provide benefits to customers and our brand partners. Although COVID-19 has significantly impacted the home appliances industry, we also see opportunities in the challenge. The joint purchase plan will improve the efficiency of retail and supply chain, and optimize the shopping experience for customers.”

An industry report shows that home appliances sales in the first half of 2020 were RMB 369 billion yuan, a decrease of 14.13% y-o-y. JD and Gome are two of the biggest players in the industry with an over one-third market share in total. The joint purchase plan will help stabilize the market and drive the recovery of the home appliances industry.

The purchase marks a deeper cooperation following the establishment of Gome and JD’s strategic partnership. Gome launched a third-party flagship store on JD this March. On May 28^th, JD announced a strategic partnership with Gome Retail focused on product purchase and sale, logistics, financial services, and more. JD will also buy $100 million worth of convertible bonds from Gome. In July, the Gome app launched nearly 20,000 SKUs of first party consumer goods from JD Super, JD’s online supermarket.

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

JD MRO, JD.com’s B2B subsidiary for industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services, announced today it has completed the acquisition of VIPMRO, China’s leading procurement platform for MRO products. The acquisition gives JD access to VIPMRO’s over 100,000 offline retail stores.

MRO business covers over 10 million SKUs, many of which are long-tail and non-standard items. Through the strategic investment in VIPMRO, JD is able to speed up its development in the MRO industry while satisfying increasing demands from clients.

VIPMRO will be positioned as a sub-brand of JD MRO and provide its services to offline retail stores. Connecting with manufacturers will help JD build an even more comprehensive and smarter supply chain for MRO products.

In addition, through “Partner Store” plan, JD MRO will provide digital solutions for offline stores in the areas of product selection, transportation and delivery, installation and more, to improve their operations efficiency.

Chunzheng Song, vice president of JD.com and president of JD Business said, “The acquisition of VIPMRO and the launch of Partner Store plan are only parts of JD’s investment in MRO industry. JD Business will further integrate resources in the market related with procurement and provide valuable long-chain services to enterprise clients.”

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

In late July Qianghua Yuan, founder of Saomao fruit art, sold a single honeydew melon for RMB 30,000 yuan. He bought it on Jingxi, JD’s social e-commerce platform, for less than RMB 5 yuan.

Inspired by Duoping Zhao, one farmer in Minqin, Gansu province, who helped turn the desert into an oasis by planting honeydew melon, Yuan carved Zhao’s likeness on a honeydew melon as an artwork and posted it on his Weibo, China’s social media platform similar to Twitter. The story moved a netizen originally from Gansu, who bought the melon at a price of RMB 30,000 yuan.

Because of the COVID-19, there is less demand from offline merchants to buy the local honeydew melon, and prices have dropped, making it challenging to sell the fruit. Jingxi has added an e-commerce sales channel.

During July 27^th to 31^st, Jingxi held an online event to gift customers one million melons (weighing 2,000 tons) from places of origin including Minqin and  Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shandong and Guangxi. Customers can also experience the farming process via JD’s livestream.

The Minqin honeydew melon is not only high quality, but also has helped turn 50,000 square km of desert land into prosperous farming land. 90.34% of area in Minqin county is desert land. In order to reverse desertification, local farmers have chosen to plant fruits like honeydew melon. Duoping Zhao is one of them. He joined the anti-desertification effort when he was 18 and has continued for the last 35 years. He will take care of every aspect of the process, from raising seeds, planting, pruning, watering and harvesting.

In recent years, with the help of e-commerce, local fruits have been given improved sales channels and better pricing, helping many farmers like Duoqing Zhao to free themselves from poverty. The local environment has also been improved.

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

JD Super, JD.com’s online supermarket, kicked off the “Super Dad Festival” (奶爸盛典) sales event on August 3^rd. The event will last the whole month with a variety of marketing activities, including 50% discounts and RMB 9.9 yuan prices for selected maternal and baby products, livestreaming with famous celebrity dads, IP collaborations, dedicated dad shopping and gaming activities and more.

Chinese dads are becoming more and more involved in childcare. This is not only because scientists have proven the health benefits of fatherhood, but more importantly, how a father performs in terms of childcare will be a big consideration for moms when considering whether to have a second child.

The first critical test for dads is the postpartum period, in which it is a tradition for many Chinese women to stay at home and recover from pregnancy and laboring with special care. As more and more Chinese families are in favor of professional postpartum care services in recent years, for the first time this year, JD Super launched a dedicated online sales event with postpartum care centers during the “Supper Dads Festival”, offering high-quality and good price choices to support new dads to prepare for their role as caretaker.

Earlier this year, most of the postpartum care centers were affected in China. The online promotional cooperation with JD enables them to demonstrate their services and reach a greater number of customers. The platform also facilitates families of expecting mom with access to more assuring services.

A wide range of material and baby product brands have joined the sales event, offering milk powder, baby food, nutritional supplements, baby appliances and all kinds of toys, an inviting territory for most dads.

This is the fourth year for JD Super to host the “Supper Dads Festival”. Through the event, JD continues to deepen its collaboration with the most trusted maternal and baby brands home and abroad to further engage with a wide range of Chinese families and offer them assistance and assurance through high-quality and safe products and services.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)