by Vivian Yang

Do you know that the average person spends over 30,000 hours in the bathroom in their lifetime? That almost 4 years in total! People in modern times would agree that the quality of one’s bathroom reflects one’s quality of life. According to JD’s recent survey, 63% of people take their bathroom as a space to relax and recharge themselves; 60% believe that the bathroom represents the owner’s personality and quality of life; while 32% are not satisfied with the current style and equipment of their bathrooms.”

As a result, creating more humanized, personalized, intelligent and quality bathrooms have become the four emerging trends in the home furnishing market.

During this year’s 618 Grand Promotion, JD Home launched the “Bathroom Revolution”, an initiative that mobilizes all parties and brands of the supply chain from interior design, decoration, construction materials to furnishing, to provide plenty of product choices and services, and a one-stop home furnishing solution for customers who want to upgrade their homes, especially their bathrooms, this summer.

Over 1,000 independent interior designers have participated in this initiative and shared their works on JD’s platform, showcasing their creativity in space utilization as well as care reflected in bathroom design.

“For a long time, interior designers accumulated many good ideas for bathroom decoration, but it is difficult to realize them due to the lack of brands’ support. Thanks to JD’s initiative this time, our designers’ feedback can be integrated into the R&D and sales process of decoration products, which will generate far-reaching impact in this industry,” said Wei Wu, one of the interior designer in this initiative.

Bathroom design examples by interior designers on JD.com

In addition to presenting over 1,000 examples of interior design suggestions, JD Home also collaborated with hundreds of well-known home decoration companies to offer construction plans. For example, JD and B&Q jointly offered bathroom renovation packages that include construction materials of selected international brands as well as products with standardized quality guarantees – a super easy home renovation solution that can spare customers from running around to purchase and select decoration materials as they had to do in the past.

At the same time, over 1,000 stores of 100 brands in bathroom, kitchen, and lighting products on JD Home have made a “Five Zeros” service promise, which includes free-of-charge on delivery and installation of new products; free-of-charge disassembling of old products; free testing and defect checking service for products purchased within 1 year and free maintenance service during the 3-year warranty period that covers all the products by different brands in the initiative.

A number of international and domestic brands introduced their cutting-edge products at competitive prices during 618. Sanitary ware brands include American Standard, GROHE, INAX, Roca, TOTO, Kohler, and Panasonic; Paint brands include Dulux, Nippon, and Davco; Lighting brands include NVC, Opple, Philips; and Smart electrics brands include Schneider, Delixi, and Chint.

With designers and brands ‘participation, JD Home also leverages AR technology to enhance the shopping experience – customers can use the real-time smart interior design software on JD.com to interact with designers and “move” their selected products into their virtual home spaces to find the best fit. This is helpful for customers to enjoy a complete home furnishing service from decoration consulting to product purchase.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Fei Lu and Vivian Yang

With the development of the COVID-19 in the first half year of 2020, Chinese consumers’ shopping behaviors have been affected and even transformed. The consumption trends can be categorized into four stages. We have identified some major ones in each stage based on the big data of JD.com.

 

1. During COVID-19：January – February 2020

• Shift to online shopping: High-frequency shopping online (5-8 times/month) increased by more than 50%;
• Changes on categories: Demand grew fast in home care, maternal and child, health, pets, household appliances, entertainment and other “off-season” categories;

• Growth in Certain Consumer Groups: orders from female new users between the ages of 46-55 grew 38%, that of over 56 females grew 54% year-on-year. Consumers under 25 were showing a growing sense of family responsibility, buying for others rather than just for themselves.This consumer cohort experienced the most rapid growth in the purchase of meat, eggs and fruits and vegetables.

 

2. Resumption to Work: March –April 2020

• From WFH to Office: Resumption of work gradually started with telecommuting. As a result, the transaction amount of audio-video-related equipment (headphones, microphones, etc.) for conferences increased by nearly 20 times year-on-year; As people prepared to return to the office starting in March, related products such as office supplies, shoes, and raincoats increased by 57% month-on-month;
• Surge of New Products Launches: New releases on JD in Q1 2020 are close to 50% of the 2019 total. New products that represent new technologies, new designs, new functions, new experiences and better profits will give brands an early start in the industry. More than 90% of the core brands select JD supermarket as the first platform for new products.

 

3. “May” be getting better: national holiday from 1^st – 5^th May

• With the improved weather improving and loosened travel restrictions, consumption boomed. Especially because door to door delivery became possible, large appliances purchases began to bounce back. During the May-Day holiday, online consumption turnover increased by 45 percent compared with the same period in 2019.

 

4.  Mid-Year Shopping Festival – new trends found during 618

• Continued consumption upgrade: According to KPMG’s latest report on May 28^th, with the sustained economic recovery and resumption of work and production, the general trend of consumption expansion and structural upgrade has remained unchanged.
• Revenge consumption; Livelihood demand strongest: Over 40 brands sold over RMB 100 million yuan on June 1st, indicating comprehensive recovery and a sharp rebound in some categories.
• Online shopping behavior persists: in face of the epidemic’s uncertainty and driven by the 618 Grand Promotion, e-commerce platforms like JD.com continue to integrate with short video platforms, offline stores, and city consumption stimulus plans keeping consumers active online.

 

(Fei Lu is senior analyst of JD Big Data Research Institute)

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

Today, JD.com and Kuaishou, China’s leading video sharing and livestreaming platform, announced to officially kick off the two parties’ strategic partnership to launch the first big promotion event on Kuaishou on June 16^th, when celebrities and over 100 well-known Kuaishou KOLs will promote the quality products via livestreams.

As a part of JD’s 618 initiatives, on May 27^th, JD and Kuaishou signed a strategic partnership with a focus on supply chain. Kuaishou users will be able to purchase products provided by JD without leaving the Kuaishou app, and enjoy fast delivery and after-sales service provided by JD.

For the first promotion, JD will provide 100,000 iPhone 11s, 100,000 iPads, 20,000 bottles of Moutai, 20,000 Nintendo Switches, 20,000 Estee Lauder essence, 50,000 M.A.C lipsticks, among other products, with big discounts. Apart from celebrities and KOLs, all anchors on Kuaishou are able to sell the products in their livestreams and short videos.

The June 16^th promotion marks the start of ongoing promotions through the partnership in the future. The two parties are keen to develop a healthy, open and sustainable e-commerce livestreaming ecosystem to satisfy diversified consumer needs.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

Western Digital (WD), the world’s leading computer hard disk drive manufacturer and data storage company, which is also a strategic partner of JD.com, is targeting new sales records during this 618 Grand Promotion. The company has already seen good sales performance on JD thus far.

On midnight of June 1^st, WD’s hard disk was recommended during a livestream, which generated sales of 10,000 hard disks sold on JD in just 10 minutes. On whole day of June 1^st, WD’s sales and total number of products sold on JD have both topped JD’s hard disk category, growing 240% and 170% YOY respectively, exceeding last year’s Singles Day (November 11^th) sales. Page views increased 500% YOY, topping the hard disks category.

This success is not a coincidence. Both companies have continuously delivered innovative solutions to enhance customer experience. The “My Passport” white hard disk is an example. Through an IP partnership, the brand has used a Tianjin Museum-themed design on the packaging of the product, and made JD the exclusive channel for the product launch. After going on sale via JD’s platform on June 1^st, the 5T product sold out in just two days.

Another example is the C2M initiative, which is also a trend in many industries. Last year, both companies designed a C2M product called “My Passport Ultra”. JD leveraged big data analysis and found that there was demand for a high-end hard disk, and innovatively connected this idea with its Plus membership as the target audience, as well as designed the product in a popular gold color, which has been exclusively sold on JD. To date, the series has 2.49 million customer reviews among which 98% are positive. Some of the popular comments are: read quickly; small and cute; stable operation; high-quality; and simple and fashionable.

Tao Ren, General Manager of JD Computers and Digital Products said, ”We will continue our strategic cooperation with Western Digital in sales, marketing and supply chain, bringing world-leading high-quality products to Chinese customers. We hope to hit new sales records during 618.”

Jerry Kagele, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing at Western Digital said, “As the e-commerce industry rapidly transforms, China continues to be more important than ever. China’s e-commerce industry serves as a key pillar for our global strategy to deliver the most innovative, technologically advanced products and service. I look forward to a new historical record on JD platforms during 618 shopping festival. ”

Stefan Mandl, Vice President of Sales, China & APAC region at Western Digital added, “We always value the seamless collaboration with our leading e-commerce partner JD. Their industry innovation paired with our world-class products has proven to be a winning combination. We expect to realize another e-commerce breakthrough in next phase. ”

Going forward, both companies also cooperate in omnichannel strategy, helping small and medium sized merchants expand their offline sales. During the epidemic, hard disk merchants also suffered from insufficient inventory given that most merchants didn’t have enough on hand. JD’s retail and supply chain capability have helped them solve this problem.

During January’s CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics show, JD was named Western Digital’s “Worldwide Most Valuable Partner” for 2019.

(The banner photo is taken at an award ceremony at CES 2020. Pictured are (from left to right) Tao Ren, General Manager of JD Computers and Digital Products, JD.com; Jerry Kagele, SVP, Global Sales & Marketing, Western Digital）

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)