by Tracy Yang

JD.com has partnered with Shanghai Animation Film Studio to release a micro movie “JOY STORY III: Returning to No. 618“, in which JD’s JOY and several classic animation characters from Shanghai Animation Film Studio go on an adventure into a fantasy world, telling a story of “living up to your passion” and “chasing your dreams”.

 

 

 

 

 

JD.com is not only an e-commerce platform, but also one of the best platforms for IP brands to reach more consumers. During the emotional journey which pays tribute to “Childhood Faith”, classic images from Shanghai Animation Film Studio, like Ne Zha, Mr. Black Cat, Monkey King and many famous brands such as Abbott, OSM, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, Yili,  come together and embrace this new trend. In this cooperation, JD leverages its own rich resources to help Shanghai Animation Film Studio not only understand the mentality of consumers of all ages, but also to help the studio more effectively and deeply communicate with consumers, while meeting their needs.

Animation characters could make good marketing. AMD is a world-renowned chip manufacturer and usually IP customization is difficult for B2B brands. JD.com has successfully enabled AMD to use the image of Monkey King, a famous animation character, in different marketing materials, including sales pages, emailing, text messages, official websites and other resources. During AMD’s sales event on May 16^th, with JD’s help in successfully attracting traffic and driving click-through rates, sales of AMD products reached over RMB 100 million yuan within five minutes. Many of AMD’s OEM manufacturers also joined the event and launched posters, extending the reach of the campaign.

 

(tracy.yang@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD Worldwide, JD.com’s platform for imported products, will offer over 30, 000 new imported products from over 100 countries during JD’s upcoming 618 Grand Promotion.

The introduction of new products has been one of JD Worldwide’s key operations.  JD Worldwide will work with NIKE, Perrier ,French skincare brand Clarins, Japanese skin care brand DECORTÉ, German baby milk formula brand Aptamil to launch new products for JD customers. In the first half of 2020, over 600 overseas brands have launched over 3,000 products on JD Worldwide.

In response to demand from Chinese consumers for not just high quality products but also high quality services, beginning this 618, JD Worldwide will also expand its “Value Assurance Package” from just first-party products to include third party products. The “Value Assurance Package” includes fast refund, return with no reason within seven days, damaged package return, return due to allergy, and product traceability services. The move to expand the scope of the “Value Assurance Package” not only enables customers to enable a better shopping experience but also improves the service quality of JD’s third party merchants.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

During JD’s 618 Grand Promotion, as the leading home appliance retail platform in China, JD has arranged a variety of special benefits and services for customers.

JD has cooperated with many brands to offer hundreds of billions yuan in discounts. Over 40 brands have created over 200 special production lines to produce over 1,000 exclusive products. For example, Dyson will offer 70% of its Dyson Airwrap inventory to JD during 618. Some other promotions include a 60-inch 4K TV for less than RMB 2,000 yuan, a 55-inch 4K smart TV for RMB 1399 yuan, a Panasonic dishwasher for RMB 1899 yuan, and a new Midea air circulator for RMB 459 yuan – prices are significantly lower than usual.

Service is always key for ensuring the “last mile” of the shopping experience. JD has upgraded its service during 618 so that customers can enjoy a 30-day price protection policy for home appliances bought on JD’s first party platform, and the option to replace a new home appliance with a quality problem within 180 days. JD will also provide integrated delivery and installation service for TVs, and fast installation service for air conditioners.

JD will also offer RMB 300-600 yuan subsidies for people who trade in old air conditioners for new one. It will provide a pre-sale video service to help guide consumers in the purchase of home appliances.

In addition, offline stores JD’s E-Space will participate in a 24-hour promotion on June 18^th, providing customers with subsidies and discounts. JD’s over 12,000 home appliance experience stores will leverage livestreaming for marketing promotion, covering Hebei, Henan, Hunan and Guangdong provinces.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang and Ella Kidron

On May 27^th, JD Retail, the retail business of JD.com, announced a strategic partnership with Kuaishou Technology, China’s leading video sharing and livestreaming platform, to develop a short video e-commerce livestreaming ecosystem. While “Kuaishou” means “fast hand”, this partnership will see a deep collaboration on Kuaishou Xiaodian dubbed “little shops” in terms of supply chain, brand marketing and data capabilities.

According to the agreement, JD will provide selected products to Kuaishou’s little shops and the two parties will build a product pool together. Kuaishou users will be able to purchase JD’s first party products without leaving the Kuaishou app, and enjoy fast delivery and after-sales service provided by JD.

The partnership will kick off during JD’s 17^th Anniversary Grand Promotion (“618”) and Kuaishou’s June 16^th Shopping Festival. From June 16^th to 18^th, products from JD’s first party business will be available for to a portion of Kuaishou’s livestreaming KOLs.

At the same time, JD Retail and Kuaishou will collaborate to strengthen brand marketing capabilities. Kuaishou’s anchors will do livestreaming and short video marketing, and JD will provide joint marketing capabilities and fulfillment services, to enhance the core competitiveness of both brands. The two parties will also explore precision marketing based on JD’s insights on customer shopping behavior and Kuaishou’s understanding of short video and e-commerce livestreaming.

“The retail industry is facing the opportunities and challenges of more and more diversified consumer demand and consumption scenarios. JD Retail has China’s leading retail supply chain, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of customers because of its quality product offerings and services. It is committed to driving the transformation of the retail industry through opening up its own capabilities. Kuaishou is a short video social platform loved by hundreds of millions of users. The partnership between JD Retail and Kuaishou will provide Chinese consumers with a high-quality experience in richer shopping scenarios,” said Lei Xu, CEO of JD Retail.

“Since the beginning of this year, short video livestreaming in e-commerce has been developing rapidly. As a short video live broadcast platform with more than 300 million daily active users, Kuaishou is the earliest explorer and leader in the e-commerce livestreaming industry with leading advantages in the number of users and the creation of new scenarios. JD Retail is a high-quality e-commerce platform with an industry-leading supply chain. This collaboration will bring an even more high-quality shopping experience to Kuaishou’s users,” said Su Hua, CEO of Kuaishou.

As early as June 2019, Kuaishou announced that users can view JD products in the Kuaishou app and be redirected to the JD app to make a purchase. The latest cooperation is an upgrade and will supplement and advance Kuaishou in terms of product offering, and is also in line with Kuaishou’s goal to expand its boundaries to brands and high-quality goods. JD will gain in terms of being able to reach new users and push into new scenarios in the emerging e-commerce livestreaming market.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com; ella@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

As the COVID-19 situation gets better in the spring, bicycles and electronic motorcycles have become the most popular vehicles for Chinese people to get back on the road. Many of them are buying new gear, adding heat to the already steaming cycling market. All of this is making a profound impact on this industry as well as people’s way of transport.

Zhang Siqi, manager of the cycling department of JD Sports shared his views and work about bicycles on the eve of JD’s 618 Grand Promotion.

Zhang Siqi at JD’s 618 kick-off press conference

 

1.Helmet is the new mask 

On May 21st, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced the “One Helmet, One Belt” campaign which will take effect on June 1^st, enforcing stricter use of helmets and seat belts on the road. The mandate immediately drove up helmet prices and resulted in a shortage of supplies.

According to Zhang, searches for helmets in the past week on JD.com soared, up by 1142% compared with 7 days ago and sales grew by 45%. Orders are particularly high in 2^nd and 3^rd tier cities.

To ensure customers have the proper equipment before the rule is rolled out, JD quickly responded by leveraging its advantages in supply chain, coordinating with its suppliers in all channels to boost supplies. So far it has managed to offer 50,000 helmets per day on its platform to stabilize the market.

Besides providing available authentic helmet products, JD also works directly with big helmet makers in the manufacturing process to guarantee quality control won’t be compromised under the pressure and promotes relevant knowledge to increase people’s collective awareness of traffic regulations.

“During the 618 sales period, JD customers need not worry about helmet shortages as we’ve negotiated with our partners to make helmets a standard outfit for electronic motorcycle sales,” said Zhang.

 

2.An RMB 100 billion yuan market

“We have a lifestyle-changing profession”, Zhang said with pride at JD’s 618 press conference.  “We are solving ‘the-last-5-kilometers’ challenge for many people.”

Zhang provided a set of staggering numbers about China’s bicycles landscape: each year about 100 million people in China buy new bicycles or electric motorcycles; 85.7 out of 100 households (especially for rural families) own electric motorcycles; the overall bicycle market size is over RMB 100 billion yuan.

China Bicycles Association’s report also showed that by 2019 there were near 400 million bicycles and 300 million electric motorcycles in China – more than anywhere else in the world.

Young customers between 16-25 years old have contributed over 44% of the sales in the past two months.

“Many people still think bicycles are just a tool of riding for the elderly. In fact, we have a very diversified customer base with people of all ages.”

 

3. Let cycling shine

JD’s omnichannel services pave a smooth way for riders’ journeys: once a booking is made online, customers can go to their nearby bicycle stores for pick-up, assembly, and maintenance. Tens of thousands of bicycle stores and technicians have partnered with JD across the country to provide convenient after-sales services.

As mentioned above, nearly half of JD’s bicycle customers are young people who are passionate about cycling. To get first-hand users’ insight, Zhang’s team made themselves into cycling contest organizers, contestants, and even technicians. Zhang tested many bicycles he sold, and dismantled a lot together with brand partners to develop C2M (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) products. Now JD has set up 10 dedicated assembly lines for its C2M bicycle products to satisfy customers’ various demands.

“Cycling is both practical and fashionable. We provide practical riding solutions to our customers. At the same time our products need to be good-looking and stylish.”

Cycling is an attitude of life. Zhang’s team has hosted over 500 cycling contests so far.  They know people who have cycling weddings and team up for cycling expeditions in mountainous west China’s Sichuan and Tibet. Zhang also found that in their customer base, about 30% also frequently surf the fashion and jewelry categories, and 30% are interested in other sports products.

“Usually people who love fashion and sports are living a positive life ” said Zhang, “We are honored to bring more sunshine to their life through our superior products and services.”

During this year’s JD 618 sales event, Zhang’s team has planned attractive sales campaigns including a 999RMB / 140USD XD e-bike and a 1,999 RMB/285 USD NIU electronic motorcycle, both are unprecedentedly low price offers from brand partners. Starting from June 1^st, live streams and interactive activities with customers will unveil gradually in the ramp-up to the June 18^th shopping festival.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

During JD.com’s 618 press conference held on May 25^th, the e-commerce giant announced that the company will host over 300,000 key livestreams during this year’s June 18 Anniversary Grand Promotion. Apart from using its own livestreaming platform JD Live, it will also work with partners including Kuaishou (快手), Douyin (抖音), Wesee (微视), Bilibili, Huya (虎牙), Douyu (斗鱼) and others.

As the first national shopping festival in the post-epidemic era, JD will partner with singers and bands to bring concerts online. In addition, over 100 celebrities will join JD Live to offer benefits to consumers.

Moreover, JD will invite top executives from brands such as Huawei, Honor and Haier to interact with consumers directly, offering big discounts. JD’s executives and sales managers will also join JD Live. On May 22^nd, Lei Xu, CEO of JD Retail hosted a live broadcast for the pre-sale of Zhongjun Yunjingtai (Cloudview Terrace), a residential compound in Beijing.

JD Live will invite more than 100 civil servants, such as mayors, county heads, and directors of commerce to act as livestreaming anchors to promote local agricultural products to help farmers and industries affected by COVID-19.

Through livestreaming, JD will not only bring customers an immersive shopping experience just like offline, but also provide brands with more opportunities and exposure, help them seize the opportunity in the post-epidemic event.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)