JD News Roundup Vol. 2 (April 4-17)

Posted on by Ella Kidron

By Ella Kidron

Hubei province on the road to recovery following COVID-19 lockdown: JD data looking at enterprise procurement indicates that business in Hubei province are gradually resuming operations. From March 25th to 31st, the demand for goods from Hubei enterprises on JD’s platform increased 44.9% compared with the week earlier. On April 8th, JD announced a plan to invest more than RMB 6 billion in the recovery of Hubei province over the next three years, launching a series of initiatives to support the local economy and the development of local industry. Following the lift of the lockdown, there has been an explosive increase in the number of large items delivered by JD Logistics in Wuhan, Hubei province. Compared with the same period in March, in the first week of April, deliveries increased over 900%. Among the top items were furniture, home appliances and fitness equipment. Air conditioners, refrigerators and gas water-heaters experienced the most significant increase in demand.

Brands find ways to connect with consumers during COVID-19: As another way to help cultural brands during this time, JD has worked with museums and galleries in China to bring experiences online. Live streaming of activities from clubbing to traveling have boomed in China during COVID-19 as a way to help people stay connected and entertained while at home during lockdown or self-quarantine. Not just a means of entertainment, the experience also boosts sales of the museum’s stores on JD. On March 10th, the Guanfu Museum (founded by Chinese writer and collector Weidu Ma) hosted a session, attracting over 200,000 visitors in two hours. Sales of the museum’s flagship store increased approximately 460%.

Consumption trends in the “new normal”: JD data finds that, as COVID-19 is entering a new phase in China, people are going outside for more outdoor activities, and consumption reflects that. As compared with February 1-17, from March 1-17, sales of cycling-related products, fishing supplies, sportswear and other goods more than doubled month-on-month. Fishing seems to be a highly popular activity, with sales of fishing supplies up 155% month on month. Spring outing consumption among the 25-45 age group is 12.1% higher than the whole of JD’s platform.

JD data finds that, as COVID-19 is entering a new phase in China,

New brands and products join the JD family: New brands and services continue to come on JD at a steady clip. Most recently, JD launched a trade-in service for the iPhone SE in which consumers who buy the iPhone SE now under a promotion can later have the opportunity to trade it in and deduct its full value from the cost of new model. This follows the launch of a trade-in service with Apple’s iPad Pro and Macbook Air launched in March – the first of such services for JD to launch with Apple. In other news, water and housing products giant Lixil Group launched a flagship store on JD on April 9th. It is the first online store to integrate four of Lixil Group’s leading brands:  GROHE, American Standard, INAX and Lixil Kitchen. On April 9th, JD’s supply chain solution helped support important partner Xiaomi with its 10-year anniversary sales promotion. To mark the official end of the lockdown in Wuhan, a delivery robot delivered some of the Xiaomi products to customers in Wuhan, Hubei province.

JD demonstrates tech and supply chain leadership with products, rankings and partnerships: Earlier this week, JD Cloud & AI launched its edge computing product portfolio. The products, “Edge Physical Computing Service” and “Distributed Cloud Physical Server” are aimed at helping enterprises develop innovative businesses in the era of 5G&IoT. In a recently released ranking by ifenxi, a leading analytics agency in China, JD ranks third among China’s top 30 cloud computing companies. Finally, JD and Blue Yonder, Inc. (formerly JDA Software Inc.), formed a strategic agreement focused on providing supply chain transformation solutions for merchants in China.

JD has expanded its Omnichannel Fulfillment program with one-hour delivery of daily necessities supported by Dada Now.

Omnichannel Fulfillment expansion: Through a new cooperation with Dada Group, JD has expanded its Omnichannel Fulfillment program with one-hour delivery of daily necessities supported by Dada Now. Customers can directly buy over three million products from participating stores on JD.com and receive them in as fast at 15 minutes, and in an hour on average. JD’s Omnichannel Fulfillment supply chain innovation program integrates many offline channels to deliver orders that originate from JD directly, making the supply chain more efficient and sourcing products even closer to customers.

Looking for more? Check out the below:

 

(ella@jd.com)

JD Reading Report: an Overview of 2019 and Trends during COVID-19

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

JD released a report this week that reveals insights into Chinese consumer book purchasing habits in 2019 and during the epidemic. Here are some key trends:

  • Mid and lower tier markets are driving sales
  • Hot topics and current events impact sales
  • While many people stayed at home, children’s books, literature, education and calligraphy have become “must have” categories.

In 2019, the highest sales were derived from three book categories including children’s books, literature and education. In 2019, although tier 1-2 markets were still key markets driving book purchases, mid and lower tier markets became increasingly prominent, especially in the central China region, where Hubei province (epicenter of the epidemic) had the fastest sales growth y-o-y.

The purchasing preference for printing and digital books rose simultaneously. Based on data from JD and third party research institutions, 94.1% of China’s online readers read digital books; 77% of them read printing books; 64.1% of them will listen to audio books; finally, 55.6% read magazines or newspapers.

Customers read for different purposes, with 60.1% of them reading for self-improvement, 40% for career development, 36.2% for exams prep or articles, and 36.1% for their children’s education.

Regarding how they spend their money to read, data indicates that in 2019, 25.5% of them pay RMB 501-1000 and 22.6% of them pay RMB 301-500 accounting for most of the customers. While over a half of all customers bought 4-10 books in total, 14.6% of customers bought over 20 books. Regarding basket size, customers in the 26-35 years age bracket grew fastest y-o-y. .

Customers from mid and lower tier markets show greater interaction when purchasing books, tending to write more comments after making purchases, 35% higher than those from tier 1-2 markets. Comments include “recommended by colleagues, friends and teachers”. Overall, we saw the sales gap between mid to lower tier markets and tier 1-2 markets gradually narrow.

The coronavirus kept people at home and drove them to buy books online. From January to March 2020, book sales on JD increased significantly y-o-y. The book categories that saw the fastest increase includes educational supplements, children’s books, and science. Other categories include finance, history, home furnishing, and biographies. Interestingly, customers are buying more calligraphy books than ever before. Similarly, medical and healthcare, and psychology books increase by 20% and 3% in February, respectively; and, 48% and 25% in March, respectively.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

Luxury Brands Find New Avenue on JD during COVID-19

Posted on by Rachel Liu

by Rachel Liu and Tracy Yang

Designer brand By Far recently opened a flagship store on JD and has seen 65% of their products sell out after just four days. About 90% of its products sold out after one month.

By Far is not the only brand that has launched on JD during COVID-19. Since the beginning of January, around 20 luxury brands have opened stores on JD, including the world’s oldest fine leather goods house Delvaux, Chanel-owned jewelry brand Goossens and luxury cashmere specialist Barrie, British luxury leather brand Smythson, cashmere knitwear brand Pringle of Scotland, and international designer brands MSGM and Proenza Schouler. To date, over 200 luxury brands from around the world have established partnerships with JD.

Designer brand By Far recently opened a flagship store on JD

“The pandemic has affected many industries, and luxury is no exception. It has encouraged many luxury brands to attach greater importance to online.” said Kevin Jiang, president of International Business at JD Fashion and Lifestyle. “JD’s supply chain advantages, and the support we provide, have attracted brands to deepen their partnerships with us. In the coming months, we plan to offer more innovative programs to help brands deal with impact of the pandemic.”

Some of the support JD provides to luxury brands includes livestreaming and social e-commerce. The company is also exploring omnichannel solutions with brands in the near future. JD has helped Canadian fashion brand Ports host a nine-hour fashion show through livestreaming to present the new Spring-Summer 2020 collections from a dozen brands under Ports, such as PORTS, PortsPURE, and Ports V. The livestream resulted in sales of more than 10 million RMB in a single day. JD has also streamlined the process of getting stores up and running to help luxury brands open more easily. In addition, the company is providing a free service for luxury brands to launch Wechat mini-programs within just one week in order to gain more traffic.

JD has helped Canadian fashion brand Ports host a nine-hour fashion show through livestreaming to present the new Spring-Summer 2020 collections

Luxury products have sold well on JD during the epidemic, despite not being considered daily necessities. This is because more Chinese consumers are turning to channels within China to buy luxury products after the outbreak of COVID-19, and they want to choose a platform that they trust. According to Bain’s report, What’s Powering China’s Market for Luxury Goods, released in 2019, Chinese consumers’ demand for luxury products is surging – the report shows that China’s luxury goods market had experienced a second straight year of 20% growth.

This report also found that over 70% of luxury purchases of Chinese consumers occurred outside of China. With the restrictions on travel to the pandemic, it is more difficult for Chinese consumers to shop for luxury products outside of China by traveling on their own or through shopping agents. At the same time, the temporary closure of offline stores impacted luxury brands’ sales, as a large proportion of purchases still occur in brick and mortar stores. Even know, as stores have reopened, foot traffic is limited.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com; tracy.yang@jd.com)

Photo Gallery: This Week at JD (April 13-17)

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com announced that it will partner with Dada Group to provide JD’s customers with one-hour delivery service of daily necessities powered by Dada Now

On April 15th, JD.com announced that it will partner with Dada Group to provide JD’s customers with one-hour delivery service of daily necessities powered by Dada Now. Through the latest cooperation with Dada Group, JD customers can directly buy over three million products from participating stores on JD.com and receive the products within an average time of one hour. Some products can even be delivered within 15 minutes.

 

JD partners with Wenchuan (a county in Sichuan province) government to sell local cherries

JD partners with Wenchuan (a county in Sichuan province) government to sell local cherries to more cities following transportation challenges due to COVID-19. JD will provide various support including cold chain logistics, marketing and e-commerce training courses.

 

Behind the scenes of a Bloomberg photo shoot at JD’s smart delivery station

Behind the scenes of a Bloomberg photo shoot at JD’s smart delivery station on April 14th.

 

Qi Kong (first on the right), Chief Scientist and Head of Autonomous Driving at JD Logistics

On April 13th, Qi Kong (first on the right), Chief Scientist and Head of Autonomous Driving at JD Logistics, was invited to share the role that autonomous driving technology plays in the fight against viruses like COVID-19 at a press conference organized by the Beijing Municipal Government.

 

JD held its annual strategy conference for maternal and baby category online.

On April 13th, JD held its annual strategy conference for maternal and baby category online. During the conference, the company announced that in 2020, the maternal and baby category will focus on new retail solutions, new channels, lower-tier markets and innovative marketing strategies to better drive its development on JD.com and in the whole industry.

 

JD has transported 10,000 COVID-19 nucleic acid testing kits

As of April 13th, JD has transported 10,000 COVID-19 nucleic acid testing kits to the Suifenhe Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Heilongjiang province. With the increase of COVID-19 cases in the province, the small city on the Russian border with a population of just 70,000 was facing a lot of pressure.

JD Provides Exclusive Full-price Trade-in Service for New iPhone SE

Posted on by Rachel Liu

by Rachel Liu

On April 17th, JD will start pre-orders for the new, second-generation iPhone SE with an exclusive full-price trade-in service.

JD customers who opt into the program can buy the iPhone SE now, and have the chance to deduct the full price of the iPhone SE off the purchase of the next newly released model of iPhone. JD is the first platform in China to provide this full-price trade-in service for Apple products, aiming at increasing customer’s loyalty.

Iphone SE White

On March 19th, JD launched a door-to-door trade-in service for Apple’s new iPad Pro and Macbook Air coupled with the release of the products. Customers who order the new products are able to trade-in their old electronics products when the new products are delivered to their doors. In some areas, the whole process can be completed in  2 hours. The newly launched trade-in services have expanded the comprehensive service package covering all activities from purchase to after-sales that JD launched with Apple in 2018.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

JD Transports 10,000 COVID-19 Testing Kits to Heilongjiang

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

As of 9:45 am on April 13th, JD has transported 10,000 COVID-19 nucleic acid testing kits to the Suifenhe Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Heilongjiang province. With the increase of COVID-19 cases in the province, the small city on the Russian border with a population of just 70,000 was facing a lot of pressure.

As nucleic acid testing kits must be kept under strict temperature conditions and have a limited shelf life, JD’s cold chain logistics network was essential to completing the task in a timely manner.

After DAAN Gene Co., a Guangzhou-based leading high-tech company focused on molecular diagnostic techniques, reached out in the night of April 11th with a request to urgently send nucleic acid testing kits to Suifenhe city, JD formed an emergency response team. Using a combination of air and land transportation, the company was able to get the kits to the Sunfenhe Center of Disease Control and Prevention on April 13th. As nucleic acid testing kits must be kept under strict temperature conditions and have a limited shelf life, JD’s cold chain logistics network was essential to completing the task in a timely manner.

DAAN Gene Co. has worked with JD during the epidemic of COVID-19 in China to transport medical devices and nucleic acid testing kits from Guangzhou to other cities in China.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

ifenxi: JD Cloud & AI Ranks Third in China as Cloud Service Provider

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD Cloud & AI ranks third among China’s top 30 cloud computing companies in a report released on April 15th by ifenxi, a leading analytics agency in China. Top two players in the list are Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud, while Baidu Cloud is No. 4.

The rankings are screened and evaluated by ifenxi based on a combination of interviews and industry research conducted over the past three years, covering five dimensions including comprehensive strength, client acquisition ability, product capability, technological capability and ecological and service capability.

ifenxi says: “JD Cloud & AI has accumulated extensive experience in manifold industries, such as e-commerce and retail, smart city and industrials, finance, logistics and supply chain. At the same time, it has built a multi-tier ecosystem from underlying data to upper applications. JD Cloud & AI has rich scenarios for the application of cloud computing, AI, IoT and big data, and is good at acquiring clients and providing service. ”

JD Cloud and AI officially joined JD Retail, JD Logistics and JD Digits on March 5th to become one of the company’s core businesses. Its cloud computing business offers full stack services ranging from IaaS and PaaS to SaaS and covers public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and proprietary cloud. It now has one of the largest docker clusters and GPU clusters in China. According to IDC China’s Public Cloud Service Market report in 2019, JD is a top 10 public cloud IaaS provider in China, with a year-on-year growth of 512% in terms of market share, the fastest in the industry.

In an interview earlier this year with CNBC, Bowen Zhou, President of JD Cloud & AI shared: “From last year, our new clear direction at JD was to serve the company based on the foundation of supply chain (development). When we look at the direction of our future operations, technology and services is a core engine of growth.”

This industry recognition is verification of JD’s rising strength in this field.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

JD Worldwide Offers Anniversary Discounts to Consumers

Posted on by Martin Li

by Martin Li

Consumers can now enjoy diversified discounts on JD Worldwide, JD.com’s platform for imported products, which celebrated its fifth anniversary on April 15.

The discount campaign will last to April 18 on the JD Worldwide platform, which supplies over 10 million SKUs. from over 100 countries and regions around the world.

The discount applies to purchases via both the direct-to-consumer and third-party store channels on the platform.

Besides the discounts, JD’s inbound business unit also launched a fresh food store on the platform on April 15. The store now supplies almost 10,000 fresh food items, including shrimp from Denmark, salmon from Chile and beef from the Netherlands.

All the fresh food sold on the platform is subject to strict third-party quality checks. Plus, consumers can enjoy comprehensive after-sales services like fast refunds, free returns within seven days of purchase, and free return of damaged goods indefinitely.

The inbound platform is also popular with overseas merchandisers for its access to the Chinese market as well as the related services it provides such as merchandising, marketing and operations.

An overseas store on the platform, named DUO, achieved sales growth of over 40 percent in the first three months of this year with the help of the platform.

JD Worldwide has launched the English version of its business development website. Any international brand interested in building their business in China can apply via https://www.jd.hk/cooperation_en or by emailing worldwide@jd.com.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)