by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com, China’s largest retailer, has collaborated with leading global fresh berries brand Driscoll’s; China’s quality apple supplier Tianshui Huaniu Apples Group; and, SOHO China Foundation, donating 1,500 cases of blueberries and raspberries and 1,320 cases of apples to staff at over 10 hospitals in Wuhan, including Leishen Mountain and Huoshen Mountain hospitals, two newly built ones combating coronavirus pneumonia.

“Front-line medical staff work overtime every day, and they are often too busy to eat well. We joined our brand partners to deliver easy-to-eat and nutritious fruit to those in Wuhan, leveraging JD’s fresh food supply chain and logistics capability,” said Xiaozhou Zhou, Head of Fruit and Vegetable Procurement at JD.com.

“Thanks to JD.com, we were able to donate our fresh berries to the front-line workers in Wuhan to honor them for taking care of the patients regardless of their personal safety and fatigue,” said Renjie Tian, General Manager of Driscoll’s China.

Apart from donating fresh fruit to the frontline, JD also recently donated 2,000 sets of feminine care products and nearly 630,000 adult diapers to Wuhan hospitals.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

 

by Ling Cao and Tracy Yang

 

JD is providing unique AI vending machines to a residential compound in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, offering residents 24/7 access to fresh fruit, vegetables and more sourced from JD’s 7FRESH supermarket nearby. The company has provided five such machines in the compound to date.

The AI vending machines are developed by JD-X, JD’s logistics innovation lab. Customers can select products displayed on the transparent door of the machine and use mobile phones to scan a QR code. The door will open once scanned, and payment will be processed automatically after customers select their produce and close the door. The entire process is convenient, requiring no human-to-human contact.

7FRESH employees regularly clean and disinfect the machine, monitor the quality and quantity of the produce, and make sure the supply is both sufficient and fresh. With the AI-powered machine, JD places the “Mobile Fresh Basket” nearest its customers, making the shopping experience smarter, easier and safer.

One customer at the compound said, “My family is relying on the machine for a constant supply of fresh produce these days, and it’s really a good way to reduce unnecessary contact. The food is fresh, and even the price is consistent with what you brought at 7FRESH.”

JD’s AI vending machines are being rolled out to other cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, with increasing demand for unmanned shopping experiences during the epidemic period.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com; tracy.yang@jd.com )

JD brings its AI vending machine to a residential compound in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, offering residents 24/7 access to fresh fruits, vegetables and more sourced from JD’s 7FRESH supermarket nearby.

 

JD Launches drone disinfection in Inner Mongolia to support coronavirus prevention. With an increasing number of people returning back to work from their hometowns following the Spring Festival holiday, JD’s drones have helped the city strengthen its protective measures against the coronavirus.

 

On February 20, JD held a special business meeting via webcast to introduce various supportive measures it’s offering during the coronavirus to help its merchants return to work, including customer traffic, technology and marketing tools, customized services, etc. The meeting attracted 20,000 merchants.

 

On February 14^th, JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, donated 2,000 sets of feminine care products and nearly 630,000 adult diapers to hospitals in Wuhan to help female workers through their periods during the coronavirus. It has been reported that there are over 100,000 female workers as frontline staff in Hubei province where Wuhan is located.

 

JD launched smart body temperature screener to help quickly screen for abnormal body temperatures in densely populated places during the large inflow of people returning to work after working remotely due to the coronavirus breakout. It is equipped with an infrared sensor that can detect the body temperatures of a moving group of people in real-time. Solution has already been rolled out to 10 cities.

 

JD Logistics is working with partners like COSCO shipping to help institutions from UK, USA and ID to transport donations to hospitals in Wuhan. JD Logistics has already helped deliver 3 million masks, 300,000 sets of protective clothing and 100,000 pairs goggles locally in China.

 

JD has received over 1,000 requests from farmers and agricultural enterprises and helped sell nearly 2,500 tons of agricultural products that were impacted by coronavirus. In Guangdong province, JD helped sell 25 tons of unsalable water chestnuts. In Sichuan province, JD helped sell more than 55 tons of strawberries in just 3 days with a transaction volume of RMB 1.3 million.

 

Bichang Zhang, a villager in a Chongqing county called JD Logistics because 69 villagers wanted to donate oranges to a local medical treatment center. JD arranged 3 trucks the next day to transport 1240 cases. All were picked up by the villagers at midnight to ensure freshness.

by Tracy Yang

JD.com is ranked as the Top 1 among the 14 Chinese enterprises in the 250 largest retailers around the world, and 15^th among the 250, according to Deloitte’s 23^rd edition of Global Powers of Retailing just released.

The Deloitte report identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world based on publicly available data for FY2018 (fiscal years ended through 30 June 2019), and analyzes their performance across geographies and product sectors. Of the 14 retailers larger than JD.com, nine are the U.S. firms with Wal-Mart listed as No.1.

Deloitte analyzed retail performance by primary retail product across four product sectors: apparel and accessories; fast-moving consumer goods; hardlines and leisure goods; and diversified. A company is assigned one of the three specific product sectors if at least half of its retail revenue is derived from that product category.  The highest annual revenue growth rate in FY2018 was in hardlines and leisure goods. With more than US$68.2 billion in revenue for FY2018, JD.com was one of the biggest revenue contributors.

Retail growth in Asia Pacific continues to be driven by changing shopping preferences among growing middle-class consumers, particularly young millennials and the increasing adoption of e-commerce and m-commerce by the brick-and-mortar retail players. JD.com, China’s largest retailer, is one of the major contributors to total revenue growth for retailers in the region.

 

(tracy.yang@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

 

Since Feb.10^th, JD has already successfully helped 2,096 shopping assistants from brick and mortar stores move online during the coronavirus. Sales reached nearly RMB 10 million in just 7 days.

The Spring Festival is supposed to be the ‘prime time’ of the year for the clothing industry. Sales from the end of January to the end of February usually account for about 10%-15% of yearly sales, according to industry insiders. With nearly all clothing stores closed during the period to avoid cross-infection, JD applied its technology capabilities, such as big data, to help stores go online via the WeChat mini program platform.

Yanan, is a shop assistant at Fuana, a brick-and-mortar store selling home textiles in Zhengzhou city, Henan province. She has two years of experience working in brick-and-mortar stores. When the coronavirus hit and many stores temporarily closed, Yanan was unable to go to work, and turned to JD.com’s social e-commerce solution where she can select and recommend different items of clothing to consumers at home and make some money. Yanan is just one example.

Through the cloud store, shop assistants can share and sell products with their target consumers online, helping offline stores to reduce their losses. Consumers are also encouraged to share their favorite and high-quality products with their friends to earn commissions from the sales. Store owners can also check the performance of their shop assistants through big data provided by JD, so as to better reward them.

JD’s cloud store solution has helped many brands, even before the coronavirus outbreak. SEPTWOLVES, a popular Chinese menswear brand, tested the business model during the Singles Day (November 11^th) shopping festival period. The store has since helped SEPTWOLVES achieve a 10% increase in sales across its 400 stores in China. With the coronavirus, JD updated its cloud store system, and SEPTWOLVES reopened the store to resume business. Daily sales of the cloud store exceeded 100,000 RMB just a few days after the store opening, according to SEPTWOLVES’ operations manager.

“We set up a special project team during the Spring Festival this year help brick-and-mortar stores launch cloud stores via our mini program to help them reduce losses due to the coronavirus outbreak. We’ve set a new record by helping SEPTWOLVES launch a cloud store within only three days,” said Jiarui Liu, head of the cloud store project at JD.com.

To date, JD has helped 128 brands launch cloud stores, and has helped 13,485 shopping guides go online since last year, with nearly a hundred more brands preparing to open stores on the platform soon.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Martin Li

Beijing Party chief, Cai Qi, encouraged JD.com to continue its efforts in fighting coronavirus during his inspection of the company’s headquarters in Yizhuang, Beijing, on Feb.18.

“JD.com is a well-known e-commerce and high tech enterprise. The company has been playing an active role in fighting the virus through its continuous delivery and smart technologies,” said Cai, who was accompanied by JD.com Chairman and CEO, Richard Liu.

Cai encouraged the company to continue to take full advantage of its strengths in logistics, warehousing and technology to ensure delivery of medical supplies and daily necessities.

Cai also praised the company’s protective measures for employees in the office.

JD.com had allocated almost RMB one billion to the course of fighting the epidemic as of Feb.13. In another effort, the company has announced subsidies exceeding RMB 200 million to 250,000 merchants on its platform. The subsidies include commission reduction and support in finance, logistics and technology.

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

On February 14^th, JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, donated 2,000 sets of feminine care products and nearly 630,000 adult diapers to hospitals through JD Logistics, including the Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, Wuhan Ninth Hospital and Wuhan Hankou Hospital.

Feminine care products are heavily needed now at the frontline. It has been reported that there are over 100,000 female workers as frontline staff in Hubei province. Responding to this need, JD Super immediately checked the inventory of feminine care products in Wuhan warehouses and chose to donate Whisper Koala overnight pads and Always Infinity pads to meet this need.

“We immediately reached out to brand partners and took inventory of the needs of the hospitals and frontline workers to offer timely help,” said Xiaofeng Qian, Sales Manager of Self Care Products, JD FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods).

Besides feminine care products, JD Super also worked with brands such as Elderjoy and yiBaShou to donate adult diapers to frontline workers to help them with their personal care problems as they wear protective medical suits.

A doctor at one of the hospitals in Wuhan said: “The protective suits can only be worn once, and we don’t have enough of them. To save resources we have to try not to use the restroom once we put on the suits. The adult diapers can really help us during this hard time.”

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

 

During the coronavirus outbreak, JD in cooperation with its partners, such as Cosco Shipping, has helped institutions from the UK, US, and Indonesia transport donations to hospitals in Wuhan.

JD Logistics, which operates an in-house nationwide logistics network covering 99% of the population, has been critical in helping international organizations such as the North American E-Commerce Logistics Association, University of Southern California Beijing Alumni Association, Sino-Hellenic Investors’ Confederation and the Canada Hubei Chamber of Commerce in Quebec, Canada, among others, transport three millions masks, 300,000 sets of medical protective clothing, and 100,000 pairs of protective goggles to Wuhan and the surrounding areas via local delivery in China.

1,800 sets of medical protective clothing, nearly 8,500 pairs of gloves and 70 pairs of goggles from the UK to Wuhan in less than three days

It took less than three days for JD to deliver 1,800 sets of medical protective clothing, nearly 8,500 pairs of gloves and 70 pairs of goggles from the UK to Wuhan. The company’s free support made possible the delivery of this aid, organized by a UK task force made up of several different universities’ student groups and alumni associations, including the Cambridge Chinese Students’ Association (CCSA), the Oxford CSA, the Peking University Alumni Association, and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) Alumni Association.

JD is also helping US organizations deliver over 500,000 masks and 11,000 sets of medical protective clothing from the US to Wuhan. Divided into three shipments, the first donation is already on the way from Los Angeles to Wuhan Union Hospital. The remainder of the donation will set off soon from the US and Mexico, also destined for hospitals in Wuhan.

With JD’s support, 60,000 3M masks have been transported from Indonesia to Wuhan. They were shipped by air and then traveled via rail and road from Jakarta, Indonesia to customs in Guangzhou, before reaching Wuhan.

International business shippings often face challenges related to reliable transportation and customs clearance. JD and its partners have helped businesses to facilitate customs clearance, and to ensure that once donations reach China, they make it to hospitals in Wuhan in good condition and as quickly as possible. Yulei Liu, head of Faxin delivery station at Beijing nearest to the airport, said, “Goods that can be shipped by air are shipped by air to ensure that they can get to Wuhan as fast as possible. We’re all in this fight together.”

While keeping both aid and other goods flowing to Hubei and the rest of China, JD has also instituted several measures to support importing merchants during the coronavirus period. This includes subsidies and giving priority to shipments from high demand export centers in Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the UK. Shipments from merchants using JD’s integrated bonded warehouse and delivery service are receiving priority fulfillment. To ensure that merchants without reliable delivery options can also access its services, JD has also opened an expedited sign up process.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)