JD.com Launches Smart Body Temperature Screening System

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com, China’s largest retailer, has launched a smart body temperature screening system to help increase public transport efficiency during the large inflow of people returning to work in public places after working remotely due to the COVID-19 breakout. Providing efficiency at scale, the system has been rolled out in 10 cities across China to date, including Beijing and Tianjin.

The system employs technology to quickly screen people with abnormal body temperatures in densely populated places, such as airports, train stations, office buildings, parks and shopping malls, providing epidemic prevention solutions at a critical time.

Smart Body Temperature Screening System Applied at JD.com HQ in Beijing, ChinaSmart Body Temperature Screening System Applied at JD.com HQ in Beijing, China

The smart body temperature screening system is based on JD Cloud & AI’s technology, equipped with an infrared sensor which will detect the body temperature of a moving group of people in real-time. Its measurement range is 30 °C to 45 °C, with an accuracy within ±0.3 ℃. When high body temperature is detected, an alarm warning will be provided.

Compared with traditional manual temperature checks, the system enables a highly efficient working procedure and solves the problem of frustrating congestion while queuing. It also quickly locates people who have a fever to enable further assessments in an effort to contain contagion.

Interface of JD’s Smart Body Temperature Screening System

Interface of JD’s Smart Body Temperature Screening System

The system also provides daily analytics and real-time statistics of the people passing through checks to help generate further useful insight leading to prevention such as potential infected people.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, JD Cloud & AI has launched a series of technology products and services for the public and individuals to use including an emergency resources information platform, a smart epidemic assistant, a cloud video conference service, and online classroom services to support access to information and education during this time.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

Timeline: JD’s Fight Against the Coronavirus

 

Late December

  • Realizing the impact of the epidemic early on, JD provided 70,000 masks to protect its employees based in Wuhan.

Jan 21

  • JD officially launched its special “epidemic campaign” to fight the coronavirus.
  • JD Logistics received an urgent request from medical manufacturer, Yichang, in Hubei province, for oseltamivir phosphate, a prescription drug used to prevent and treat influenza, began to allocate resources meet the request. JD Logistics also furthered its protective measures for frontline employees.

Jan 22

  • JD announced that it would ensure enough supply of protection equipment such as masks and will not raise prices. JD also worked together with key brands to accelerate production of these items. From January 19-22, JD supplied over 126 million masks, 310,000 bottles of disinfectants and 1 million bottles of liquid soap to customers.
  • JD Logistics began prioritize delivery for designated orders by medical institutions.

Jan 24

  • JD announced to donate 100 million masks and 60,000 other items, including medicine and medical supplies, to Hubei Charity Federation. JD also confirmed to donate 80,000 masks to hospitals in Wuhan.

JD provided 70,000 masks to protect its employees based in Wuhan.

Jan 25

  • JD Logistics opened a special channel for relief materials across the country to assist Wuhan.

Jan 26

  • JD Foundation became the first Internet partner of China Charity Federation and co-initiated two donation campaigns for supporting coronavirus aid targeting Wuhan communities.
  • JD cooperated with over 2,000 respiratory physicians and infectious disease specialists to offer free online consultation and hotline service for people who need psychological support.

Jan 28

  • All of the donations from JD, including 100 million masks, and 60,000 other items, including medicine and medical supplies donated to Hubei Charity Federation and 80,000 masks donated to hospitals in Wuhan arrived in Hubei.

Jan 29

  • JD Cloud & AI launched a number of free products and services including an emergency resources information platform, a smart epidemic assistant, a cloud video conference service, and online classroom services, to support access to information and education during the coronavirus period.

Jan 30

  • JD Digits provided free “COVID-19” insurance for medical staff and JD’s couriers on the frontlines and their families. The insurance will provide RMB 300,000 per person and a maximum of RMB 1 million for per family whose member(s) dies or is completely disabled as a result of the coronavirus. At present, 105,000 eligible people have received the insurance.
  • JD Logistics transported a large amount of building materials to Huoshenshan Hospital.

JD started drone delivery in Baiyangdian, Hebei Province.

Jan 31

  • JD Cloud & AI Launched remote family doctor and remote work services.

Feb 1

  • Since February 1, in order to help prevent and control the epidemic, JD Digits helped build the “Epidemic Population Analysis System” based on its intelligent city operation system.  The system uses big data and artificial intelligence to judge the divisions of high-risk groups for infection.
  • JD Digits also launched several intelligent epidemic prevention products for communities such as a calling robot, an epidemic inquiry robot and a questionnaire-mini program.

Feb 2

  • JD.com announced 11 subsidy support measures for the 250,000 merchants on its platform, especially those from Hubei.
  • Sparing no efforts to ensure supply of Chinese consumers’ daily necessities, from January 24th to February 2nd, JD.com sold 18,900 tons of rice, flour & grain; 5.9 million liters of cooking oil; 1.8 million bottles of disinfectant solution; and 3 million bottles of liquid soap.
  • JD Logistics successfully helped transport 100 Oxygen machines donated by Dr. Nanshan Zhong, who is known as a hero of the 2003 fight against SARS, and his foundation, to Wuhan Hankou Hospital.

JD Logistics successfully helped transport 100 Oxygen machines donated by Dr. Nanshan Zhong

Feb 3

  • AllianzJD helped upgrade coronavirus-related insurance for all JD couriers, with a total amount guaranteed of over RMB 46 billion.
  • JD.com, together with over 250,000 merchants vow to continuously control product prices, guarantee orders on the platform and remove merchants to raise intentionally raise prices (and never work with them again).

Feb 5

  • JD Cloud & AI launched products including an AI public service platform, an epidemic information platform and a citizen epidemic reporting system.
  • JD’s 7FRESH launched a talent sharing plan. Under the plan, 7FRESH will hire short-term staff from restaurants, hotels, cinemas and other retail establishments that are temporarily closed due to the coronavirus. 7FRESH received demands from more than 10 different enterprises on the day of the launch.

Feb 6

  • JD Fresh launched a catering industry alliance to encourage production of ready-to-cook fast food and omnichannel sales. More than 100 catering enterprises have joined the alliance.
  • JD Health started providing free online consultation covering all of its categories.
  • JD completed its first smart delivery by robot in Wuhan. The robot traveled from JD’s delivery station to Wuhan No.9 People’s Hospital to make the delivery.

JD completed its first smart delivery by robot in Wuhan.

Feb 7

  • JD Digits launched a smart information platform for virus inspection and assistance request for residential communities.
  • JD Health launched a one-stop online service for further consultation, prescription renewal, medicine purchase and delivery.
  • JD started drone delivery in Baiyangdian, Hebei Province.

Feb 8

  • JD.com, along with JD-backed Dada Group jointly announced to recruit more than 35,000 jobs to minimize the impact of the epidemic on employment in the short term.
  • JD.com announced committing an extra 100 million yuan to subsidize merchants which use the company’s warehousing and delivery service.

Feb 10

  • JD Health launched a new platform to help patients with chronic diseases maintain their drug supply during the coronavirus. In the first 24 hours, the platform received nearly 5,000 requests and the number keeps rising.
  • JD Fresh announced the launch of the “National Fresh Produce Green Channel” to help farmers who are seeking a sales channel for their products due to the coronavirus outbreak.
  • JD Logistics launched ten more contactless methods to facilitate customers sending and receiving packages.

JD Fresh announced the launch of the “National Fresh Produce Green Channel” to help farmers

Feb 11

  • JD.com announced a plan to hire thousands of part-time customer service representatives during the month of February.
  • JD launches initiative for enterprises “returning to work”. The initiative will help enterprises in production materials supply and digital solutions (including remote working solutions), and also provide special support for small to medium- sized enterprises. The platform is now open to enterprises free of charge and links them to over 30,000 JD partners.
  • JD International announced to support cross border merchants in operations and logistics.

Feb 12

  • JD.com announced that it is building a supply chain management platform for the Hubei provincial government
  • JD.com announced special support for merchants, KoLs and multi-channel networks (MCNs, KoL agencies) doing live streaming e-commerce to better support the rising demand for online shopping. JD Live also upgraded its “Online Product Launch Conference,” enabling merchants to gain access to JD’s massive marketing resources and tools.

JD.com announced a plan to hire thousands of part-time customer service representatives during the month of February.

Feb 13

  • JD.com allocates nearly RMB 1 billion in fighting against COVID-19.
  • JD has supplied a total of 1.2 million daily necessities, including rice, flour, cooking oil, meat, eggs, vegetables and milk, weighing a total of over 160,000 tons. 30 million medical emergency items, weighing nearly 10,000 tons have been transported.
  • JD launches “Mobile Fresh Basket” program to deliver fresh produce directly from markets to residential compounds, and it can cover more than 100,000 families in Hubei province in one week.
  • From January 20 to February 13, JD supplied 71,500 tons of rice, flour and grain, 27.25 million liters of cooking oil, 40 million bags of instant noodles, over 50,000 tons of fresh produce, 3 million cans of baby formula, 400 million pieces of diapers, 5.88 million bottles of liquid soap, 3.61 million bottles of disinfectant and 1.59 million packs of wet wipes. Since launching its free online medical consultation service, JD Health has served more than 2 million users.
Posted in ESG

JD.com allocates nearly RMB 1 billion in fighting against COVID-19

By Tracy Yang

 

JD.com has participated in the fight against COVID-19 for almost 30 days. To date, JD.com has allocated nearly RMB 1 billion in this effort. JD Logistics has transported 30 million emergency medical supplies, weighing a total of nearly 10,000 tons. During the epidemic period, JD.com has already provided a total of 120 million individual food items, covering rice, flour, noodles,  cooking oil, meat, eggs, vegetables, milk and other daily necessities, weighing over 160,000 tons, to consumers across the country.

In the past 30 days, JD.com shared its core capabilities in supply chain, logistics, technology, service and more to provide rapid aid in the COVID-19 fight, to ensure consumers’ daily needs are met, and to support the economy and employment.

JD.com also launched several measures to support its merchants as well as restaurants and SMEs across China. JD.com, along with JD-backed Dada Group jointly announced to provide more than 35,000 jobs to minimize the impact of the epidemic on employment in the short term.

 

 

(tracy.yang@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

In-depth Report: JD Brings Healthcare into the Digital Age

By Hui Zhang

 

Since the outbreak of coronavirus, JD’s Internet Hospital has taken full advantage of its capabilities, and is continuously innovating amid the novel coronavirus outbreak to meet patients and consumers’ unmet demands. As early as January 26th, JD Health launched a free online consultation platform within its internet hospital for people who suffer from symptoms such as cough, fever, fatigue, and diarrhea and wish to consult a physician.

Starting on February 6th, JD Health expanded the scope of its free 24/7 online consultation to include all diseases. The clinical departments involved address not only the epidemic-related respiratory, infectious and psychology departments, but also cardiology, endocrinology and pediatrics, amongst others. The services are available to all people across the country with access to the Internet. This helps reduce the risk of cross-infection, and provide timely and convenient consultation services for a large number of patients who can’t go to hospitals for treatment. Meanwhile, it can also help relieve the pressure on hospitals.

Free online consultation platform

Free online consultation platform

 

Imbalance of Medical Resources

The four years of constant and countless trips of more than 100 kilometers between the cities of Zhangzhou and Xiamen in southeast China’s Fujian province exhausted Ms. Wu Yan, and cost her huge sums. Having contracted the chronic skin condition vitiligo six years ago, despite the hardship, Wu had little choice in the matter: she lives in a remote village in Zhangzhou, and there was no hospital nearby qualified to treat her illness.

Even after years of treatment, Wu did not see any improvement in her condition, and in fact, began to experience some very serious side effects from taking the drugs recommended by her local hospital, including facial edema. Wu’s friends recommended she try certain medicines, but she found it was not easy to buy those drugs locally.

Sadly, cases like Wu’s are commonplace outside the big cities in China. The greatest challenge faced by China’s health care system is the imbalanced distribution of medical resources – a huge number of people like Wu live in remote areas of the country where proper medical care is in dire shortage.

Chinese hospitals are classified into three-tiers: hospitals with over 500 beds are classed as Tier 3, providing the top level of care; Tier 2 hospitals are medium-sized city or county institutions; and Tier 1 institutions are township hospitals. Most people in China consider only “Tier-3” hospitals as being able to provide high quality medical care. But there are only 1,442 Tier-3 hospitals in total across the country – most of which are located in China’s big cities. As a result, the scarcity in medical resources is felt most acutely by those living in rural areas, and patients from these communities regularly complain about the difficulty they have in obtaining proper treatment.

 

30,000 Doctors Go Online

“Internet hospitals”, which integrate virtual consultation with physical examinations, represent a new way to tackle the aforementioned problem. JD Health, a subsidiary of JD.com, is one of the players taking advantage of its e-commerce platform and technology in the rollout of this model. It has attracted over 30,000 doctors from 32 provinces and regions from all over the country to join JD’s internet hospital, providing patients with professional medical consultation services that were previously difficult for them to access. 62% of JD Health’s doctors come from Tier-3 hospitals, and 90% of patients who choose quick online medical inquiry service can get answers within three minutes.

JD Health's full-time physician

JD Health’s full-time physician

Wu is one of the patients who has benefited from JD’s internet hospital. Using JD’s Internet Hospital platform, she and her family found Dr. Xiaoyan Wang, a dermatologist at Beijing Tiantan Hospital. Dr. Wang has served a large number of patients online, and received a high number of positive reviews. Wu uploaded her medical records onto the JD Internet Hospital platform, and Dr. Wang gave Wu a treatment plan that was more suitable than her previous one. Wu’s condition has improved significantly after a year of treatment, and all her side effects have disappeared.

“I’ve worked with JD’s internet hospital for nearly two years, and have served almost 3,000 patients,” said Dr. Wang. “Vitiligo is a chronic disease which is easy to diagnose, but difficult to cure. I’m delighted to see Ms. Wu’s condition has improved after a year of treatment, and we will continue to strive for further improvements.”

“Dr. Wang has been helping me for more than a year, and she is always very patient in answering my questions. I appreciate the professionalism of Doctor Wang’s consultation and treatment – she has given me confidence,” said Wu.

Wu is just one patient to benefit from the professionalism and convenience promised by JD’s Internet Hospital. JD’s Internet Hospital currently offers a variety of medical services including appointment booking; visual, phone or text consultation; post-diagnosis health management; vaccine reservation; health education and more.

 

Free Consultation & Measures Against the Coronavirus

JD Health convenes more than tens of thousands of expert physicians who offer a wide range of medical consultation services on its internet hospital platform, and there are nearly 200 top physicians employed as full time staff. Since JD Health launched the free consultation service on January 26th, the online consultation platform has made more than two million consultations. The average daily consultation volume of the platform has reached 100,000 since then. During peak times, the free consultation service is able to serve tens of thousands of patients within an hour. Nearly 60% of all free consultation requests are received and handled by respiratory physicians.

In addition to free online consultation, since January 26th, JD Health has offered a free hotline service for people who need psychological support, especially front-line medical staff working in a highly-intense and high-stress environment. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, JD Health has ensured drug supply and promised not to increase prices during this period thanks to its direct cooperation with a large number of well-known pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad. In addition, JD’s unparalleled logistics speed and qualified pharmaceutical team also make it possible for consumers to buy the right drugs appropriate for their illness and get them delivered in time. JD Health has organized several live-stream experiences hosted by administrators or medical experts from top Chinese hospitals and medical veterans who have experienced the 2003 SARS epidemic to provide knowledge on coronavirus prevention and psychological counseling. The live-streams are free to the public to help reduce their anxiety related to the epidemic, and JD Health promises to continue providing more live-streams in the future.

 

Cooperation with Hospitals & Governments

JD Health is leveraging its digital healthcare capabilities to help enhance services in hospitals and make healthcare more accessible across the country. The company has already launched online consultancy services and smart payment systems in cooperation with several hospitals. Since January 2019, patients at First People’s Hospital of Suqian in east China’s Jiangsu province can access online consultation services via a “Smart Clinic” WeChat service account, allowing them to seek the advice of the hospital’s doctors from home. The Smart Clinic can also facilitate insurance payments for medication in Suqian City.

Because of the epidemic, JD health also cooperates with local governments, in areas such as Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA), Tangshan city in Hebei province, and Beihai city, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to connect JD’s free online consultation platform to local government public health service platforms, providing convenient and efficient online consultation services to more people.

Local government public health service platforms

Local government public health service platforms

 

Unicorn

In November, JD Health completed its latest funding round at US$1 billion, valuing the start-up at around US$7 billion after it was spun-off from JD.com in May. This makes JD Health the third unicorn to be launched by JD.com after JD Digits and JD Logistics.

The internet hospital business model is just part of the measures JD Health is exploring to make it easier and safer for patients to see a doctor. JD Health is also committed to the management of chronic diseases, and has established a cardiology consultation platform headed by renowned cardiologist Dr. Dayi Hu, in the company’s latest effort to connect top doctors with patients on a digital platform.

From left to right JD Health's CEO Lijun Xin, cardiologist Dr. Dayi Hu

From left to right JD Health’s CEO Lijun Xin, cardiologist Dr. Dayi Hu

“We aim to increase the income of doctors and alleviate the imbalance in medical resources. We hope to help patients reduce costs, and be the professional platform to assist them in long-term health management,” Xin Lijun, CEO of JD Health.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD.com is building supply chain management platform for Hubei

by Ling Cao

To respond to the urgent needs for COVID-19 prevention and controls requested by Hubei’s provincial government, JD.com is building a supply chain management platform which makes emergency supplies such as masks, goggles, and protective clothing easier to manage, distribute and trace.

Leveraging JD’s years of experience in supply chain management and technology capabilities, the platform is tailored for Hubei provincial government’s specific needs. Because the anti-epidemic medical supplies are various and diverse, traditional management and distribution approaches are inefficient. The new platform integrates all data and information in a digital manner which makes it highly efficient, transparent and accurate.

Within this platform, all emergency materials can be managed via their lifecycles, from when they were produced, to when distributed and ultimately used. All information can be seen and monitored in real time to ensure all organizations involved can cooperate and execute efficiently. Simultaneously, JD Logistics will be providing logistics services as part of the supply chain.

JD has two goals in launching this platform. First, the company wishes to make the whole management process more transparent and visible via a digitized system. Secondly, improved efficiency is sought by leveraging big data to manage and integrate the entire purchasing and inventory process.

JD has been providing emergency medical supplies to Hubei province since January 21st with medical orders as its top priority, opening a special green channel to facilitate timely delivery of needed supplies. At present, JD Logistics has helped transport over 3000 tons of anti-epidemic and daily emergency necessities to Wuhan and the surrounding areas.

 

ling.cao@jd.com

In-depth Report: SEVEN FUN – A SOLOMOME Paradise

By Yuchuan Wang

 

SEVEN FUN is scheduled to open again on the 17th of February after a break during the coronavirus. At that time, people like Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang might have come back to their office again and so does Qingfei, will have begun another day on his journey at SEVEN FUN, to make it better.

 

Ms. Wu is a 30-year old single white collar in the finance industry. She spent the first four years of her career in Shanghai before moving to Beijing in 2019, with her office at Chaoyangmen SOHO, a popular commerce-and-office complex in Beijing. When I met her, she was with her colleagues in the newly opened SEVEN FUN located on the ground level of SOHO, enjoying barbeque chicken accompanied by a cool mug of craft beer.

Located on the second ring road in Beijing, Chaoyangmen SOHO together with Galaxy SOHO is a huge complex, adjacent to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the east and connecting with China’s earliest belt subway Line 2 and also Line 6 to the north. There are over 200,000 business professionals who commute and work within a one km radius of SOHO, and Ms. Wu is one of them. She spends about 13 hours on average a day there, usually rushing to the office around 9am, grabbing a cup of coffee and Chinese buns on the way to her desk, holding meetings in the office, and working until deep into the night.

Working professionals spend a significant amount of time in the offices, which has given rise to consumption demand and solutions rooted in “office scenarios”, seen by many as the third space outside of home and office. On lower levels of SOHO, restaurants, eateries, coffee shops, convenience stores, vending machines, laundry shops and gyms are all serving the working professionals in the vicinity, while new businesses are also exploring innovative models and different positioning to succeed in the so-called “third space”.

7FRESH the fresh food business and supermarket chain developed and owned by China’s largest retailer, JD.com.

 

SOLOMOME

SEVEN FUN is the new lifestyle space opened by 7FRESH – the fresh food business and supermarket chain developed and owned by China’s largest retailer, JD.com. Just opened this past Christmas, it’s located on the B1 floor of SOHO, closely next to a mom and pop store.

Entering SEVEN FUN, it’s quite difficult to determine if it is a supermarket, a restaurant or a bar. Indeed, the space defies labels. It adopts a pioneering model and provides a “SOLOMOME” (social, local, mobile and personalized) offline experience, competing with Starbucks to create a “third space”.

The store is nearly 1,000 square meters in size and offers flowers, daily groceries, fruit, baked goods, and coffee – but these account for less than half of the area. Meanwhile, at a large corner area are wines and liquors from around the world.

The other 550 square meters of SEVEN FUN has been designed into a large food and beverage area. The bartenders can serve you cocktails, craft beer, red wine; you can even have burgers & steaks here. The center of the bar has been built as a mini-stage intended to host a live band. The bar is surrounded by 12 best-selling eateries, including a Guizhou cuisine “must-try” on the food app Dianping, which hosts consumer reviews of restaurants, similar to Yelp and TripAdvisor. Other restaurants include a Chongqing-style noodle shop called “Zhaozaier”, an izakaya, a Beijing-style barbeque and a North Korean cold noodle shop, among many others. Customers like Wu may pick a table and choose one of the 180 high and low chairs evenly spread between the bar and the eateries.

 

Food, drink, and social space

“We offer 3,500 different kinds of products in this inaugural SEVEN FUN, of which over 1,400 are food and beverage. Two thirds of the store area are dedicated eatery and bar area, providing breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and drinks late into the midnight,” Qingfei Zhang, the store manager of SEVEN FUN, said. “Every evening when the clock points to 6pm, the lighting and music will change to encourage a leisurely evening cocktail environment.”

Compared with the traditional 7FRESH supermarkets, SEVEN FUN is designed in multiple warm bright colors and doesn’t sell live seafood or vegetables. Even the fruit, salad and ready-to-heat items are all packaged in small portions. It also serves as a gathering place that offers live performances, themed parties and can even be rented out to serve as a social or networking space. Consumers within one kilometer radius can also order anything in the store online to be delivered to their doorstep.

“I cannot remember how many times I came to SEVEN FUN during the last two weeks, but it was certainly at least seven times. I love the style and the design. My colleagues and I enjoy spending time here, it’s just an elevator ride for us,” Ms. Wu told me. “It’s quite bold to launch such a business model since you don’t see any bars in this building, but it’s fast becoming my personal convenience store as well as my evening eatery.”

I ran into Ms. Wang when she stepped out of SEVEN FUN with her boyfriend. She is a 24 year-old graduate who has been in her job for less than a year. Just like Ms. Wu, she and her boyfriend also work in SOHO but she shares a different perspective: “I think it’s a bit expensive to shop at SEVEN FUN. I do buy some snacks and fruit here once or twice a week, but I’d rather eat at my company’s cafeteria which is on average 10 yuan cheaper for a meal. The night life doesn’t really appeal to me, and I want to go home after a long day at work.”

Actually, the operation of the store is quite smart. JD rents the restaurant space

“Some of our customers haven’t yet realized their need for high quality products and for a social space. But when they are awakened to it, SEVEN FUN is ready to provide,” Jiang Li, Head of SEVEN FUN said. “Our model is a combination of dining + drinking + social. We believe fine wines and cuisine provide a relaxing and needed cohesiveness for busy working professionals.”

Actually, the operation of the store is quite smart. JD rents the restaurant space to the owners of eateries and supplies drinks from its own supply chain to the bars, and so addresses the needs for the central kitchen and food supply chain. In essence, it’s making the store model profitable even faster than traditional ones. It also adopts a partner model that encourages the core team of SEVEN FUN to become store partners. Li is very confident about the business model. He believes SEVEN FUN’s operating will break even within this year. Indeed, the second SEVEN FUN store is in the pipeline to be opened in Beijing’s THE PLACE in the coming months. SEVEN FUN may serve as a brand new model for the bricks-and-mortar industry, which has been undergoing significant changes.

 

Store Innovation

As one of JD.com’s key omnichannel retail offerings, 7FRESH has opened over 20 stores across China in regions including Beijing, Hebei, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Sichuan and others. Under the 7FRESH business, there are already three store formats including 7FRESH supermarkets with an area of several thousand square meters mainly providing fresh food, live seafood and in-store restaurants; 7FRESH LIFE which is hundreds of square meters in size providing 24/7 community fresh food and meal-time solutions; and, SEVEN FUN targeting working professionals in large cities.

Jonathan Wang, the head of 7FRESH, offered his perspective: “The factors driving global retail transformation are quite simple: channel reformation, supply chain management and store format innovation. China is already leading the global retail industry in channel reformation and digitizing the supply chain, but is still lagging behind the leaders such as the US and Japan in terms of store innovation.” The launch of SEVEN FUN is one clear way JD is looking to put a jewel in its crown. Future expansion of SEVEN FUN is expected to focus on tier-one cities, targeting working professionals with annual income of over RMB 100,000.

The fresh foods business is one of the most rapidly developing sectors in China. China’s fresh food industry has experienced significant disruption this past year. The industry has seen a large number of fresh food e-commerce companies, including Yiguo, Dailuobo, Wo Chu, Bee Quick, Jijixian and Miaoshenghuo and many others encounter finance problems and ultimately shutdown. Capital-intensive fresh food start-ups collapse in an instant. In addition, that many traditional offline grocery giants have invested heavily in omnichannel has pushed to break the boundary between offline and online but few has been successful.

At the same time, Alibaba’s Freshippo opened its seventh retail format “Hemali”, a shopping center targeting community consumption located in Shenzhen. JD.com’s 7FRESH announced its upgrade as a meal-time solution provider right after Jonathan Wang took leadership of the business in early 2019 with immediate actions following to expand dining areas in 7FRESH stores and the opening of two new stores in December.

Why has this huge contrast occurred between start-ups and established giants? What are the driving factors behind the giants?

Speaking of the fresh food industry, we have to talk about supply chain capability. Supply chain is how a retailer can get products to consumers while maximizing the efficiency and minimizing the cost, as the lifeline to retail. To JD.com, it’s also the corner stone of the business. JD most recently announced that the company has positioned itself as a technology and service company with supply chain at its core. The capability which requires long-term investment and development has also become JD’s most competitive strength in the rapidly developing market.

JD.com started investing in its own logistics network in 2007 when the logistics infrastructure in China was poor. The company launched its online fresh food business in 2012. As of now, JD.com is able to deliver approximately 90% of orders on the same or next day. Behind this is the world’s leading logistics infrastructure of more than 650 warehouses and also the application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, automation and robots.

JD has no doubt become an iconic leader and a trusted platform in the fresh food industry

Omnichannel

In the meantime, omnichannel has become a universal trend for every player in the global retail industry. As the company once claimed about the 7FRESH business: 7FRESH is not purely an offline store. It’s born from JD with online capability from day one. The integration and synergy of location selection, assortment management, pricing, replenishment and marketing online and offline has paved a new path for JD to truly provide omnichannel retail: same product, same service, same price, same inventory and same customer experience.

Leveraging the strong supply chain and omnichannel ability, JD has no doubt become an iconic leader and a trusted platform in the fresh food industry. For example, during the novel coronavirus outbreak which is ongoing in China, JD is among the very few platforms that still operates and offers adequate supply and timely distribution of fresh produce. Since the outbreak, the company has seen an increase of 215% for fresh food compared with the same period last year.

Its newly launched “National Fresh Produce Green Channel”, is helping needy farmers sell products through JD’s channels, as road closures and transportation restrictions have been carried out to prevent the spreading of the virus. Apart from performing strict disinfection measures in nationwide stores, 7FRESH is recruiting short-term staff from restaurants, hotels, cinemas and other retail establishments that are temporarily closed.

 

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

In-depth Report: JD’s Largest Logistics Park Drives Business

by Ling Cao

 

Launched in December of last year, the logistics park in Dongguan, Guangdong province, is the largest-scale integrated smart fulfillment center in Asia. It covers the entire supply chain process from inbound, storage, packaging, and sorting, to outbound. The construction area of 500,000 square meters is twice the size of the Olympic stadium (“Bird’s Nest”) in Beijing. The height when combining all of the 78 automatic stackers is over 1,600 meters, and is equivalent to two Burj Khalifa Towers (world’s tallest building in Dubai).

It is called Asia No.1. JD has total of 25 such landmarks countrywide. JD is a technology and service company with supply chain as it core. Hence, what is the significance of building a gigantic warehouse in Dongguan?

The Benefit

The benefit of the nationwide Asia No.1 logistics parks as a model is made clear during the sudden coronavirus outbreak. Leveraging JD’s smart warehousing system, similar to a planning central nervous system, scheduling and transportation between different warehouses, the logistics parks are operating normally to make sure JD can offer enough products for customers who want to get them online.

Given the nature of public road resources and accessibility for delivering daily necessities, epidemic prevention and medical supplies during the outbreak, the “central nervous system” rapidly reorganizes the logistics resources of the whole network. This includes new route planning to avoid goods having to be transferred via Wuhan and inventory forecasting to prepare enough stock ahead of time in warehouses.

Head of JD’s Asia No.1 logistics park, Guowei Xia, said, “We have built 25 highly automated Asia No.1 logistics parks in only five years. Asia No. 1 makes up the largest scale smart warehousing and logistics network in Asia’s e-commerce industry, and ensures we provide a high quality last mile delivery service experience to our customers, to promote global commerce and social sustainability.”

The park deploys automated facilities at a large scale, with JD’s self-developed warehousing software system, which leverages technologies such as algorithms to achieve comprehensive functions like scheduling, coordination, optimization and data monitoring, which can largely increase efficiency and accuracy.

The facts

Here are some stunning facts about the logistics park at a glance:

  • The 22 kilometer automatic sorting system is equivalent to the length of the main bridge of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
  • More than 800 chutes accurately distribute parcels to different regions of the country.
  • The automatic stereoscopic storage area can store over 20 million middle-sized parcels at the same time, equivalent to 399 trips around the earth when connecting all parcels’ length.
  • It can handle 1.6 million orders per day.

The park is like a giant guarding the village of Machong in Dongguan, protecting the entire Greater Bay Area. Let’s take a look at how the different parts make up a cohesive whole.

The automatic sorting center

Previously, when a customer placed an order, JD’s system would pick up the order information and identify where and how to produce the order. Then the parcel would be picked up, packaged in a warehouse, and then sent to a sorting center to identify which region the order should be delivered to. The entire process was handled by humans. At the Dongguan Asia No.1 logistics park, the packages will be put into a sorting facility which is fully automated. The facility have 800 chutes, which refer to different regions, and when the package moves on the sorting facility, the bar code from the package will be scanned automatically. This signals directions in the same way as when someone drives a car on the road, with the package knowing which direction it should travel. An even larger challenge is that normally a facility can only sort small-sized packages, but JD’s facility in this park will chiefly sort medium-sized packages, with categories including small home appliances, kitchen ware, baby and maternal, paper towels, diapers, computer / office supplies and others.

The facility also provides a significant stimulus to the local labor market.

Lijuan Liang, an employee at the Dongguan logistics park, is responsible for the overall scheduling at the sorting section. She’s a local resident of Machong who joined JD Logistics in 2015 and has worked in a range of positions since.

Liang shared, “The most significant thing about this park is that it largely reduces our work intensity, with the help of the automated sorting facility.” She added, “At first, many staff are like me, worried about whether machines will replace our jobs. But this concern has gradually disappeared as the company arranged training courses to help us learn how to work efficiently with machines, including how to operate and maintain them. We are delighted to refer machines as our ‘partners’. With these brand new experiences, we have made our work more valuable.”

“Machong was a relatively less developed in Dongguan, and there previously weren’t many large companies located here. E-commerce has driven the local economy and employment. Now, many restaurants and transportation companies have newly opened around the park. I’m happy to see the change.”

As a customer, Liang said, “Before 2014, when there was no smart sorting center, online shopping and delivery speed were not very good. The sorting center increased delivery speed so the deliveries could be completed the same or next day. Now, Dongguan Asia No.1 continues to improve the overall customer experience.”

The stereoscopic storage area

Many traditional warehouses occupy a significant amount of space and have limited room for expansion. JD has developed the AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System), which better utilizes shelving along a vertical axis to create a high-density stocking area which occupies only a small amount of floor space. The facility in Dongguan is one of the most efficient and large scale automated stereoscopic storage areas of its kind.

Junpeng Zhao is a project manager at Dongguan Asia No.1 logistics park. Coming from Henan province, he is responsible for installing all of the devices in the storage area as well as the sorting facility. He shared, “Since joining JD in 2013, I’ve witnessed our fast expansion in logistics. I’m so glad to see these facilities built from scratch, installed, and operated. We need to be very careful in order to make sure these devices are installed and the facilities are functioning well, and aim to avoid even 1cm of error.” Zhao said proudly, “I want to participate in more logistics automation programs at JD and become an expert in this area.”

All of these automated facilities are developed with a goal of ensuring maximum efficiency at a large scale.

Long-term mission

At this year’s JD Logistics annual meeting, Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics said, “Eventually, our dream is to leverage technology to provide value to global clients and become the world’s leading supply chain and logistics provider.”

As a specific action to bring this dream to life, the Dongguan Asia No.1 logistics park, located on a key port, seeks to provide more value to the world. As Chinese consumers have more disposable income, they tend to buy high-quality and new products. Data from JD’s cross border business shows that imported products from the Greater Bay Area account for 40% of all imported products in China, leading to unique supply chain and logistics system demands. Apart from these smart logistics parks, JD Logistics has also built bonded warehouses in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, both of which are near the Dongguan park. These factors contribute to the park’s important role in driving JD’s international logistics business, leveraging its supply chain and technology capability to benefit Southeast Asia and expand to the rest of the world.

Background

E-commerce is still growing in China. According to official statistics, there were over 63 billion delivery orders made in 2019, the equivalent of 45 packages per person. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which consists of Hong Kong, Macao, and nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region, is one of the rising economic belts in China demonstrating the strongest economic development, the highest consumption and the most active e-commerce market in China, with regional GDP accounting for over 12% of China’s total. While this creates exciting business opportunity, it also places significant demand on the supply chain capabilities of e-commerce companies who do business in the region.

As China’s largest retailer, JD started to build its own logistics network since 2007 for the simple reason that JD wanted to provide superior customer service, and there were no external partners who could help JD do this. The decision proved to be prescient. With years of experience in building its own infrastructure and based on a technology-driven strategy, now JD’s logistics network can cover 99% of China’s population, and 91% of orders can be achieved on the same or next day. No other e-commerce company in the world can match JD’s scale or level of service.

The Greater Bay Area, which is located in southern China, is one of JD’s most important areas for building the supply chain infrastructure, since many of the products the ecommerce giant sells originate from this region, including small and large home appliances, cell phones, computers, bathroom toilets, and others. The online shopping business is booming here, to say the least.

Dongguan, a city located in Guangdong province, southern China, which has an excellent transportation infrastructure, is one of China’s key cities for JD to develop its supply chain and logistics strategy. Around Dongguan, JD started to build a local fulfillment network long ago, expanding its warehouses to match the increasing orders. While the scale continued to grow, JD realized that the traditional approach of warehouse and delivery station expansion was simply not enough, and it needed to rely on technology to make the operations more efficient. In June 2014, JD built its first fully automated smart sorting center in Machong, Dongguan.

Apart from Dongguan’s Asia No.1 logistics park which mainly deals with medium-sized parcels, JD also launched two other Asia No.1 logistics parks in the Jiulong and Huangpu regions, focusing on handling small-sized parcels and bulky items. All of these parks – together with JD’s delivery stations which are near customers’ homes and office buildings – form an integrated fulfillment network which ensures an even smoother circulation for products, higher quality and faster speed of delivery, effectively promoting the development of China’s Greater Bay Area.

This large-scale business will eventually lead to an increasing amount of packages, and it’s critical to ensure sustainable development. JD.com has long been rigorously developing a green supply chain. In 2017, together with its partners, JD created a green development strategy, the “Green Stream Initiative”, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of logistics activities. From June 2017 to December 2019, JD reduced disposable packaging by nearly 30,000 tons and saved nearly one million tons of paper through the use of paperless systems in warehouses, lightweight packaging, and box recycling programs. As part of the program, JD incorporated green into all aspects of its operations for the Dongguan Asia No.1 logistics park, including a dark warehouse, lighter packaging, and new energy vehicles, which will both drive economic development and environmental protection together for Machong. Ultimately, it will help the town to transform from a small town with a poor infrastructure to one driven by technology and innovation, sustainably. The benefits will surely have a positive knock-on effect for Dongguan and the larger Greater Bay Area.

 

Download B-roll here: https://jdcorporateblog.com/gallery/

(ling.cao@jd.com)

JD Launches Drone Disinfection in Inner Mongolia

by Ling Cao

 

On February 16th, JD.com flied its two drones to spray disinfectant in the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone of Ordos City, an important industrial city of Inner Mongolia, China. 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.

JD arranged two drones to spray disinfectant in specified areas. Each drone can carry ten liters of disinfectant at a time. With a flight radius of 5km, using drones enables the city to cover a wider and more thorough area than they would be able to cover with human personnel, in a shorter period of time.

Hang Ba, head of JD’s drone program, said, “In addition to supporting last-mile delivery, especially in hard to reach, or closed-off areas, our drones can also help with critical disinfection procedures during the coronavirus period.”

JD.com is a strategic regional partner with Ordos, and has leveraged its resources to help the city access epidemic prevention supplies. The implementation of its drone program for disinfection is another example of how JD is supporting the city, and showcases how the company leverages technology to help Ordos during this time. On February 18th, JD is scheduled to launch drone-based disinfection in Ordos’ Dalad banner (Banner in Inner Mogolia is a county-level administrative entity). It will also launch last-mile drone delivery services for some residential compounds and villages in Dalad banner that have been closed off, enabling convenient delivery while minimizing human-to-human contact.

JD’s drones have been used in emergency relief efforts for several years. In July 2018, the company deployed a team of drone engineers as well as drones and ancillary vehicles to support the Beijing municipal government’s storm relief efforts, which was JD’s first disaster relief effort using drones following its establishment of China’s first nationwide drone rescue team in May 2018.

 

Download the video and B-roll here: https://jdcorporateblog.com/gallery/

ling.cao@jd.com

Posted in ESG