By Hui Zhang

JD Health, JD.com’s health care business and one of the highest-valued unicorns in the world, is continuously innovating amid the novel coronavirus outbreak to meet patients and consumers’  needs. JD Health has launched free online medical consultation services and ensured in-time medical supply in an effort to avoid cross-infections. It also invited top medical experts in China to give free live-streams to ease people’s anxieties about the epidemic. Here is how JD is making it happen.

Free Online Consultation Services

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

As early as January 26^th, JD Health launched a free online consultation platform within JD’s app to people who suffer from symptoms such as cough, fever, fatigue, and diarrhea and wish to consult a physician. At the same time, JD Health offers a free hotline service for people who need psychological support, especially front-line medical staff working in a highly-intense and high-stress environment.

JD Health convenes tens of thousands of expert physicians who offer a wide range of medical consultation services on its platform, and there are nearly 200 physicians employed as full time staff. The average daily consultation volume of JD Health’s platform has reached 100,000 since January 26^th. During peak times, the free consultation 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.

“As a doctor, although we are unable to go to the frontlines, we can serve more people on another battlefield. I’m honored to be able to provide patients with self-protection, medical guidance, and to help ease their anxieties through JD Health’s platform,” said Fan He, a full-time doctor of JD Health.

Securing Medical Supplies

Undertaking a quarantine or home isolation is an important measure to control the spread of the epidemic, but it also makes it inconvenient for people who need to see a doctor and buy medicine.

“People with chronic diseases, the elderly, infants and young children, and pregnant women are among those with high demand for medical treatment and medicinal purchases. However, these vulnerable people will not only have to face the risk of cross-infection if going to hospitals but will also increase the pressure for hospitals, which would feel the strain,” said Jianbo Xiao, general manager of JD Health’s Internet Hospital.

JD Health, which is the largest pharmaceutical retailer in China, ensures drug supply and promises 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 efficiency 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.

Live-streams by Medical Experts

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 of 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.

“Facing this epidemic, JD Health is working day and night to ensure the quality of our consultation services,  and continually exploring new ways to help curb the coronavirus outbreak,” said Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health.

In November 2019, 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.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

By Ella Kidron and Yuchuan Wang

JD is launching a new initiative to help farmers who are seeking a sales channel for their products due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. The “National Fresh Produce Green Channel”, referred to as the “Green Channel” for short, will help them sell products through JD’s channels, providing JD customers with more access to high quality and fresh produce.

In attempt to prevent further spreading of the coronavirus, there have been road closures and other transportation restrictions across China, putting pressure on the transportation infrastructure still in operation. As a result, many farmers had lost their sales channels and risked their seasonable produce becoming unsellable. At the same time, with the epidemic, demand for high, fresh quality produce which can be bought online is at an all-time high.

JD’s Green Channel leverages JD’s strengths in supply chain, logistics, platform operations, online marketing and omnichannel retail to address these challenges. Open to both existing and potential partners of JD Fresh, JD’s online fresh food business, the initiative provides 25 supportive policies to merchants, including fast enrollment, extra traffic, discounts or fee-free use of the platform, and more. Furthermore, JD Logistics will establish a special transportation channel to prioritize the delivery of produce, and ensure they arrive in a timely manner. JD Fresh will also launch two dedicated entrances on JD APP to the Green Channel by Feb. 14^th, making it easier for customers to find.

Before the channel was officially launched, JD already saw some success from this approach. In early February, a strawberry farm from Sichuan province reached out to JD.com with an urgent request. Heavily affected by the outbreak, the farm’s usual wholesalers weren’t making the purchases they typically would, and it faced huge foreseeable losses. To help this farm, JD quickly allocated sales and marketing resources and launched the strawberries on JD.com. They are now being delivered across the country.

Quality is of utmost importance and JD applies a rigorous evaluation process for potential applicants. Yisheng Tang, Head of JD Fresh, said:

“We will accelerate the sale of agricultural products facing sales difficulties while exercising strict quality control to guarantee the safety and quality of the fresh food we provide. Leveraging JD.com’s advantages in fresh food supply chain and cold chain logistics, we hope to better meet the demand during this special period of time.”

In addition, JD will launch a channel for local vegetables and fruit farms to sell produce  in its 7FRESH brick-and-mortar  supermarkets in Hebei, Tianjin, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces. ‪JD’s Friend Shop group buying business for communities will also provide an “instant sales” policy for suitable suppliers of unsellable fresh goods. In Wuhan, Friends Shop is now delivering food supplies to approximately 30 communities, covering 50,000 families.

With the help of JD.com, sales of strawberries from Dandong, Liaoning province that were previously deemed unsellable have reached RMB 1.3 million since early February. In addition, JD has worked with mango producers in Sanya, Hainan province, to launch a “buy one, give one” initiative, with the aim of donating 200 tons of mangos to citizens in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is its capital.

JD is collecting information about reliable, unsellable produce from the public via xunxian@jd.com.

 

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

On this page, you will find the most recent updates related to JD’s support the fight against the novel coronavirus in China, including news releases, as well as photos and videos. We are also regularly posting updates on our Twitter (@JD_Corporate), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jd.cominc/), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/jd.com)  and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jd_corporate/) accounts so feel free to follow us there as well.

For any questions or to discuss with us further, please reach out via press@jd.com.

 

Overview

JD has spared no efforts in the fight against the coronavirus. From early on, we mobilized our resources across the company – from retail, logistics, technology, health and other areas – to provide immediate support for the anti-virus fight.

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. This also includes initiatives such as launching robot and drone deliveries to address last mile delivery challenges during this period, implementing our AI technology to provide instant support on queries related to the epidemic, providing free health consultation with top doctors across the country and more – all the while ensuring that consumers’ needs for food, epidemic prevention supplies and other necessities are met, with fast delivery and stable prices. During the epidemic period, JD.com has already provided a total of 120 million individual food items, covering rice, flour, noodles, grain, cooking oil, meat, eggs, vegetables, milk and other daily necessities, weighing over 160,000 tons, to consumers across the country.

 

Recent News Releases

Ensuring Livelihoods

• JD’s Psychological Consultation to Bring Peace of Mind – The platform brings together China’s top psychiatrists, and psychological counselors from hospitals or related institutions to provide psychological assistance and counseling services to people during the COVID-19 epidemic. Patients simply need to type in ‘psychological assistance’ in JD’s app to access the platform. The services will be offered free for six months.

• JD Makes 15 Million Masks Exclusively Available to Hubei Customers – The first batch of 15 million masks went on sale on March 3. In order to ensure that more people can access masks, each consumer is entitled to buy four packs of masks (200 masks in total), and the price is as low as 1.98 yuan each. The orders can be delivered to all cities and counties in Hubei.

• In-depth Report: Turning Extraordinary to Ordinary JD’s smart supply chain further cements trust with customers – Same- or next-day delivery is not easily achievable by any e-commerce company worldwide. In most places, this level of service is considered extraordinary. In China, however, thanks to more than a decade’s tireless effort, JD has created a situation where this level of service is now the standard, rather than an exception to the rule, and with no additional cost to the customer.
• JD Health Delivers Prescription Drugs Within 30 Minutes – JD Health has been collaborating with nearly 60 pharmaceutical companies to provide patients and consumers with online prescription refills, advice on medication, and drug delivery service to ensure adequate supply to patients with chronic diseases. Drugs can be delivered within 30 minutes.
• COVID-19 Drives People from Cabin Fever to Healthy Choices – Since the outbreak of COVID-19, almost all people in China have been forced to stay inside. Providing a unique opportunity to “tweak” their lifestyle choices, many people have chosen to learn how to cook and have taken up fitness programs to kill time in a healthy way.
• JD’s Friends Shop Delivers Fresh Produce to 200 Residential Compounds in Wuhan – During the epidemic, Friends Shop provides “contact-free” pick-up service for Wuhan’s consumers. Vehicles transporting the products will be disinfected before departure every day. Frozen products and fresh vegetables will also be packaged separately. Friends Shop will guide customers to make appointments to pick up the goods at different periods of time.
• JD’s Friends Shop Delivers Fresh Produce to 200 Residential Compounds in Wuhan – Due to the lockdown and logistics restrictions in Wuhan, Friends Shop collaborates with local markets and agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives to purchase the products together with other daily necessities such as rice, flour, grain, and cooking oil. They will then pack the products according to different options for consumers to easily choose according to their preference.
• While Others Resume Production JD Logistics Continues Doing Business as Usual – JD Logistics has been operating daily, providing consistent delivery during the Chinese New Year period for eight years in a row with its over 180,000 responsible and diligent employees. While maintaining regular delivery nationwide, even during the anti-coronavirus period, to help provide daily necessities to customers, JD is also leveraging its logistics and technology capability and sparing no resource to provide needed aid.
• JD.com Joins Partnership to Target Illegal Merchants – JD.com has partnered with the market supervisory body in Beijing and four e-commerce players to launch an information sharing platform targeting illegal merchant behavior online during the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
• JD.com and Partners Donate Fruit to Hospital Staff in Wuhan – JD 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.

• JD’s AI Vending Machines Provide 24/7 “Unmanned” Access to Fresh Produce – 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.

• JD Super Donates Personal Care Products to Female Medical Staff in Wuhan – On February 14th, 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.

• JD Health’s New Online Platform Ensures Drug Supply to Chronic Disease Patients – The newly launched online platform connects chronic patients with pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies, and provides timely information on where they can get the drugs they need, online or offline.

• JD Health Offers Innovative Services During Coronavirus Outbreak – JD Health has launched free online medical consultation services and ensured timely medical supply in an effort to avoid cross-infection.
• How Chinese are Spending during the Coronavirus Outbreak – With hundreds of millions of Chinese choosing to stay indoors to protect themselves against the highly contagious coronavirus, JD leveraged its big data capabilities to look at customer spending during the Spring Festival period.
• JD Retail Ensures Supply During Coronavirus – We looked at retail supply trends and how we’ve been able to help merchants ensure inventory during the coronavirus.
• JD’s Drone Debut in Hebei During Coronavirus Period – On Feb. 7th, JD.com completed its first delivery via drone to Baiyang Lake in Hebei province. JD will continue to operate this route during the coronavirus period.

Supporting the Economy

• Can’t sell? JD’s Live Streaming Makes a Big Difference  – On March 6^th, Xian Wang, the deputy director of the Business Expo Bureau of Dongpo district in Meishan City in Sichuan province, joined JD Live to promote local agricultural products to JD’s customers. The three-hour live stream resulted in a transaction volume of RMB 550,000 for 67,500 kilograms of citrus sold.

• JD to Provide RMB 1.5 Billion in Resources to Merchants and Brands – On March 4^th, JD.com announced the launch of the Spring Raindrop Plan to allocate RMB 1.5 billion worth of marketing resources to help merchants and brands that are heavily impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, and to bring more quality products to nationwide consumers.
• JD Sales Data Shows Strong Trend of Returning to Work – A report by JD Big Data, a market research body of JD.com, reveals that e-commerce has played a prominent role in the return to work for employees and companies in China. Beginning Feb. 3, “return to work” became a highly popular search keyword on JD, as people looked for protective gear, must-buy products, sets of equipment for returning to work and more. At the same time, third-party stores on JD’s marketplace started to resume operation, and enterprise procurement orders also increased significantly.

• JD Helps SMEs Resume Operations – JD Logistics is offering a wide range of initiatives to support the operations of small-and-medium enterprises during the coronavirus outbreak to help them get back to work. The rapid growth of JD Logistics’ open logistics business (defined as services provided to parties outside of JD’s first party) is a further reflection of JD’s overall commitment and efforts to fully support the resumption of business operations and stable economic development in China during the coronavirus period.
• Sales of JD Computer and Digital Products Stores Boosted by Going Online – JD has brought its brick and mortar JD Computer and Digital Products franchise stores online, helping them boost sales growth.
• Book Sellers Get a Boon from JD during Coronavirus – Book sellers are getting a boost amid the coronavirus in China, thanks to JD.com. As announced on Feb. 24, the company has leveraged its e-commerce and logistics strengths to help not only publishers, but also authors and offline bookstores get back on their feet.
• JD Super Helps Merchants Market their Spring Tea – JD Super’s initiatives enable merchants in Hubei province to enjoy JD’s platform free of charge and discounts on commissions if they launch stores on JD. For merchants outside of Hubei, JD Super will provide rebates and special support plans to help them develop their businesses after the COVID-19 subsides.
• JD Helps Partners Weather the Coronavirus – Due to the coronavirus, many retailers in China face various challenges from supply and delivery to after sales service. JD has leveraged its capabilities to help its brand partners tackle some of these problems.
• JD Helps Partners Weather the Coronavirus – Due to the coronavirus, many retailers in China face various challenges from supply and delivery to after sales service. JD has leveraged its capabilities to help its brand partners tackle some of these problems.

• JD.com Allocates RMB 500 Million to Help SMEs –Under the initiative, JD will provide SMEs in procurement and logistics subsidies to effectively lower operation costs while ensuring supply and price stability. JD is also launching an expedited channel for SME merchants to open stores on JD, enabling enrollment in as fast as six hours. JD will also provide online operations and supply chain services such as discounts for warehousing and live streaming. Financial services such as low interest or interest-free loans are also available.

• JD’s Special Support for Live Streaming during the Coronavirus Outbreak – For merchants, JD Live will reduce the take rate to as low as 1%, provide extra traffic support, and waive all service fees. For projects aimed at helping farmers and relieving poverty, JD Live will also provide special policies and subsidies. KoLs will receive cash subsidies for livestreaming in seven categories and new KoLs on JD’s platform will also get access public domain traffic.

• 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.

• JD.com and Dada Group to Hire 35,000 Full-and-Part-Time Employees – JD.com and JD-backed Dada Group plan to jointly offer 35,000 jobs during the epidemic period. The move aims to minimize the impact of the epidemic on employment in the short term, and to help tide small and medium enterprises over during the period, and overall support stable employment, while seeking to minimize the overall impact of the virus on employment and people’s livelihoods at large.

• JD Launches National Fresh Produce Green Channel – Leveraging JD’s strengths in supply chain, logistics, platform operations, online marketing and omnichannel retail, the initiative provides 25 supportive policies to merchants, including fast enrollment, extra traffic, discounts or fee-free use of the platform, and more.
• JD’s Cloud and AI Help Fight Coronavirus – JD integrates its smart epidemic assistant into the Wuhan Mayor’s Office WeChat account to provide instant answers to residents’ queries. Other applications of its AI and Cloud technology include offering a free online classroom service to students and teachers in Hubei Province during the coronavirus period.

Coronavirus Aid and Prevention

• JD Donates 5 Tons of Pet Food to Homeless Animals in Wuhan – Since the outbreak of coronavirus, there have been rumors that pets can spread the virus to human beings, and as a result, many pets have been abandoned in Wuhan. Animal shelters in Wuhan have been actively saving these abandoned pets but are facing a shortage of supplies. JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, donated five tons of pet food and 6,000 boxes of pet medicine to Wuhan Animal Protection Association to help homeless animals on February 23rd.
• JD.com Helps Haidian District in Beijing Launch Emergency Public Services Platform – The platform leverages JD’s resources in retail, logistics, finance and technologies including artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and IoT to match demand and supply for emergency goods. It also provides comprehensive services for citizens including epidemic information, protection measures, and online medical consultation among many others.
• JD Delivered Former NBA Player Yi Jianlian’s Donation to Wuhan – On Feb. 24, JD completed the delivery of 11,250 hazmat suits donated by former NBA and current Guangdong Southern Tigers player, Yi Jianlian from the U.S. to five hospitals in Wuhan.
• JD Brings Massage Chairs to Medical Staff in Hubei – On Feb 20^th, JD delivered and installed 75 massage chairs to 10 hospitals in Hubei province. The chairs were donated by the OGAWA, the Malaysian health and wellness retail company, to help front-line medical staff relax and recharge.
• JD Brings Massage Chairs to Medical Staff in Hubei – On Feb 20th, JD delivered and installed 75 massage chairs to 10 hospitals in Hubei province. The chairs were donated by the OGAWA, the Malaysian health and wellness retail company, to help front-line medical staff relax and recharge.
  

• JD Transports Overseas Relief Supplies to Wuhan – 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.com Launches Smart Body Temperature Screening System – 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. It quickly screens 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.
  

• JD Launches Drone Disinfection in Inner Mongolia – JD.com flied its two drones to spray disinfectant in the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone of Ordos City. 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.com is Building Supply Chain Management Platform for Hubei Provincial Government – 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.

• JD Helps A.O. Smith Donate Air Purifiers to 100+ Hospitals in China – More than 100 hospitals in China have received air purifiers donated by A.O. Smith, delivered by JD Logistics. The air purifiers were all delivered to the designated hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Hunan and Henan provinces in just seven days – quite a challenging feat given the impact of both Chinese New Year and the epidemic situation’s impact on road conditions and logistics staff availability.

• JD.com Has Allocated RMB 200 Million for Coronavirus Aid to Date – JD.com has allocated RMB 200 Million for Coronavirus Aid to Date – Funds cover the donation of health and safety protection equipment and medical supplies, logistics costs to Hubei province and the daily supply of necessities to places that are most affected by the epidemic.

• JD Merchants Donate to Fight Coronavirus – JD recently spoke to several of these merchants to hear the stories of how they are participating in the fight against the coronavirus.
• JD’s Robot Delivers First Order in Wuhan in Coronavirus Aid Support – JD’s autonomous delivery robot successfully made its first delivery in Wuhan on Feb 6th, 2020. More details and a video here.
• JD.com on the Frontlines to Support Wuhan and Provide Coronavirus Aid – A comprehensive overview of how JD.com has leveraged the full strength of its capabilities, from logistics, to technology and more, to provide coronavirus aid.

 

 

Coronavirus Support Timeline

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.

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.

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 24^th to February 2^nd, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

by Yuchuan Wang and Ella Kidron

On February 4, JD’s smart epidemic assistant was integrated into the Wuhan Mayor’s Office WeChat account. Through the function, citizens can get coronavirus related information and services immediately, with high accuracy. On the day of the launch, there were over 250,000 visits to the function’s page.

The smart epidemic assistant is based on JD Cloud & AI’s universal smart conversation platform. The platform consists of AI capabilities including semantic understanding, syntax analysis and more, enabling the accurate understanding of user’s intentions through question prediction, intent recognition, classification and identification, similarity matching and other methods. Equipped with the latest information about epidemic information, the assistant is able to reply to user’s queries in real-time.

Currently it provides functions including epidemic self-screening, medical guidance, fever clinic inquiry, and a way to inquire if a user’s particular flight or train had a coronavirus patient on it. Queries cover everything from what to do if you are experiencing certain symptoms, to how to properly wear and dispose of face masks to prevent the spread of virus. Particularly complex queries that cannot be answered by the smart epidemic assistant are automatically transferred to customer service personnel.

In addition to Wuhan, the smart assistant service has also been launched in Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other provinces, serving dozens of industries, and more than 100 clients. It has already dealt with hundreds of thousands of inquiries. In Sichuan Province, JD is collaborating with West China University Second Hospital on a triage chatbot helping with the first round of patient triage and information collection. In Xinyu City in Jiangxi Province, JD launched a pilot program to use AI calls to help efficiently check residents’ health condition and remind them of epidemic-related information, greatly improving efficiency and avoiding the risk of disease transmission.

JD Cloud & AI also launched the “Emergency Resources Information Platform” which provides municipal and medical institutions access to 3,000 online quality suppliers and national emergency logistics services. As of February 4^th, the platform had successfully performed 162 matches of epidemic prevention supplies with municipal and medical institutions in need. This includes but is not limited to the sourcing of more than 19 million masks, 19,000 pairs of protective googles, 12,290 bottles of liquid disinfectant, 1,000 tons of disinfectant powder, 8,991 body temperature monitors, 1,100 infrared thermometers, 64,970 sets of protective clothing and 152,600 pairs of protective gloves.

JD has been using its advanced ability in cloud and AI technology to make a significant impact across a wide range of areas during these trying times in China. Its cloud video conferencing service is now available for free for enterprises and individuals. JD also provides free online classroom service to students and teachers in Hubei Province, with Wuhan as its capital, who are unable to go to school due to the epidemic.

 

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