JD.com helps China’s new “Smart Airport” be even Smarter

Posted on by Ling Cao

Beijing’s newly opened Daxing Airport is poised to bring the global travel experience to a new level. Behind the scenes, JD’s logistics capabilities are making sure travelers get what they need without a hitch.

For one, as the logistics service provider for the airport’s restaurants, JD Logistics will leverage its warehousing and delivery capabilities for the integrated logistics services including storage, transportation and delivery in the airport, for categories like fresh food and ice cream. This is made possible by a cold chain warehouse near the airport, and JD’s leading cold chain delivery capabilities to ensure quality. JD will handle warehousing and delivery for other businesses in the airport, including but not limited to offline stores of all shapes and sizes as well as vending machines.

What’s more, JD’s unparalleled logistics system will power innovative delivery services within the airport. For individuals, two conveniently located JD delivery stations will help travelers ship products from the airport to anywhere in China. This is particularly convenient if travelers realize that their bags have items that they can’t carry on at the last minute (like an oversized shampoo container) or if their luggage is overweight (and they don’t want to pay overweight fees). Furthermore, JD Logistics offers a special service to repackage luggage to ensure that fragile items in check-in luggage will not get damaged during a flight.

JD’s smart store offerings will also help enhance the shopping experience for travelers. Two JD Retail Experience Shops in the airport will offer products such as computers, cameras, and smart devices as well as cosmetics and personal care items. Leveraging JD’s omnichannel capabilities, the store will offer the option to take items right away or to scan a QR code on the products’ price tags to have them shipped via JD Logistics to an address of choice within China. Technology in the store includes things such as a smart shelf that will provide an introduction of the product when customers pick it up.

JD Digits, a leading digital technology company, will also help resolve a key hassle for flyers around the world: parking. JD Digits, in partnership with hardware provider Shougang Fund S-PARK, has implemented a smart parking system at Daxing airport. Once fully installed, the system will allow drivers to easily locate the most suitable parking space for their car via an app, while also providing convenient in-app payment.

“It’s our honor to leverage our capabilities for Beijing’s new Daxing airport,” said Zhenzhen Rao, Head of JD Retail Experience Shops, JD Retail Innovation. “Using our logistics and retail capabilities to enhance the travel experience is just the type of initiative that our opening up strategy was intended to service.”

 

JD Expands Open Logistics with New Storage Service

Posted on by Ling Cao

Individuals and small enterprises can now store their goods in JD.com’s warehouses. The new initiative, which leverages JD’s capabilities to provide a professional storage solution in China, is the latest example of JD opening up its capabilities to parties beyond JD.

Using the service, customers are able to track every stage of the storage process from start to finish on their phones, via the JD Express Delivery mini-program on WeChat. JD provides a professional solution for every storage need, from short-term to long-term storage. Companies who need to store supplies for an event, or individuals who are in the process of moving house, be it college students needing to store things over the summer break to people who are renovating their homes, can all meet their short term storage needs with JD. At the same time, avid shoppers looking to put aside their out-of-season wardrobe, as well as people who want to store sports equipment like scooters, bicycles and other hobby related items, can opt for JD’s longer-term storage solution.

JD provides a professional solution for every storage need, from short-term to long-term storage.

The new service has been launched in response to clear market demand for convenient and reliable storage services. JD has seen demand for storage solutions rise exponentially, particularly as rents in China’s first and second tier cites continue to increase every year. This is in contrast to many personal storage providers in China, which typically have to partner with third parties such as real estate companies, and therefore struggle to provide a convenient and high-quality service.

“JD is known among Chinese customers for reliability, trust and speed,” said Bing Fu, Head of Strategy and Innovation at JD Logistics, the independently run business group under JD.com responsible for this project. “This user-friendly and reliable personal storage solution is clear example of how our strategy to open up our logistics network to parties beyond JD is playing out. Initial customer feedback shows us that consumers are excited about this service, and believe it can fill an unmet need in the storage market.”

With over ten years of experience in developing its in-house logistics capabilities, JD Logistics has won the trust of both customers and enterprises, placing the company in good stead to bring this new value-added service to market. Since 2016, JD has expanded the range of logistics services it offers to third-party merchants outside of JD. With the company continuing to roll our innovative initiatives such as storage solutions, it’s increasingly clear how JD’s logistics capabilities can benefit not only JD’s own business, but also a range of other industries and merchants.

JD.com’s AI targets your kitchen

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com used AI to help Chinese hygiene products giant Vinda develop a package of paper towel that would directly meet consumer needs.

Through analysis of consumer data powered by AI algorithms, JD discovered that young people, especially female customers – the main users of this type of product – use paper towel not only to wipe counters and kitchenware, but also for handling food, indicating that food safety is a high priority feature to highlight. JD also found that consumers prefer paper towels packaged in soft packs rather than rolls because they are easier to grab.

Taking all of this into account, JD worked with Vinda to design a 2-ply paper towel package, clearly marked as food-safe, and packaged in a brightly designed package (rather than the brand’s traditional dark blue) themed with Summer Palace, given that bright colors have been shown to appeal to young consumers. JD also suggested the pricing strategy of the product, recommending a price between RMB 30 to 35. The new product, which was developed and brought to market within the span of three months, performed strongly after its launch. Sales of the product accounted for half of all new paper towel products across multiple brands from August to now.

JD.com used AI to help Chinese hygiene products giant Vinda develop a package of paper towel that would directly meet consumer needs.

As China’s largest retailer, JD’s consumer insights provide an invaluable resource to help brands bring new products to market that are directly tailored to consumer needs. Over the last few years, JD has worked closely with manufacturers to perfect its “Consumer to Manufacturer” – or “C2M” – process. C2M addresses one of the traditional pain points in retail. Historically, brands have reached out to consulting companies who conduct offline research for brands before they develop their products. But due to limited data, the consulting process cannot guarantee products will be appropriate for the market. What’s more, this process can be time-consuming, sometimes taking as long as 18 months – too slow for today’s fast-paced retail environment.

AI plays a critical role in JD’s C2M process, allowing the company to analyze consumption trends, consumer decision trees, which show consumer motivations for purchasing decisions, and more, based on information from JD’s over 320 million customer base.

A powerful combination of cutting-edge technology and incisive consumer insights allows JD to help brands develop new products – and the process can take as little as three months. JD provides support throughout the entire product lifecycle, from consulting, development and testing to sales and marketing. JD works with partners to roll out launch simulations including creating mockup pages on the JD app and obtain real customer feedback such as clicks, browsing duration and the rate at which products are added to the cart.

In another successful C2M partnership case, JD provided Chinese gaming computer brand Thunderbot with consumer insights and reached deep into the supply chain to help the brand design a new product. JD’s analysis found a potential market for a gaming laptop with a 16.6 inch screen – a significantly larger display area than the brand’s standard 15.5 inch model, but more portable than their hefty 17.3 inch laptop. Using this advice, Thunderbot’s screen suppliers were able to launch exclusive production lines to manufacture 16.6 inch screens for the new product. Today, the 16.6 inch laptop is one of Thunderbot’s best-selling products. JD has already worked with several brands to optimize gaming laptop specifications for its consumers. More than 30% of the gaming laptops sold on JD have been manufactured through JD’s C2M. Sales of HP’s OMEN Gaming PC series gaming laptops developed with JD’s C2M have exceeded RMB 1 billion yuan.

JD has already worked with several brands to optimize gaming laptop specifications for its consumers.

Longyu Zhang, Head of JD Supply Chain Innovation said: “Customers are increasingly demanding a more diverse range of products customized to their preferences, and merchants are seeking to get closer to consumers by tailoring their products for the market. JD’s Customer-to-Manufacturer initiative provides brands the perfect opportunity for brands to reach targeted consumer groups.”

“This trend also has significant implications for the back-end supply chain, as the center of the supply chain is shifting from manufacturer to consumer, and from managing goods to managing consumer needs.” Said Songtao Zhai, Head of JD Supply Chain Product during a media workshop hosted at JD’s headquarters in Beijing earlier this week. “JD’s assessment is that the ability to accurately analyze consumption data and determine trends and customer preferences will be key to the success of consumer brands over the next five to ten years.”

JD Expands Partnership with Camus Cognac, World’s Largest Independent Cognac House

Posted on by Rachel Liu

Camus Cognac, the world’s largest family-run, independent cognac house, has announced an expansion of its partnership with JD.com, China’s largest retailer.  Under the expanded partnership, in addition to offering several of Camus’ premium brands to consumers, JD will work with Camus Cognac to launch exclusive products based on consumer insights into Chinese consumption trends, and leverage its diverse offline resources to help Camus develop innovative marketing programs, in-line with JD’s “Boundaryless Retail” strategy.

JD’s analysis of Chinese consumers of imported liquor found that many of them are affluent, in the relatively young 26 to 35 age bracket and curious to try novel products. Based on this, Camus Cognac recently launched a Cognac VSOP gift box on JD. The product features rich flavors and is ideally suited for younger consumers who are interested in exploring new spirits.

Camus Cognac, the world’s largest family-run, independent cognac house, has announced an expansion of its partnership with JD.com, China’s largest retailer.

Cyril Camus, the fifth-generation owner and president of Camus Cognac said: “We are thrilled to grow our ongoing partnership and collaboration with JD.com. As Chinese wine and spirit consumers continue to mature in sophistication, I am confident that this partnership represents the perfect match – combining Camus Cognac’s relentless drive for the utmost refinement and JD’s dedication to an impeccable omnichannel shopping experience.”

“We are excited to expand our strategic partnership with Camus Cognac,” said Carol Fung, president of JD FMCG. “We look forward to leveraging JD’s abilities in customer analysis, marketing solutions and technology to increase Camus’s brand recognition among Chinese consumers who are passionate about high quality liquor.”

The expanded partnership comes as demand for high quality spirits in China continues to rise. According to industry estimates, the amount of imported spirits consumed in China is expected to grow 20% within four years, rising from a total of 4.4 million boxes in 2018 to as much as 5.3 million boxes in 2022. In 2018, China overtook Singapore for the first time to become the world’s second largest buyer of cognac after the US, with over 255 million bottles consumed.

Classic American Clothing Brand Brooks Brothers Launches Official Flagship Store on JD.com

Posted on by Hui Zhang

The USA’s oldest clothing brand and retailer, Brooks Brothers has launched an official flagship store on JD.com, China’s largest retailer, online or offline.

Brooks Brothers joins a host of leading luxury apparel labels choosing JD.com to connect with millions of high-end, fashion-conscious customers in China. The iconic fashion brand will introduce its upcoming fall/winter 2019 menswear collection through its flagship store, taking advantage of JD’s position as the most-trusted platform for high-end Chinese consumers.

“Our new flagship store on JD.com is ideally positioned to reach Brooks Brothers’ key customer demographics, and is a core part of our China marketing strategy for 2019,” said Lawrence Lam, Managing Director at Brooks Brothers Greater China Ltd. “With its guarantee of authenticity and commitment to quality service, JD.com offers international brands the best way to build a relationship with China’s e-commerce focused fashion consumers.”

“Brooks Brothers is a titan of the American fashion industry, and we’re delighted to introduce their iconic collections to discerning shoppers on JD.com,” said Kevin Jiang, President of International Business at JD Fashion and Lifestyle. “Our high-end user base makes JD a uniquely attractive choice for international brands entering the Chinese market.”

Established in 1881 and having dressed U.S. presidents from Abraham Lincoln and FDR to JFK and Barack Obama, Brooks Brothers is arguably America’s most iconic fashion brand, as well as its oldest. The brand currently operates over 500 stores in more than 17 countries worldwide, and offers men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories addressing every aspect of its customers’ diverse and multi-faceted lives, serving as “the model for quintessential American style.”

JD.com is well-known for a loyal, high-end consumer base, which is a main target demographic for the luxury industry. Over the years, JD.com has successfully delivered a comprehensive omnichannel luxury experience. It provides premium services such as its JD Luxury Express “white glove” delivery service, which sees professionally-dressed couriers hand-deliver purchases to consumers’ homes, driven by electric cars. A large number of well-known luxury brands from across the world have already established partnerships with JD.com, including Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, and Paul Smith.

JD.com’s New Supply Chain Innovation Program Brings Retail Closer and Faster to Home

Posted on by Rachel Liu

JD.com has launched a new supply chain innovation program that brings offline and online retail closer together than ever before, seamlessly and conveniently enhancing the shopping experience for customers. The initiative was revealed at a small media event hosted at JD’s headquarters earlier today. By leveraging the offline retail outlets where many products already sit, this program improves the overall efficiency of the supply chain by expanding availability and speeding goods to shoppers. This is possible because, instead of having every product pass through traditional warehouses, distribution centers, and delivery stations before reaching the customer, offline channels can now directly deliver orders that come from JD, instantly expanding what is already China’s most extensive supply chain network.

The first of its type globally, the new program integrates multiple types of offline channels, including supermarkets, convenience stores, some brands’ offline stores, and Dada-JD Daojia, China’s leading crowdsourced delivery company. As a result, JD is able to increase efficiency and get products into its customers’ hands even faster. The average delivery time with the program is two hours, but customers can receive orders in as little as 30 minutes. Further, brands participating in the program with JD are likely to see improved store traffic and turnover rates.

The supply chain innovation program is part of JD’s broader Retail as a Service (RAAS) strategy to open its extensive resources to partners and others. It is also builds upon JD’s highly advanced and successful inventory integration project with Walmart. In that program, customers who buy any product from JD’s first-party platform that is also available in a Walmart store may receive it from the store if it is closer to their house than a JD warehouse.  With this enhancement, several other retailers have also joined the program including Better Life, Nongfu Spring, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Tsingtao Beer, and liquor retailer 9bianli. Currently the program covers items such as non-alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, rice, and flour — many products that are bulky, heavy, and challenging to store and ship.

Coca-Cola is one partner that is already seeing benefits from this innovative smart supply chain initiative. When consumers order Coca-Cola beverages on JD, the system instantly analyzes factors such as proximity to the delivery address and determines whether it’s more effective to source from a JD warehouse or from one of the offline channels. If an offline channel is chosen, the product will be packed offline and delivered to the consumer directly. Before the end of 2020, Coca-Cola plans to expand its participation in more than 20 cities and operate about 20 delivery locations (such as convenience stores) in each city.

Since joining JD’s program, the daily orders in Nongfu’s offline water stations have increased about 20% overall

Another partner that is already reaping significant benefits is top Chinese beverage brand Nongfu Spring. Since joining JD’s program, the daily orders in Nongfu’s offline water stations have increased about 20% overall and doubled on June 18, the final day of JD’s 18-day anniversary sales festival. Further, 90% of orders were delivered within two hours without adding employees in Nongfu stations, a clear indicator of increased efficiency.

“Partnering with JD for this innovative program boosts traffic while increasing delivery speed, which is extremely beneficial to consumers,” says Li Zhou, Chief Secretary of the Board, Nongfu Spring: “We see enormous potential to deliver more orders from offline channels in the future, and will roll out the program in more cities around China soon.”

“We’re shortening the supply chain by empowering offline retail channels to fulfill orders directly, rather than having to go through warehouses.” said Carol Fung, president of JD FMCG. “The fact is a lot of products, especially ones that we need and those we use every day, are already in nearby stores, but they are delayed by going through the many links of the traditional supply chain. This program cuts out unnecessary steps, improving efficiency for retailers, maximizing resources, reducing costs, and improving the customer experiences.”

Currently the program covers 20,000 offline stores in 54 cities, including 175 Walmart hypermarkets, 198 Nongfu Spring offline water stations in Beijing, and 166 9bianli liquor stores throughout China.

JD and Philips Bring Unprecedented Precision to Retail with AI

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

JD and leading health technology company Philips are using AI to maximize the performance of the brand’s flagship store by better understanding its consumers and their behavior. The partnership leverages JD’s unique AI-driven retail solution, which can provide a comprehensive analysis of a brand’s performance and help develop a smart marketing solution that covers product strategy, market analysis, marketing management and more. The partnership was announced at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai from August 29-31.

The addition of AI to the puzzle allows brands like Philips to make sense of not only “structured data”, which is comprised of clearly defined data types whose pattern makes them easily searchable, but also “unstructured data”, which is comprised of data that is usually not as easily searchable, including formats like audio, video and social media, such as customer reviews, customer service feedback, product pages, advertisement videos and more. This is possible thanks to computer vision and natural language technology. At the same time, machine learning technology enables easy grouping of users and forecasting of consumer behavior.

For example, leveraging computer vision technology would enable a brand to understand fine-grain nuances, such as the fact that some consumers are more attracted to product images or marketing with a more professional background, while others gravitate more towards cartoons. At the same time, leveraging natural language processing can help understand the user’s pre- and post-shopping behavior, i.e. what impact the consultation they received in the process had on their ultimate decision to purchase. Understanding these nuances can reveal tons of new consumer insights that can be used to improve user experience, personalize marketing solutions and even design products.

In the collaboration with Philips, JD will leverage its AI technology to provide a comprehensive suite of solutions, including user portrait analysis, user behavior analysis and user motivation analysis. JD will assist in business decision making, providing guidance on product design, marketing and advertising, user engagement, branding and store operation, among other areas.

“Successful retail is about connecting with your customers, and giving them whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want it,” said Bowen Zhou, Vice President of JD.com and President of JD AI. “With AI technology, JD is helping our partners move from marketing to many, to marketing to one, in an efficient and cost-effective way.”

“For over a century, Philips has been embedding the “Innovation for You” philosophy” into our products, solutions and partnerships. ” said Jyh-Ching Yaur, CTO of Philips Greater China, “Leveraging JD’s AI competence in this innovative initiative, we will undoubtedly provide better products and services to our customers, especially in the retail space.”

This initiative is a natural extension of JD’s leadership in AI across speech and acoustics, computer vision, machine learning, knowledge graphs and semantics and dialogues. Earlier this year, in April, JD AI ranked first in the “WikiHop” reading comprehension contest, surpassing human performance for the first time. JD AI is focused not only on using AI to improve customer experience and efficiency at JD, but also on opening up this technology to partners in a wide range of industries.

Nespresso Chooses JD Logistics for Doorstep Recycling Service in China

Posted on by Ling Cao

Customers of Nespresso in China can now recycle their capsules with greater ease, after Nespresso unveiled a new doorstep recycling program, which leverages JD’s nationwide in-house logistics network.

To facilitate the doorstep recycling service, JD designed a recycling page which was seamlessly integrated with Nespresso’s WeChat mini-program. Any Nespresso drinker across China can now use the mini-program, and schedule a JD courier to come to their door and pick up their used coffee capsules on either the same day or next day. Previously, this service was only available for deliveries to Nespresso Boutique locations or for selected B2B customers such as offices, restaurants or hotels.

Based on a user’s location, JD will deliver the used Nespresso capsules to the nearest recycling plant, in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. The aluminum from the capsules will be made into novelty gift products like Nespresso-branded knives, while the used coffee grounds will be used as fertilizer for Nespresso’s eco-farm on Chongming Island, by the Yangtze River near Shanghai.

“It’s a great honor to work with JD for this project. Sustainable development is Nespresso’s brand responsibility, as well as the core concept of our business strategy.” Alfonso Troisi, Business Executive Officer Greater China of Nespresso, said “With the support of JD’s premium in-house logistics network, we will be able to reach more consumers and recycle more than ever before. We believe that we can achieve 100% recycling capacity all over the world in 2020.”

“Environmental protection is a huge priority for us so we are thrilled to be part of this initiative,” said Wei Tang, Head of Key Account Management at JD Logistics. “Working with Nespresso to leverage our logistics is making it easier than ever for consumers and businesses to do their part to be green. This is one of many initiatives in this vein, and there will certainly be more in the future.”

This is not JD Logistics’ first foray into recycling. Last year, JD leveraged its huge in-house logistics fleet to collect used clothes from households over China as part of an effort with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to raise awareness of sustainable development in the retail industry.