JD Offers Super Durian Day Promotion as Part of Its Grand Celebration of Thailand

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

For Chinese consumers, few products from Thailand are as iconic and prized as durians, the pungent tropical delicacy known in Asia as the “king of fruits.”

The large, spiky fruit has a sweet, custard-like flesh with a distinct aroma that, while prized by some, has caused durians to be banned in offices and hotels. They’re increasingly popular in China, where a growing number of people enjoy them frozen as an ice cream-like snack—so much so, that the United Nations estimates durian imports in the country have climbed an average of 26 percent year-over-year in the past decade, reaching $1.1 billion in 2016.

To kick off durian season this year, which lasts from May to September, e-commerce giant JD.com is celebrating the popular treat with “Super Durian Day” with special discounts on deliveries of Thai durian to customers’ doorsteps in more than 300 cities in China. More than 115,000 Thai durians were sold on JD in 24 hours during a similar promotion last year, in addition to other durian treats such as durian mooncakes, pastries and ice cream.

JD, which is China’s largest retailer, online or offline, has sold the fruit since 2012. Transaction volume for durians on JD.com grew 11-fold between 2016 and 2017. The company expects to import more than six million Thai durians this year, including an agreement with Queen Frozen Fruit, Thailand’s main frozen durian distributor, to buy a third of Thailand’s frozen durians.

Durians are most popular in first and second-tier Chinese cities like Beijing and Guangzhou, but demand is growing in other regions where the fruit was not previously easily accessible. With its nationwide logistics network, JD has become a primary source for durians in fourth and fifth-tier cities in China. Customers in those regions have more difficulty accessing imported tropical fruits, and make up 45% of JD.com’s durian transaction volume.

Super Durian Day will coincide with the Grand Celebration of Thailand on JD.com, in which the company will cooperate with several Thai companies including Ventry, Mistine and 24shopping, among many others bring Thai products to China.

Australia’s Metcash to Launch Fresh Pantry Store on JD Worldwide

Posted on by Tracy Yang

Starting this week, shoppers on JD Worldwide will be able to purchase a variety of high-quality products from Fresh Pantry, a new e-commerce concept store by Australian wholesaler Metcash, created to bring the best and funkiest Australian and New Zealand products to China. The new store on JD Worldwide marks Fresh Pantry’s first entry into China. The brand currently has two physical stores in Australia with 10 scheduled to open later this year.

The Fresh Pantry brand is focused on providing consumers convenient and healthy options, with its online store offering products mainly in the food, household, baby & maternal, wine and healthcare categories. JD Worldwide shoppers will be able to purchase such high-quality products as popular skincare brands Vasse Virgin and Australian Diaries, both available in the Chinese market for the first time.

The addition of Fresh Pantry to JD Worldwide is only the latest step in JD’s efforts to connect Australian brands with Chinese consumers. JD has already brought a wide range of Australian food, agriculture, dairy and cosmetics products to its platform, and expects that demand for these will increase as Chinese consumers become increasingly health and quality conscious.

“We are very excited to be joining JD.com, China’s largest retailer. With a physical store based in the CBD of Melbourne, the store on JD Worldwide will look to become the pre-eminent platform for Australian and New Zealand products and deliver an authentic Fresh Pantry shopping experience to consumers in China. We believe that JD, with its excellent reputation for authentic products and world class logistics system, is the perfect platform for us.” said Will Zhao, Metcash’s Head of China Operations.

“It is a pleasure for us to welcome Fresh Pantry to JD Worldwide,” said Winston Cheng, JD.com’s President of International. “As Chinese online shoppers grow ever more sophisticated and discerning, they are gravitating to high quality Australian food and healthcare brands. I am confident that Fresh Pantry, with its focus on quality and selection, is an excellent fit for our platform.”

Metcash, Fresh Pantry’s parent brand, already has a strong presence in China. For the entry of the newly launched Fresh Pantry brand into China, Metcash specifically chose JD Worldwide in order to differentiate Fresh Pantry as a premium, specialized offering.

JD.com Expands Luxury White Glove Delivery Service

Posted on by Ling Cao

JD.com, China’s largest retailer, online or offline, is expanding its luxury white glove delivery by popular demand.

The service, JD Luxury Express, launched last year for special deliveries of high-value luxury items sold on JD.com and its luxury goods platform, Toplife. It was previously available, free, for select luxury brands and categories. Starting May 16, customers buying a wider variety of items in categories including sports, health, gifts and bags, will have the option to pay extra fee to enjoy the service as well.

Previously eligible items will continue to be delivered automatically via JD Luxury Express, free of charge.

A survey of JD customers showed 41.5% wanted luxury white glove delivery, especially when buying expensive products or purchasing gifts. Many customers who wanted the service said they would be willing to pay extra for it if their purchases didn’t automatically qualify.

“We created JD Luxury Express to replicate the high-end luxury buying experience in e-commerce. But we see now there is demand for such services beyond that market” said Bing Fu, Head of Strategy, JD Logistics. “As Chinese consumers become more discerning and increasingly turn to JD.com for high-quality, authentic products, it’s natural that many want the added service to go with it.”

JD Luxury Express is a service made possible with the advanced retail infrastructure and technology that unlocks unprecedented efficiencies for the retail industry. With over 300 million customers, JD.com is the only large-scale e-commerce company in the world to operate its logistics in-house, down to the last mile.

The company operates over 515 warehouses, including 14 mega-fulfillment centers, and a nationwide transportation network, delivering over 90% of orders within the same or next day. It is now offering its infrastructure and technology to other shippers as part of a broader strategy to provide Retail as a Service.

JD Luxury Express is now available in nine cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hangzhou.

JD Fashion Hosts Partners Conference, Launches New International Fashion Brands

Posted on by Ling Cao

JD.com welcomed over 1,100 industry insiders to its partners conference, a B2B conference hosted by the company’s fashion unit, JD Fashion. The event showcased some of the company’s latest advances at the intersection of fashion and technology. Topics of discussion at the conference included technology-powered strategies, smart supply chain, platform operations, creative marketing, and JD’s plans to develop a fashion and technology research center.

JD Fashion announced new partnerships with a number of international brands during the conference, including Polo Ralph Lauren’s children’s footwear line and children’s wear brand MIKI HOUSE, apparel brands such as SAINT JAMES, CISSONNE, LUCKY CHOUETTE and SHESMISS, as well as Swiss watch brand Oris and Spanish jewelry brand TOUS. Other brands will launch on JD soon, including contemporary Italian fashion brand PINKO, handbag and accessory brand Rfactory, and Italian bag brand Salar Milano. Working with JD, brands will be able to access a huge number of Chinese shoppers by showcasing their wares on JD’s uniquely convenient and reliable platform.

Shengli Hu, President of JD Fashion and Lifestyle, said: “It has been a pleasure to convene a conference of so many of our industry peers and share JD Fashion’s vision and exciting innovations. In just a few years, we have welcomed a huge number of top international fashion brands and continue to attract many more. We look forward to continuing to develop JD Fashion as China’s premier online shopping platform for fashion.”

In addition to continuing to welcome more leading brands onto its platform, JD has also expanded its influence in the fashion industry. Last year, JD partnered with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to support the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund dinner. JD has also partnered with the British Fashion Council’s BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund to help more up and coming designers enter the Chinese market.  This year, JD’s President of International Fashion Xia Ding served as the only judge from China on the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund’s selection committee.

JD and GSK Team up to Bring Integrated Online Medical Services to Chinese Consumers

Posted on by Ling Cao

In a revolutionary new drive to harness the power of technology and e-commerce to promote wellness and medical services to more people more easily, JD.com and global pharmaceutical leader GSK have extended their current strategic partnership in China.

Additionally, the partners plan to explore how to harness medical information and big data in ways they hope will lead to new solutions for chronic disease management and improved health and wellness education. As part of the cooperation, there is a bilateral plan to work on community programs, helping people access medical services more easily for diseases like HIV.

“GSK is a world leader in creating and delivering medicines, vaccines and other products that save lives and improve health,” said Lijun Xin, President of JD Home and Life.  “We are leveraging our expertise at organizing and harnessing the flow of products and data to improve people’s lives. Working with GSK, we can find better, clearer, faster and more transparent ways to get medicines and medical and health information to people when they need it.”

Thomas Willemsen, Chairman of GSK (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said, “Internet-based healthcare is a key link in China’s national health strategy. Through our strategic collaboration with JD.com, a pioneering leader in China’s online healthcare and pharmaceutical services, we are committed to exploring and developing ‘Internet + Healthcare’ solutions against the strategic backdrop of ‘Healthy China 2030’, and ultimately improving Chinese people and patients’ healthcare service quality and accessibility. We look forward to joining forces in this effort to improve our society.”

GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. The company researches, develops and manufactures a wide range of medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. Creating innovative products and improving access to them is critical to GSK’s mission, allowing the company to help build stronger, healthier communities all over the world.

JD Accelerates Push into Open Source with Cloud Native Computing Foundation Membership

Posted on by Ella Kidron

Every day, China’s largest retailer and leading global technology company, JD.com, is required to process a staggering amount of data to ensure that its nearly 300 million customers have the best, most efficient and convenient experience possible. In order to achieve this, JD leverages Kubernetes®, one of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s (CNCF) flagship projects. Now the company aims to not only further develop these technologies, but also to work hand-in-hand with the CNCF to chart the direction of the overall industry. This is why JD has joined the CNCF.

JD runs one of the largest Kubernetes clusters in production in the world. A few years ago, the company rolled out containerized infrastructure. When clusters grew from 5,000 to 150,000 containers, JD shifted from OpenStack to Kubernetes. The move, named JDOS 2.0, involved separating JD’s application and infrastructure layers by deploying a DevOps stack on Kubernetes that includes GitLab, Jenkins, Logstash, Harbor, Elasticsearch and Prometheus. Apart from leveraging Kubernetes, JD is currently working on its own open source projects and plans to contribute its immense expertise and resources to empower others in the community.

As part of JD’s commitment to the CNCF, Haifeng Liu, Chief Architect and Vice President at JD.com, has joined the CNCF’s Governing Board alongside the likes of companies including Amazon Web Services, SAP, Microsoft Azure and Samsung SDS, among others. The group is responsible for providing recommendations about the future direction of the CNCF. Liu is also a member of the CNCF’s End User Community, which meets monthly to discuss key challenges, emerging use cases and new opportunities for cloud native technologies.

Liu said, “We’re in this to provide our customers with an unrivaled experience. In order to do that, we rely heavily on innovative technology in areas like container-based infrastructure, AI and big data. Joining the CNCF gives us a huge leg up in charting the future of cloud native projects that are critical to our business and can also enable us to empower our partners and realize our Retail as a Service vision.”

“It’s great to see JD.com invest and engage in collaborative development by joining CNCF at the highest level possible as our first end user Platinum member,” said Dan Kohn, Executive Director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. “Chinese companies like JD.com are at the forefront of retail innovation in part because of their success with cloud native computing. Containers and technologies like Kubernetes allow JD to optimize purchase data, develop an agile supply chain, deliver new products quickly and scale when necessary.”

 

JD Brings “Retail as a Service” to WeChat’s Mini Program Platform

Posted on by Ella Kidron

When world-renowned Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet was mapping out its Chinese e-commerce strategy, JD provided comprehensive support – from technology to logistics – to facilitate the process. The “pop-up” store Audemars Piguet launched on WeChat’s popular Mini Program platform is part of JD’s Kepler Mini Program Solution.

An example of the company’s “Retail as a Service” strategy in which JD uses its strengths to empower its partners, JD leverages Tencent’s open platform to offer brands a range of service modules to equip them with all of the resources they need to operate WeChat Mini Program stores. Originally launched as a pilot last year, JD’s Kepler Mini Program Solution has recently expanded to offer options covering marketing, logistics, financial services and big data. Over 2,000 brands and merchants have joined the program to date.

Audemars Piguet’s recently opened pop-up store on WeChat’s Mini Program platform benefits from JD’s comprehensive technology support on the backend as well as its luxury white glove delivery service JD Luxury Express, bringing Audemars Piguet customers in China a true luxury shopping experience from start to finish.

Logistics, customer service, and IP infringement have long been factors giving brands – particularly luxury brands – pause before fully committing to e-commerce in China. JD provides the world’s top brands a guarantee of authenticity, premium service and efficient fulfillment, giving them confidence that they can succeed in China’s rapidly growing market.

“We understand that brands in China all have their own individualized needs,” said Dr. Kefeng Li, a Vice President at JD.com. “This module approach leverages our technology, resources and experience to provide a customized solution for each of our brand partners, bringing China’s vast market into reach with just a few clicks. This is our Retail as a Service vision in action.”

Iceland Supermarket Launches First Online Store in China on JD.com

Posted on by Ella Kidron

One of the United Kingdom’s best-known supermarket chains, Iceland, is partnering with China’s largest retailer, JD.com, to make its debut in the Chinese market.

The Iceland flagship store on JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform, JD Worldwide, will make Iceland’s iconic own-brand products and a curated selection of other branded products available to consumers across China for the first time. JD.com has close to 300 million active customers across China.

Popular products available through the store will include Iceland’s own-brand biscuits, cereals and sauces, as well as a selection of cosmetic products from brands such as Pulsin, Re-gen, and Soft and Gentle.

“Iceland never stands still. The rapid growth and opportunities the market in China offers were significant, and we decided it was time to act. JD.com is a magnificent partner for us and we are excited to see the response of customers in China to our product range,” said Sir Malcolm Walker, founder of Iceland.

The launch of the Iceland store comes as Chinese consumer demand for premium imported products is soaring, as consumers increasingly prioritize quality over price. JD Worldwide, which was established in 2015 to give consumers more convenient access to international brands, celebrated its third anniversary this month. In the three years since the launch, around 20,000 brands from over 70 countries and regions have established stores on JD Worldwide.

Yang Ye, General Manager of JD Worldwide said, “We’re delighted to be working with Iceland to bring their renowned products to Chinese consumers for the first time. With consumer demand for imported British products growing rapidly, this is an ideal time for a respected brand like Iceland to enter the China market. Iceland adds to the growing number of British brands on our platforms as we continue our push to bring the best of Britain to Chinese consumers.”

Over the last two years, the number of UK brands available on JD.com has doubled, with sales of UK products in 2017 growing 100% from the previous year. Highlighting the extent to which this growth in demand is fueling opportunity for UK exports, during Prime Minister Theresa May’s state visit to China earlier this year JD.com’s Chairman and CEO Richard Liu announced a commitment to sell £2 billion of UK goods to Chinese consumers in the next two-to-three years.

This week, JD is hosting a special campaign to promote even greater sales of British goods and give British brands new opportunities to reach Chinese consumers. The 24-hour “Celebrate Britain” sales promotion for UK products was held on April 18th to introduce the “Best of Britain” to Chinese customers.