JD.com Expands its Lead in China’s Smart Speaker Revolution with Addition of Philips Hue

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JD.com’s DingDong has become the first smart speaker in China to enable control of Philips Hue connected lighting system via voice commands, adding the popular line of lighting products to a list of over 100 compatible home appliance brands.

The addition of Philips Hue comes as demand for smart speakers is gaining momentum in China. Research firm Analysys estimates there are already more than 49 million smart home appliance users in the country, and predicts the market for such products will exceed RMB 195 billion by the end of 2019.

Chinese consumers, particularly the generation born after 1990, are using DingDong for everything from shopping and controlling their household devices to entertaining their children with stories and music, and caring for elderly parents.

First launched in May 2015, JD.com’s groundbreaking DingDong Smart Speaker accounts for approximately 80% of China’s fast-growing smart speaker market today. Developed by LingLong Tech, a joint venture between JD.com and iFLYTEK, it’s the hub of millions of smart devices powered by JD.com’s smart service open platform Alpha. In addition to Philips Hue lighting products, DingDong also supports top brands including Midea refrigerators, Enaiter electric rice cookers, and Sharp and Honeywell air purifiers.

“This partnership unlocks voice-activated control of Philips Hue to customers in a market with a vast growth potential,” said Bill Bien, Chief Marketing Officer for Philips Lighting. “By adding DingDong, one of the most popular smart speakers in China to our network, we further strengthen Philips Hue’s position as the world’s leading connected lighting system for the home.”

As DingDong improves through machine learning, and the portfolio of products compatible with DingDong expands, consumers are increasingly seeing the benefits of having a smart home assistant.

“We are experiencing the dawn of China’s smart speaker revolution,” said Dr. Kenny Li, vice president of JD.com, whose portfolio includes overseeing JD Smart products. “In the future, more and more Chinese households will discover the convenience and many benefits of having natural language-powered services in their daily lives.”

Already, smart plugs, automatic curtains, humidifiers, lights and air-conditioning have become favorite DingDong-controlled devices for Chinese customers. Users can also shop, look up weather forecasts, set alarms, arrange calendars, search for information on the Internet, and request laundry or courier services. DingDong can simultaneously pull news from the Internet, or play licensed music from a selection of over 10 million songs at users’ requests, the speaker’s most popular function, according to JD user data.

Dr. Li notes that JD.com’s partners will continue to be central in driving momentum for the smart home market, “Consumers will realize the full potential of having a smart home ecosystem as a growing number of third-party services and content providers come onto our platform.”

“For over 13 years, JD.com’s commitment to users has brought enormous convenience to the lives of China’s growing middle class, earning us trust and a reputation for quality, service and integrity. As JD evolves into a technology-driven company, we are deepening our relationship with China’s consumers, bringing even more convenience directly into Chinese homes.”

JD.com Announces Agreement to Sell Peruvian Alpaca in China

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China’s largest retailer signs MOU with Peru Government and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

Today, JD.com announced it has entered into a three-party MOU with the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Export and Tourism and the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) to develop and bring alpaca fleece products directly to Chinese consumers. Under the partnership, JD will launch its Peru Mall later this year, which will sell Peruvian alpaca fleece, among other products.

As part of the agreement, JD becomes the first Chinese e-commerce company to be certified with the official Alpaca del Peru designation by the Peruvian government to sell the nation’s alpaca apparel. In addition, the Michell Group, the leading global alpaca producer and exporter, and its exclusive Sol Alpaca brand of luxurious, contemporary and sophisticated knitted garments, will sell products directly through JD.

“JD customers will be very excited to gain access to Peruvian alpaca, which is renowned for its quality, comfort and warmth.” said Xia Ding, President of JD Fashion. ”We are really looking forward to partnering with BIFT to design exclusive products that will keep people both warm and stylish. We greatly appreciate the support of the Peru government and believe this will be a long and fruitful relationship.”

“This partnership with JD ensures that consumers in China will be able to buy high-quality Peruvian alpaca from the country’s most trusted e-commerce site,” said Ronglin Jia, Vice Chancellor of BIFT. “We are delighted to design extremely comfortable Peruvian alpaca clothing that Chinese consumers will be able to buy in time for the winter.”

“Giving JD.com the Alpaca del Peru certification marks a milestone in the commercialization of Peruvian products in China,” said Diana Pita, Commercial Counselor at the Peruvian Embassy in China. “We believe this is just the beginning of the possibilities for Peruvian manufacturers to reach Chinese consumers.”

Alpaca fleece is a lustrous and silky natural fiber that is soft and luxurious, like cashmere, but is warmer and hypoallergenic.

JD.com and China-Britain Business Council Launch Pop-Up Store To Showcase ‘Best of Britain’ in China

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JD.com and China-Britain Business Council are launching a unique pop-up store on JD.com to showcase some of the best known and up-and-coming British brands to Chinese consumers.

The pop-up store was launched on JD Worldwide, JD.com’s cross-border ecommerce platform in mid July to introduce dozens of high-quality British brands to Chinese consumers for the first time.

For the first eight weeks, the store will focus on cosmetics, with brands featured on the store including Argentum, BarryM, Bronnley, Cowshed, fadeout, Little Butterfly, Living Sea Therapy, Re-Gen, Soft &Gentle, Technic and The Organic Pharmacy. In September, the focus will shift to baby and maternal care products, and the store will showcase brands from other popular categories later in the year.

Kaisi Li, Deputy General Manager of JD Worldwide, highlighted that the store will showcase new brands to Chinese consumers – but also demonstrate to UK-based brands how selling online in China is now a quick and seamless process.

“Many brands and retailers in the UK do not yet know just how easy it is to sell their products online in China, and how big the potential market is,” said Kaisi.  “UK-based brands no longer need to invest significant time or money registering a business in China or setting up a warehouse or supply chain, or worry about any of the other roadblocks that have often prevented brands from entering China in the past. With our end-to-end cross-border ecommerce platform, JD Worldwide, they can start selling to consumers in China quickly and easily.”

Joy Isaacs, Founder & CEO at Argentum noted that JD.com’s consumer base of 236.5 million active shoppers is closely aligned with the market that their brand is targeting.

“Quality is so important for Chinese consumers—and that’s why we see such a huge opportunity on JD.com,” said Joy. “JD.com’s huge and growing base of active customers shop on the site because they know they’re getting a guarantee of quality, and we believe our reputation for providing premium products with superior service will resonate with these consumers. The initial response from consumers during early tests has been fantastic, and we’re delighted to partner with JD.com and the China-Britain Business Council on this initiative.”

During early market tests for the new store, sales of Argentum products proved so popular that the brand has already decided to launch its own flagship store on JD.com.

“There is huge and growing demand from Chinese consumers for high-quality, guaranteed authentic British products, particularly in categories like cosmetics and beauty,” said Jack Porteous, Assistant Director of Retail and the Creative Industries at the China-Britain Business Council. “We’re looking forward to working with JD.com to showcase the ‘Best of Britain’ to Chinese consumers, and to help British brands and retailers better understand how they can tap into this massive market opportunity.”

Brands interested in learning more about JD.com’s cross-border platform can contact worldwide@jd.com.

JD.com on how AI is Driving the Future of Ecommerce

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At the Rise Conference in Hong Kong in July, Eric Zhao, Vice President of JD.com, outlined how emerging technologies such as AI and automation are creating an entirely new shopping experience for consumers in China.

Zhao, who leads JD.com’s big data and search initiatives, told an audience of more than 200 tech and internet industry experts from around the world that JD.com is tapping into a vast trove of potential insights on consumer behavior. It now has more than 236 million active customers and processed over 700 million orders during its June sales event.

That means the team processes up to 15 petabytes of new information every single day – and they are now using these insights to generate unique new offerings for consumers and brands.

For example, every consumer who shops on JD sees a unique homepage showing an automatically curated selection of products tailored to their taste. Building on this, JD.com’s predictive logistics initiative can produce sophisticated portraits of consumer shopping habits down to the level of individual communities and local neighborhoods. This allows the team to anticipate demand before consumers even place their order and dispatch goods to local distribution centres in advance so that delivery can be made to consumers within minutes after they place their orders.

Zhao noted that when the iPhone 7 went on sale on JD.com, using predictive logistics the company was able to deliver the first phone to a consumer’s doorstep just 10 minutes after the order was placed – making ecommerce even faster than buying from a traditional retail store.

Brands are also benefiting from these insights – JD.com’s dynamic pricing initiative is using AI algorithms to optimize the pricing for more than 4 million SKUs stored in JD warehouse in real time, helping to maximize sales and profits– and significantly increasing the efficiency of the pricing process. Whereas in the past, the job would take up to 5,000 people – this can now be done by a small team of data scientists using sophisticated algorithms.

In the next phase of JD.com’s growth, JD.com aims to make more of these technologies available to more companies – not just those who sell their wares on JD.com.

The company is also using its AI and big data insights to develop innovative applications for automation technology. JD.com was the first company in the world to use drones to make commercial deliveries, and its fixed route drone delivery program for rural areas is rapidly expanding to more remote areas of China.  It is also now planning heavy-load drones capable of carrying up to a ton.

JD Announces Launch of Reckitt Benckiser’s Online Flagship Store

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As China’s largest retailer, JD.com is committed to offering consumers the most diverse selection of quality products from overseas. JD is delighted to announce that UK-based health, hygiene and home products leader Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has opened an online flagship store on the JD Worldwide, JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform.

Many of RB’s iconic brands are already big hits on JD.com, including Durex; anti-bacterial brand Dettol; leading dishwasher detergent brand Finish; French hair removal product brand Veet; foot care brand Dr. Scholl’s; and leading nutritional supplement brand Schiff.

Dr. Scholl’s; and leading nutritional supplement brand Schiff leading nutritional supplement brand Schiff

The launch of RB’s flagship store comes at an opportune time as women are increasingly driving growth in JD, especially in categories such as healthcare and hygiene. The outstanding performance of hygiene brands such as Veet – whose sales on JD grew four times from 2013 to 2016 – reflects the important trend. In addition, overall sales of healthcare products during JD.com’s most recent June 18 anniversary sale increased by 120%, compared with the same period of 2016.

The flagship store will feature some of the most trusted health and hygiene brands from the US, including Movefree joint supplements; Megared cardiovascular supplements; and Airborne immune supplements – all of which are leading brands in their respective categories – as well as names previously unavailable in China, such as Aerogard, Australia’s #1 personal insect repellent brand.

“In recent years, Chinese consumers – especially women – have shown more and more appetite for leading foreign healthcare and hygiene brands, greatly expanding the opportunities for cross-border commerce,”  said Kaisi Li, Deputy General Manager of JD Worldwide. “The RB family of brands is already highly sought after in China, and with the launch of its online flagship store on JD Worldwide, consumers will be able to purchase a wider selection of RB products with the convenience and peace of mind that they have come to expect from JD.”

“We are thrilled to deepen our cooperation with JD.com, China’s largest online retailer,” said Spin Liu, Director of RB Cross-border eCommerce. “RB’s wide range of top brands and JD’s leading e-commerce platform are a powerful combination in this fast growing market. We look forward to working closely with JD to further expanding RB’s relationship with China’s consumers.”

JD.com is already one of the largest retailers of RB’s Dettol and Durex brands in China. During JD’s 2017 “6.18” anniversary sales event last month, Durex brand alone saw 40 million items sold on JD.com with transaction volume increasing 125% YoY.

Canadian Brands Look to JD.com and Cash in on Chinese Consumer Boom

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Richard Liu welcomes delegation led by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada to learn more about the growing opportunity 

Fresh, live lobsters plucked from Canada’s cool, clean waters are prized throughout the world for their quality and taste.  Now, thanks to a new era of cooperation between Canada’s government and industry and JD.com, live lobsters can be delivered to the doorsteps of JD’s customers in China in as little as 48 hours from Canada.

Lobsters are part of a new, specially curated selection of Canada’s best products that will be available over time on JD.  At a meeting today at JD’s Beijing Headquarters to mark the cooperation, JD’s founder and CEO Richard Liu told David Johnston, governor general of Canada; John McCallum, Canadian ambassador to China; and other dignitaries from Canada’s government and private sector that Chinese consumers rightly associate Canada’s products with purity, quality and freshness.

Lobsters are part of a new, specially curated selection of Canada’s best products that will be available over time on JD. JD knows how to work with brands and producers and help them tap into the enormous potential of the Chinese market.”

“Chinese consumers truly appreciate Canadian brands and the freshness of their produce, and that means huge opportunities for Canada,” Mr. Liu told the Canadian delegation. “We sold an amazing 4.5 million Canadian shrimp during our recent anniversary sale, so the possibilities are immense. JD knows how to work with brands and producers and help them tap into the enormous potential of the Chinese market.”

As part of the event, Mr. Johnston witnessed an MOU signing between JD and Destination Canada. The two sides will work to promote Chinese tourism to Canada. JD and Air Canada announced that the two sides will offer discounted flights to fliers from Beijing and Shanghai to cities throughout Canada and other parts of the Americas.

Overall interest in Canadian products has grown in popularity among Chinese consumers and on JD.com in recent years. During JD’s 2017 anniversary sale in June, the 4.5 million shrimp sold made the product the number one imported fresh food during the event. Overall during the event, sales of Canadian fresh products increased 480% compared to a year earlier and for the full year of 2016, Canadian fresh product sales increased 400%.

Unthinkable only a few years ago, satisfying China’s hunger for fresh food and other imported products is possible today because JD’s advanced logistics capabilities now covers some 98% of China’s population and because its advanced cold-chain systems ensure items remain fresh from the point of origin to the customer’s home.

On Friday JD sold 140,000 live Canadian lobsters within 24 hours as it launched a special Canadian promotion today, significantly exceeding expectations. The impact on Canadian suppliers was huge.

“We sold half of our entire inventory of 1 to 1.25 lb lobsters, far more than what we anticipated, ” said Nathan Song, director at New Brunswick-based Bay Shore Lobster Ltd., which offered nine categories of lobsters, between 1-9 lbs, for the JD.com promotion. “It can be hard for people to understand just how much demand there is in China for fresh imported products. For some, it’s unfathomable. We originally expected our inventory to last through September, but we’ll sell out much sooner than that now. The industry will surely see prices go up.”

Beyond fresh products, JD.com customers are increasingly welcoming of imported apparel brands, particularly in the activewear and outdoor categories where Canadian brands excel. On June 18th, the culmination of JD’s anniversary sale, the company sold more than a million sports apparel and footwear items.

The event at the JD Beijing Headquarters marks a step in a larger effort by the company to help more Canadian brands seize on the tremendous potential of the Chinese consumer market. Later this month,  JD will be hosting business seminars   for Canadian brands and companies interested in reaching JD’s more than 236 million active customers.  Events will take place in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver the last week of July. Brands interested in attending should contact: Worldwide@JD.com

In Japan Push, JD.com Expands Logistics Partnership with Yamato, Launches Flagship Stores for Three Leading Japanese Brands

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• Yamato and JD to work on initiatives to simplify cross-border logistics for Japanese brands selling to Chinese consumers

• Leading Japanese brands Akachan Honpo, Mikihouse and Omron announce new flagship stores on JD Worldwide

Tokyo, July 12, 2017 – E-commerce giant JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD), China’s largest retailer, announced the signing of a strategic MOU with Japan’s Yamato Group, one of Asia’s leading logistics companies.

The partnership will focus on enhancing operational efficiency, with a particular emphasis on building out a cold chain logistics network in China. Leveraging Yamato’s leading logistics technologies and extensive international logistics network, the partnership will makes it even easier for international brands to reach Chinese consumers. In addition, Yamato will take advantage of JD’s unparalleled nationwide logistics network in China to enhance its own last-mile delivery capability. The two parties will also cooperate on R&D programs in the areas of artificial intelligence and big data technologies.

The new MOU builds on the existing partnership between the two companies. In early 2017, JD.com formed a strategic partnership with Yamato to empower Japanese companies to access the China market quickly and easily. The two companies invested in e-commerce services provider Frank International, which offers a streamlined process for Japanese vendors to sell products directly to online consumers in China.

“We have seen a huge increase in demand from our consumers for Japanese products across every category because Chinese shoppers appreciate their outstanding reputation for quality,” said Richard Liu, JD.com’s Chairman and CEO. “This strengthened partnership with Yamato Group will give JD’s consumers even greater access to the highest quality Japanese and global brands. By expanding our cooperation into areas like cold chain logistics, and leveraging Yamato’s reach into other international markets beyond Japan, we are making it even easier for our international brand partners to sell to China and tap into JD’s base of 236.5 million active customers.”

“Our partnership with JD.com is already creating significant value for our partners in Japan, and this expansion is a show of confidence in JD’s capability,” said Kenji Minaki, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Yamato Holdings Co.,Ltd. “We look forward to working with JD on these new initiatives.”

JD.com today also announced that leading Japanese brands Akachan Honpo, Mikihouse, and Omron are launching flagship stores on JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform, JD Worldwide.

As part of the broad push in Japan, JD held a business conference at the Conrad Hotel in Tokyo, which was attended by business leaders representing nearly 100 leading Japanese brands across several categories. Speaking at today’s conference, Mr. Liu highlighted to attendees that demand from Chinese consumers for authentic, high-quality Japanese products is growing rapidly. According to Mr. Liu, JD’s data shows that:

• In 2016, total sales of Japanese products sold on JD’s cross-border e-commerce platform grew by triple digits.

• During JD’s recent June 18 anniversary sales, one of the company’s largest sales periods of the year, sales of Japanese imports grew dramatically compared to the 2016 sales event. Year-on-year, sales of imported Kose products were 11 times higher, Rakuten products were 10 times higher, and Shiseido products were 21 times higher.

• During this year’s June 18 event, female consumers significantly outspent male consumers for the first time in key categories like cosmetics, food and beverage, baby & maternal, and travel – unlocking a significant new opportunity for Japanese retailers targeting these categories.

Leading Japanese brands Akachan Honpo, Mikihouse and Omron announce new flagship stores on JD Worldwide

JD is already the e-commerce partner of choice in China for many of Japan’s best-known brands across popular product categories including beauty, maternal and children’s products, consumer electronics, and home and kitchenware. The company is already working with prominent Japanese companies such as KAO Group, Kose Cosmeport, Panasonic, Rakuten, TOTO and Unicharm Corporation.

Consumers Demand Supply Chain Visibility, and We Should Give it to Them

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The following is a post by Yongli Yu, president of supply chain research and development for JD.com, China’s largest retailer.

Where does my stuff come from? Consumers around the world increasingly demand to know the answer to this question, and are surprised to discover that many companies don’t have the full answer.

Where were the ingredients sourced? Who were they purchased from? Were they properly, and ethically, produced and transported? And the most important question: is it safe for me to consume this product?

In China, we have these concerns to the extreme. Product safety scandals were once so common it was hard to tell which were real and which were made up. In 2008, parents were horrified to learn that most milk distributed in China was tainted with melamine. So as Chinese consumers gained spending power, they have responded to this environment by looking for quality, trusted brand names and imported products.

The truth is, even trusted brands and imported products can offer more visibility into their supply chains to give consumers more of the peace of mind they want. As China’s largest retailer, online or offline, we believe we can use technology to achieve this, which is why we’ve been testing a block chain program with some of our vendors, the JD Tracing and Anti-Counterfeit Alliance. Joining the alliance are 27 brands, including Mars, Nestle, Evian and Huggies, who have worked with JD.com to enable more traceability for their products.

As an example of how it works, we partnered with Inner Mongolia-based beef and dairy company Kerchin to create a list of criteria we wanted to trace for all beef sold on JD.com. We generated serial numbers for every cow slaughtered at the very beginning of this supply chain, which enabled us to track where any cow was raised, all vital information, and how resulting beef was handled, checked for quality, and transported, up to the point it reaches customers.

Customers who want assurances that they are buying meat that has gone through this quality control process will see an emblem on the product page on JD.com, and can rest assured knowing there is total transparency in the origin of that product. If they choose, they can see all the information for themselves.

We imagine doing this for many products, far beyond food. Products like wine, baby care, or even luxury and fashion products, for which Chinese consumers are constantly concerned about authenticity. Our 236.5 million customers trust us for quality, which is rare in China. We want to take that to the next level.

Of course, this will be difficult to achieve because supply chains are complex. They span multiple countries across multiple continents and involve many vendors and logistics providers. It can be hard to change a well-honed process. But consumers expect better, and winning their confidence will be well worth the investment. This is the future in China and beyond.

Please contact us if you want to know more about the JD Tracing and Anti-Counterfeit Alliance: http://zhuisu.jd.com. Let’s make this vision a reality.