JD Cloud Shows Its AI Capability During Chinese Spring Festival Gala 2022

Posted on by Yiming Yan

by Yiming Yan

As the exclusive interactive partner of China’s Spring Festival Gala 2022, JD Cloud provided robust technical support for the virtual red envelopes during the gala: The cumulative amount of global participation of the interaction reached 69.1 billion times in the JD App.

It has been a busy period for JD Cloud’s intelligent customer service system, Yanxi(言犀), which provides users with 24/7 service in all scenarios. A total of 550 million services were provided for JD’s customers on behalf of the 165,000 merchants on JD.com from the start of the Spring Festival Grand Promotion (January 9) to the end of the Gala (February 1).

The rapid reaction team prepares for the Gala

The Gala has gained a lot of popularity in China, where hundreds of millions of Chinese people enjoyed the annual TV show on New Year’s Eve. As the Gala’s partner this year, JD Cloud needed to deal with the world’s greatest scale of high traffic volume, with traffic that was ten times higher than JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion. Dan Liu, vice president of JD Technology, stated, “The computational power of human-computer interaction we reserved [for during the Gala] can support the country’s entire population  in one hour.”

Unlike JD’s 618 and Singles Day Grand Promotion, requests for Yanxi not only revolve around pre-sales, in-sales, after-sales, and other conventional issues, but also complex knowledge such as the rules of virtual red envelopes during the Spring Festival Gala.

“We’ve accumulated a plethora of experience to support the Spring Festival Gala thanks to previous grand promotions. We established a rapid reaction team under the supervision of IEEE Fellow Dr. He Xiaodong, with the effective assignment of jobs for seasoned team members,” said Liu.

(yanyiming1@jd.com)

Alcon’s Flagship Store Ranks in JD.com’s “Top 100 Stores” of 2021

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

Alcon, the world’s largest eye care devices company from the United States, was named one of JD.com’s “Top 100 Stores” of 2021 on January 11th, after gaining straight-A reporting cards in 26 consecutive rounds of JD’s bi-weekly store management examinations within a year.

Every two weeks throughout the year, JD certifies high-performing stores in its marketplace based on 28 customer-experience-oriented criteria including product/service quality, operational status and more, and designates stores that achieve these demanding standards as JD’s “Top Stores.”

Alcon’s flagship store on JD.com with its annual “Top Store” certificate

Since its launch in 2019, Alcon’s flagship store on JD.com has offered a wide array of products for vision care, as well as reliable and convenient services to customers in China. Various contact lenses and solutions are available to meet a variety of needs. The store’s most popular product is the DAILIES TOTAL1 contact lenses, which feature water gradient technology. This lens material has a gradual increase in water content approaching 100% water at the surface, so all that touches the eye is a cushion of moisture.

Alcon’s flagship store was the first to offer a free trial of contact lenses on JD, which proved to be an effective move to quickly connect with local consumers and expand the market in China. Catering to customers’ need for more personalized products, Alcon joined hands with Pop Mart, the trendy collectable art toys brand, for a marketing IP campaign on JD.com last December 15th, which drew over 4 million visitors to its store over the themed day.

Alcon and Pop Mart’s joint marketing campaign on JD.com

Aside from products, excellent services are vital for the store’s success. Alcon ensures most customers receive their orders within one day by leveraging JD’s warehousing and delivery services. At the same time, Alcon’s customer care representatives must all complete rigorous training in order to give clear and professional answers to customers’ inquires, thereby enhancing users’ trust in the online store. Thirdly, Alcon’s flagship store has integrated a number of JD’s after-sales service functions such as speedy product returns, flash refunds, shipment insurance and other services that guarantee a nice customer experience.

Certified “Top Stores” on JD will be rewarded with more traffic support and other platform resources, according to Xiangying Kong, JD Retail’s head of platform ecosystem department, with the goal of improving their operating efficiency and fostering a fair, high-quality, and effective space for premier merchants to thrive.

Alcon China’s spokesperson noted that the company plans to strengthen its partnership with JD Retail and JD Health in 2022, delivering new products and better services for vision care among a growing customer base.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

JD.com Among FORTUNE 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies with Outstanding Social Responsibility Score

Posted on by Vivian Yang

JD.com is ranked on the FORTUNE 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies list at No. 6 in the Internet Services and Retailing Category. Other companies listed in the Top 8 industry ranking include Amazon, Alphabet, Xiaomi and more.

This is the second time JD.com was named in this list, following last year. To compile this list, FORTUNE collaborated with partner Korn Ferry to survey more than 3,700 executives, directors, and analysts to measure corporate reputation and performance. Nine criteria are examined ranging from long-term investment value, social responsibility, quality of products/services, innovation, global competitiveness and more.

JD.com tops the “social responsibility” score among Chinese companies on the industry ranking. The company also demonstrated outstanding performances in the dimensions of “use of corporate assets”, “long-term investment value”, and “quality of products/services”.

In the continued fight against COVID-19, the company has been on the frontline to donate vital medical and food supplies and leverage its nationwide warehouse and transportation resources to support local communities. Meanwhile, JD’s commitments to green supply chain and a circular economy last year, given its large scale in operation, bore meaningful fruits by clean energy using, packages reduction, second-hand products recycling and more.

Since 2020, JD has been supporting rural China to achieve RMB 320 billion yuan($50 billion) industrial output under a rural revitalization program that aims to drive more than RMB 1 trillion yuan industrial output within three years.

By continuously improving supply chain efficiency, JD achieved an inventory turnover time of 30 days by the third quarter of 2021, a world-class level in managing a pool of over 10 million self-operated SKUs, and realized the less-than-one-hour last-mile delivery service in over 300 cities across China, providing end-to-end solutions for brands and partners, and thus offering a premium shopping experience to consumers in China.

Lately, the company is making innovative moves on its international expansion. In January 2022 alone, JD opened its first robotic retail shops in the Netherlands – an unprecedented omni-channel shopping format in the world –with an attempt to explore the future of retail. A week later on Jan 18th, the company announced a strategic cooperation with Shopify on an “accelerated channel” to help foreign brands and products sell in China and the other way around.

To date, JD’s global supply chain network has covered more than 220 countries and regions in the world, with its international logistics arm operating around 80 bonded and overseas warehouses and cargo flight routes between China and the US, UK and Thailand. Together with various shipping services by air, railway, sea and trucks as well as other cross-border services, overseas orders can be delivered from door-to-door as fast as 48 hours.

In recent years, JD.com has been transforming into a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider. The company’s cutting-edge retail infrastructure seeks to enable consumers to buy whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want it. As the company’s business has grown, it has opened up its capabilities across retail, logistics and technology, empowering partners as well as industry players beyond the JD ecosystem.

JD deems itself as “a new type of real economy enterprise” that possesses both digital and technological capabilities, and the DNA and features of a tangible business. Such a dual characteristic enables JD with the knowledge to understand the development of traditional enterprises in different industries and provide them with the technological support accordingly that best suits their need for digital transformation.

 

(press@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

JD.com’s App Hosted 69.1 Billion Interactions and Gifted $240 Million During the Spring Festival Gala 2022

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

A total of 1.5 billion RMB ($240 million USD) worth of virtual red envelopes and physical gifts were handed out amid 69.1 billion times of interactions in JD’s App during this year’s Spring Festival Gala television program, marking the highest amount of giveaways in the nationally popular show’s interactive campaign history. JD.com is the exclusive interactive partner of this year’s gala held by China Media Group.

Viewers participated in the interactive campaign in JD’s App during the Spring Festival Gala 2022

JD Cloud, the cloud computing service under JD Technology, successfully handled the tremendous traffic peak to ensure a smooth red-envelope-grabbing experience during the show. Users’ simultaneous traffic rush to the system is believed to be the largest level ever seen in the world for one single event that was solely managed by JD’s own computing resources.

Seven rounds of phone-shaking activities were integrated into the four-hour live show that went on air from 8 p.m. Beijing time on January 31st, when internet users competed for a variety of prizes on JD- besides virtual red envelopes for cash, thanks to JD’s supply chain capacity and close collaboration with brands, the company also gave out a flurry of gifts like cell phones, TV sets, nutrition products and even free car-leasing at the same time.

The interactive campaign on JD’s App will last until February 15th, the Lantern Festival, making it the longest campaign of its kind.

Consumption

In the four hours from 8 to 12 p.m. of the gala, more than 80,000 families won new year’s gifts from the interactive campaign, with items from popular brands such as Pico Neo3 VR goggles, down jackets from BOSIDENG, bedclothes from Shuixing Home Textile, lights from Opple Lighting, skincare products from Dr. Yu and more.

During the gala, sales of middle to high-end Chinese liquor baijiu increased 11 times YoY on JD.com. The hot phrase “new year gift box” was searched over 110 million times on JD Super, JD’s omni-channel supermarket. Sales of low-sugar pastry gift boxes rose by 6 times YoY, Enfamil Premium A2 formula increased 230% compared with the daily average during the festival promotion on JD Worldwide, JD’s import products business and sales of Pedigree Petfoods increased 12 times YoY, just to name a few.

At the same time, transaction volume of Xiaomi products on JD exceeded 100 million RMB, that of Pico products increased 50 times compared with the same lunar new year period last year. Searches for Anta’s winter sports products grew four times YoY; and 20,000 users searched for Voyah FREE, the electric SUVs under Dongfeng Motor on JD, which is the brand that also offered free leasing for lucky users in the campaign.

JD App’s landing page during the Spring Festival Gala 

JD’s Chinese New Year Grand Promotion which has begun on January 9th and will last until Feb 7th have so far helped 3 million rural households sell over 39 million agricultural products, adding roughly 1,700 RMB income per household. Supported by JD’s rural revitalization program, a number of China’s local specialties such as the hairy crabs from Suqian of Jiangsu province become well-known and accessible nationwide. JD also brought these agricultural products to the limelight of the gala for greater market opportunities.

On the offline shopping side, over two thirds of offline stores on JD’s on-demand local retail platform will open their doors during the holidays including supermarkets, drug stores, florists, cell phone stores, baby & mother stores, liquor shops and more, to provide timely supplies and delivery service in more than 1,700 counties and towns across China.

Logistics

At 22.06 p.m. during the live show on New Year’s Eve, Ms. Li from Bijie of Guizhou, a landlocked province in the southwest of China, became the first recipient of a gift won from the gala interactive campaign.

This year marks the 10th year in a row that JD.com commits to delivery service in all parts of the country during the Spring Festival holidays, and more than 200,000 JD couriers stayed in their posts to ensure that customers can receive their orders as usual.

The first gift from the interactive campaign delivered to the lucky user’s home 

Meanwhile, the company has allocated 400 million RMB ($63 million USD) allowance to take care of its employees who stay put during the festival contributing to the stable operations in sales, logistics, technological support and more.

As orders mount up during the Chinese New Year Grand Promotion, JD ensures a low-carbon journey for parcels moving from warehouses to customers’ homes, including expanding use of greener packages, photovoltaic power, electronic vehicles, new technologies in data centers and more. On the packaging side alone, JD has massively reduced carbon materials in 95% of its delivery boxes and introduced recyclable boxes and original packages developed together with the manufacturers, and it is estimated that each parcel delivered by JD can save an average of 400 grams CO2 when compared to the traditional way.

Technology

JD Cloud successfully buttressed the technological operations for the gala campaign and JD’s supply chain fulfillment concurrently during the event. Its hybrid cloud OS system well-managed the traffic rush during the gala when the anchors instructed hundreds of millions of viewers to shake their phones together.

The computing task, as daunting as the number implies, is paramount to ensure a smooth red envelope grabbing experience. However, it only took JD Cloud’s teams 19 days for technical preparation without adding on extra server resources.

More than 70 data centers, near 3 million dockers, 10 million+ core computing power and hundreds of specialist teams were mobilized for the project. This is undoubtedly a significant achievement for JD’s cloud computing system, proving its competence in processing QPS or instantaneous traffic peak of an enormous volume, as well as frequent scenario switches on such large scale computing resources.

JD Cloud’s teams fully geared up for the gala

A spokesperson of JD Cloud noted that JD’s technological capabilities and experiences accumulated over the years through an array of large shopping festivals like JD’s 618 and Single’s Day Grand Promotions, and by serving over 550 million active users and managing nearly 10 million self-operated SKUs on a daily basis, all of which has honed the platform’s ability to pass this gala test with flying colors.

Globalization

For many Chinese people living overseas, they can also enjoy the gala campaign for red envelopes as well as JD’s cross-border e-commerce service on JD’s site for overseas Chinese. For this year’s spring festival, Chinese customers living in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, US, Canada, Australia and more regions have ordered 4.5 times more of Chinese brands’ products on JD.com compared with the same lunar new year period last year.

Ms. Liu and her daughter living in New York read Chinese children books bought on JD.com 

In recent years, JD.com is stepping up efforts in building its integrated supply chain capabilities on the international stage, positioning itself as the technology and service solution provider to promote trade between China and the world via its services to brands, merchants and customers globally.

To date, JD’s global supply chain network has covered more than 220 countries and regions in the world, with its international logistics arm operating around 80 bonded and overseas warehouses and several cargo flight routes between China and the US, UK and Thailand. Together with various shipping services by air, railway, sea and trucks as well as other cross-border services, overseas orders can be delivered from door-to-door as fast as 48 hours.

This January JD.com opened four locations of its robotics-operated supermarket chain “ochama“ in the Netherlands, which marks the first omni-channel retailor in the country that offers both food and non-food in one shopping App. Additionally, JD.com and Shopify announced a partnership to create an accelerated channel for US merchants to sell in China and Chinese quality products to access the US market.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

 

JD.com’s Chinese New Year Grand Promotion Comes with Huge Carbon Reduction

Posted on by Xiaoqian Han

by Xiaoqian Han

The day before the traditional “Small New Year’s Day” (7 days before Chinese New Year’s Day, which is also called “Big New Year’s Day”), a total of 602 million items had been sold on JD.com by 5 PM on January 23. Relying on an efficient supply chain, JD.com will deliver during the Spring Festival holidays for the tenth consecutive year. At the same time, JD.com has also become the exclusive interactive partner of China Media Group (CMG) 2022 Spring Festival TV Gala.

The company has also embarked on a green “Spring Festival Delivery” program this year. With the assistance of JD’s green supply chain infrastructure and carbon reduction technology, the average package can reduce carbon emissions by 400 grams through green packaging measures.

“JD.com is giving full play to its effectiveness in building green and low-carbon production and lifestyle, and using digital technology to further enhance New Year’s goods efficiency during the Spring Festival delivering period,” said Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Retail. “Meanwhile, the carbon emissions in warehousing, computing, packaging, transportation, and consumption are greatly reduced.”

By the end of December 2021, 12 of JD’s Asia No. 1 intelligent logistics parks among a total of over 40 have been equipped with photovoltaic generation systems, that can generate power of 100 MW. The green power has been used to support the operations of logistics parks and charge electric delivery vehicles.

JD Logistics has put 20,000 new energy vehicles into use in more than 50 cities across the country, and all of JD Logistics’ self-owned delivery vehicles in Beijing have been replaced with new energy ones. This move means that about 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced each year, which is equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by 20 million trees each year.

Moreover, through a series of “green packaging” measures such as simplifying the packaging process, using recycled packaging and keeping original packing, each item can reduce emissions by an average of 400 grams.

This year’s JD.com Chinese New Year Grand Promotion has more and more energy-saving products. For example, sales of electronic firecrackers continued to boom. In the first 10 days of the Promotion, sales of electronic firecrackers increased nearly 40% year-on-year. And, also in the first 10 days, the number of energy-saving LED lamps sold exceeded 1.72 million.

From the Chinese New Year Grand Promotion to today, the number of orders received by JD.com’s “trade in” service increased by five times compared with the same period last year. In the past one year, the first-class energy-efficient air conditioners, refrigerators, and TVs sold by JD.com can reduce nearly 2 million tons of carbon emissions by saving electricity.

 

(hanxiaoqian3@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

JD Property to Build Second Intelligent Logistics Park in Vietnam

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD Property announced that its second intelligent logistics park in Vietnam is expected to start construction in the third quarter in 2022, and be completed in the second quarter of 2023, in Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, Hai An District, Hai Phong City. With an area of nearly 100,000 square meters, JD Property’s Hai Phong logistics park will be able to accommodate demands of clients from various industries in several nearby countries, including Thailand and Laos. 

Previously on December 31, 2021, JD Property held a groundbreaking ceremony in Tan Duc industrial park in Long An province for its first intelligent logistics park in Vietnam.

Located in Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, Hai An District in Hai Phong City, the logistics park is a 60-minute drive away from Ha Noi Centre and Noi Bai Airport, and a 5-minute drive away from Nam Dinh Vu Port. The prime location will help save significant transportation costs for future clients.

According to Elite Van, business development manager of JD Property Vietnam, the JD Tan duc and Nam Dinh Vu parks will be able to create an infrastructure network connecting the north and south of Vietnam, which will meet the demands of manufacturers in key areas and the requirement for import and export businesses. It will also benefit Chinese companies looking for opportunities in Vietnam.

JD Property is a subsidiary of JD.com which focuses on infrastructure asset management and comprehensive property services. It provides integrated solutions for modernized high standard warehousing, intelligent industrial parks, IDCs (intelligent data centers), and more for partners from various industries. Deeply collaborating with local partners, it is developing logistics and industrial infrastructure in Southeast Asia and Europe, to help Chinese clients and local enterprises expand their businesses.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

Italian Trade Commissioner Delivers New Year Parcel to Chinese Consumer’s Doorstep Ahead of the Year of Tiger

Posted on by Mengyang He

by Mengyang He

Ahead of the Chinese New Year (CNY), JD.com designated Italian Trade Commissioner in Beijing Mr. Gianpaolo Bruno the “Chief Promoting Officer of Products from Italy,” and invited Mr. Bruno to embark on a mission to shadow JD’s couriers and deliver Italian products to a Chinese customer who made an order of Italian products online.

Italian Trade Commissioner in Beijing Mr. Gianpaolo Bruno holding a “Fu” character (blessing in Chinese)

Mr. Bruno delivered Italian chocolate to a customer surnamed Zhang, a veteran industry designer who has loved Italian chocolate all his life. Zhang is innovating his design on ski boots, targeting the Winter Olympics in Milan 2026. Bruno and Zhang both wish the great success of the Beijing and Milan Winter Olympics.

Italian Trade Commissioner in Beijing Mr. Gianpaolo Bruno (middle), Chinese customer Mr. Zhang (right), Mr. Zhang’s colleague Ms. Zhou (left)

“We have a long-standing relationship with JD.com,” noted Mr. Bruno. “JD.com is a very efficient platform, and we have just opened an Italian National Pavilion on JD.com for Chinese people to buy Italian products.”

The Italian National Pavilion offers a wide range of high-quality Italian products, such as Italian wine, olive oil, shoes, and home décor products, which are all imported by JD Worldwide, the cross-border e-commerce department of JD.com.

Mr. Bruno was among 10 senior diplomats, including ambassadors to China from Argentina, Chile, Denmark (Charge D’Affaire), Georgia, Malaysia, Moldova, Peru, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, who participated in JD.com’s new year delivery activity. Due to the travel quarantine restriction, the Italian Ambassador to China assigned Mr. Bruno to take part in this event on his behalf.

In the past two years from 2020 to 2021, JD.com spent more than 310 billion RMB ($43.3 billion USD) on imported products purchase, serving as the primary gateway for international brands to China and driving cross-border consumption in the Chinese market.

 

(hemengyang5@jd.com)

Argentine Ambassador Delivers Spring Festival Parcel to The Former Chinese Envoy to Buenos Aires

Posted on by Yiming Yan

by Yiming Yan

The highly respected Chinese diplomat Xu Yicong welcomed otherwise his counterpart if this were some 30 years ago.  At his home in Beijing on January 19, the Argentine Ambassador to China Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja came to the senior diplomat’s doorway along with Argentine red wine and red shrimp ordered by Xu on JD.com for celebrating the coming of the Chinese New Year of Tiger. Xu is 84, and he was born in the year of tiger.

Ambassador Vaca, together with ambassadors to China from other 8 countries have been designated the Chief Promoting Officers of products from their home countries. Ambassadors have the mission to deliver the Spring Festival package to the doorsteps of Chinese clients who fancy their country’s products and culture.

Ambassador Vaca wearing a face mask

The two diplomat’s unexpected encounter was a memorable moment to a special friendship as Ambassador Xu’s last mission was in Argentina in 1997 and Ambassador Vaca’s first visit to him as an ambassador was in China, The visitor presented a Lionel Messi brand soccer and traditional Maté Tea to the host and received a first-day cover, with Ambassador Xu’s portrait on it as an outstanding Chinese diplomat.

Ambassador Vaca was also handed a commemorative Winter Olympics Beijing 2022 attire by Song Xuewen, a national model worker from JD Logistics, who accompanies ambassadors on delivery. The parties exchanged pleasantries in Spanish and even sang part of a Chinese song together. When parting, the two pointed to the portrait of Che Guevara, a native argentine, at the door and exchanged a quick smile.

The two ambassador encounters

“This first-day cover has been printed for years and few people own it. I didn’t expect to use it for such an occasion.” Ambassador Xu Yicong subsequently wrote in his blog, “The ceremony was simple and succinct, but it did mean a lot.”

According to reports from CCTV, despite the pandemic, exports to China still accounted for 9.8 percent of Argentina’s foreign trade, while 20.4 percent of the country’s imports came from China in 2021. In the first nine months of last year, bilateral trade exceeded $12 billion, increasing more than 20 percent YOY.

On February 19, 2022, China and Argentina will jointly celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. The President of Argentina Alberto Fernández will also attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and witness and feel the friendship between the two countries while he is in Beijing.

 

(yanyiming1@jd.com)