by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com reported a record-breaking Singles Day Grand Promotion on November 12, 2021, with transaction volume totaling RMB 349.1 billion yuan at the midnight of November 11, ending the 11-day promotion that started from 8pm on October 31. Transaction volume of 31 brands surpassed RMB 1 billion yuan with Apple surpassed RMB 10 billion yuan.

Compared with previous years when the Singles Day promotion started at midnight on November 1, this year JD kicked off the 2021 sales 4 hours ahead of time at 8 pm on October 31, allowing consumers to place orders without having to pull an all-nighter.

Despite strong sales and continued growth, JD is also prioritizing other areas of growth.

For example, on Nov. 11, Japanese retailer MUJI and JD.com’s SEVEN FRESH jointly launched a fresh food complex in Shanghai. Featuring a MUJI store and a fresh food supermarket, it spans an area of over 4,000 square meters, and will offer a wide range of meal solutions to consumers. The complex marks the first appearance of JD.com’s innovative fresh food supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH in Shanghai.

Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Retail, says that, “While the external audience may be more concerned about the sales figures, we are paying more attention to the stronger and upward force of the industry.”

SEVEN FRESH and MUJI’s fresh food complex is located in Ruihongtiandi shopping mall in Hongkou district, Shanghai

 

High-quality consumption

This Singles Day has been joined by the most merchants and brands in JD’s history, especially in the fashion category. Over 6,000 new apparel brands joined JD’s Singles Day this year, such as Victoria’s Secret, Peace Bird and Bosideng. In the first 10 minutes after the final sales spike started at 8 pm on Nov. 10, sales of 600 apparel brands increased 8 times YOY. Among the consumers of apparel products, the number of Gen-Z consumers was 3 times that of last year. Transaction volume of luxury products in the first 10 minutes increased 180% YOY. RIMOWA, the luxury luggage brand, saw a YOY increase of 3 times in terms of transaction volume in the first two hours.

Sales of beauty brands also surged on JD. In the first 4 hours, the transaction volume of over 20 brands including Helena Rubinstein and L’OCCITANE increased 100% on a year-on-year basis.

In the first 4 hours, transaction volume of 100 brands in the home appliances category, including Haier, LG and more, exceeded those of the whole day of November 11 last year. In the first 10 minutes, transaction volume of Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung and many other mobile phone brands increased 4 times YOY. Transaction volume of iPhones surpassed RMB 100 million yuan in 2 seconds.

Pet consumption continues to boom. Transaction volume of nutrition products for pets increased 12 times in the first 10 minutes. Additionally, since the launch of JD Health Pet Hospital, a total of 3,000 veterinarians have joined the service team. As of 10:00am on Nov. 11, the online consultation service for cats increased 230% on a monthly basis and consultation for dogs increased 200%.

 

Growth from lower-tier markets

Users from lower-tier markets accounts for 77% of all users for JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion this year. The company has seen rapid growth of consumption from these markets in the categories of home appliances, medicine and home decoration. For example, transaction volume of dishwashers and sweeping robots increased 2 to 3 times, with some smart home appliances even increasing 5 to 10 times.

The 15,000 JD Home Appliance stores nationwide that mainly target lower-tier markets saw their 2-hour transaction volume across all stores surpass that of the whole day on November 10 last year.

During this Singles Day, JD also officially launched a smart supply chain center in Wugong county in Shaanxi province, covering an area of 36,000 square meters. Integrating functions of procurement, cold-chain warehousing, processing, sorting, packaging and fulfillment, it connects the agricultural industry belts in northwestern China. On the night of November 10, the center processed total 1 millionth order.

JD smart supply chain center in Wugong county

 

Technology and logistics drive efficiency

This Singles Day, JD provided e-CNY(“数字人民币” in Chinese) red envelopes for users in 11 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Dalian, Xi’an, Chengdu and more, in collaboration with China Construction Bank (CCB). Users located in these cities who have never opened an e-CNY account, can search “e-CNY” on JD’s app to get access to the activity page. The red envelopes can be used on JD’s e-commerce app to purchase first-party products. According to JD Technology, over 100,000 customers used e-CNY on JD’s app during the promotion period.

JD Logistics ensures that remote areas can enjoy the same standard of service as in big cities. Since the beginning of 2021, JD Logistics has newly opened nine Asia No.1 logistics parks, which are among its 1,200+ warehouse network nationwide. The addition of logistics parks powered by automation technologies further expands JD’s rapid delivery service to more locations, enabling the company to deliver JD’s retail orders within 24 hours in 93% counties and 84% villages in China.

Autonomous delivery vehicles guarantee contactless delivery during COVID-19 breakouts. During this Singles Day, JD Logistics applied nearly 400 autonomous delivery vehicles in more than 25 cities in China, delivering 200% more orders comparing with the same period last year.

JD’s autonomous deliver vehicle

The 2021 Singles Day is also a green one. Through the usage of new energy vehicles, solar power system, recyclable packages and more, JD also reduced carbon emissions by 26,000 tons during this Singles Day period compared with last year. For example, recyclable packages were used 11.35 million times during the promotion this year.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Siyi Zhao and Mengyang He

There is one day left for the pre-sale of JD’s Singles’ Day Grand Promotion and pre-sales of 59,688 brands has surged over 100%. While people are placing more orders, the trend of consumption upgrade catches attention.

Consumption upgrade

Consumption of high-quality services is gaining popularity, and the pre-sale volume of a large number of brand merchants doubled. The pre-sale volume for desktop computers soared by 310%, tablets by 130%, home theatre projectors by over 100% YOY.  The pre-sale volume of pet health products increased by more than 10 times YOY, and pre-sale volume of pet grooming appliances grew by 34 times YOY.

New products

Consumption of new products also increased at a fast pace, and the sales of new brands mounted by 10 times. During the Singles Day Grand Promotion, JD.com created a variety of intelligent C2M products. Among them, the new product of HEGII smart toilet was jointly created by 4,548 users, whose needs and preferences were integrated into the product. Two weeks after the product was launched, the sales doubled compared with the previous month.

Health and wellness

The pre-sale orders of health products increased by 7 times, and a large number of brand merchants saw sales increased by more than 10 times. For example, the pre-sale volume of JD Pharmacy grew by 376%, and the pre-sale orders of nutrition products by almost 2 times.

Beauty and Luxury

As gold jewelry orders doubled, “beauty consumption” has been a breakout star. The pre-sale orders of Estee Lauder on JD increased nearly 9 times YOY, and the pre-sale orders of the exclusive version of Lancôme eye cream during the livestreaming mounted nearly 7 times YOY. The pre-sales volume of over 15 luxury brands grew by 200% YOY, and more than 30 trendy designer brands increased by 5 times YOY. TOD’S pre-sale orders jumped by 20 times YOY.

Fresh produce

The volume of agricultural products exceeded the daily average sales in October by 5.8 times. Compared with the pre-sales in previous years, the agricultural products snapped up by consumers showed the characteristics of “branding of origin,” “nutrition upgrade,” and “popularity of rare agricultural products”.

 

(zhaosiyi5@jd.com, hemengyang5@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com will offer over 400 million new products during this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion. More than 1,200 new product categories are expected to see sales double. JD.com released a “New Product Consumption and Market” report on Oct. 28, showing a 50% year-on-year increase of new product launches and sales in the first three quarters of 2021.

 

Rigid demand

JD’s data shows that the average basket size of new products during peak promotions such as 618 and 11.11 is 30% higher than normal days (data reflects Jan.-Oct. 2021). According to customers’ feedback, 62% of customers consider “upgrade” as the driving factor for new product purchases, which mainly fall into three categories powered by “rigid demand” (for products used in daily life and work): technology or function innovation, durability and popular styles. Cell phones, computers and home appliances are the representative categories of such rigid demand, and the sales of these new products also reflects the current consumption trends, showing the core of national consumption.

 

Flexible demand

In contrast, consumers’ flexible demands are also increasingly driving consumption. Products that are strong in “appearance” and “experience” add extra points for consumers. For example, the upgrade of iPhone 13’s processor and camera is not as attractive as the new color Sierra Blue. “Low sugar and low calorie” products address the needs of consumer groups that pursue not only good taste but also healthiness.

Flexible demand is driven by the diversified needs of consumers, which shows the trends of satisfying consumers’ niche demands.

Consumers’ willingness to buy a familiar brand’s new products in 2021 increased 5% as compared to 2020, while for unfamiliar brands, over 25% consumers are interested in trying their new products; for example, plant-based meat.

Female and young consumers tend to be attracted by innovative appearance design of new products. The adorable all-electric microcar Wuling Hongguang MINI EV saw 45,000 units sold in 10 days after its debut. Among the sales, 68% comes from the macaron color series, and 65% of the customers are female, with 80% under the age of 35.

In addition to appearance, consumers also pay attention to the user experience. On the first day of JD’s 618 Grand Promotion, sales of skin-care shower products increased 300% on a yearly basis. Smart wet dry vacuums saw an increase of 11.4 times in terms of sales, with 55% customers being female, and 84% being between the age of 26 to 45.

 

All-in-one vs. only one

The flexible demand has also given rise to an interesting trend for new products: some products own more functions to satisfy customers’ comprehensive needs, while some products reduce many functions to satisfy niche market needs.

For example, integrated stove and air conditioners with air purifier function are selling well on JD, with new products sales in Q3 2021 having increased the most as compared to other categories’ average. At the same time, mothers are buying more different tooth brushes for kids with different functions to be used for the cleaning of different teeth and in different scenarios; pet owners prepare different kinds of products for the care of their pets.

The popularity of all-in-one products are designed to increase using efficiency and to satisfy people’s demands in saving labor, time and space—while the time saved will be spent on social, entertainment, healthcare, pet and more.

 

C2M and new product

The customized C2M (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) products can accurately reach their target customers, creating products that customers chase to buy. The shelf sales ratio of C2M products on JD in 2021 is 48% higher than non-C2M products. The number of customers is 11 times more.

Through the end-to-end C2M solution JC2M, JD enables the procedure of creating C2M products to be low-cost and efficient. Data shows that C2M products contribute 42 times the profit when compared with a traditional new product, creating more value for manufacturers and brand owners.

And according to user research, young people under the age of 35 accept C2M products more quickly, with a “very satisfied” rate of 52%.

At present, 40% of the gaming laptops on JD.com are manufactured via C2M.  JD’s JC2M intelligent manufacturing platform has been deeply involved in the design of products from more than 1,000 brands.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

JD.com has vowed to give a strong boost to premier agri-products sales and thereby farmer’s income growth in the upcoming Singles Day Grand Promotion. The e-commerce giant today announced the goal to sell more than 30 billion RMB-worth of agri-products, two days before the shopping festival officially kicks off on Oct. 31.

During the pre-sales period that began Oct. 20^th, the average daily transaction volume of agricultural products on JD.com has increased 5.8 times compared with October. Chinese consumers demonstrated strong interests in agri-brands from the origin production areas, and those with high quality containing rich nutrition, such as crabs from China’s famous freshwater lakes in Suqian of Jiangsu province, eggs by well-known producer DQY Ecological, Zespri Kiwifruit, fresh mutton slices from time-honored Chinese brand Dong Lai Shun and more.

JD will accelerate efforts to support rural revitalization in five main areas, which include faster delivery services in rural regions, a more efficient middle platform for agri-products’ circulation, smoother transportation of fresh produce to the markets, and rapidly building new business formats and production zones in rural areas.

The company has targeted more than 1,000 premier agri-brands across China to double their sales through JD.com during this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion. It also deployed its intelligent city technology to source agricultural products and digitalize their supply chain process from their origins all the way to the customers.

“We aim to create a positive feedback loop in which high quality agri-products can better satisfy customers’ demand and increase farmers’ income, which farmers can then reinvest in production improvement to offer greater agri-products to the market,” said the announcement.

Under JD’s estimation, farmers who participated in this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion on JD.com will gain an average revenue of RMB 6,000 per person, benefiting approximately 5 million rural households. Moreover, JD has carried out a series of online training programs for farmers and production zone workers to learn e-commerce skills and prepare for the shopping festival.

To support a leapfrog development process for farmers and rural areas, JD.com is going deeper into the planting, sorting and processing phases of agri-products to support local farmers to produce more standardized products and facilitate their marketing. In the background, it is also stepping up efforts on implementing its new-generation infrastructure in supply chain, logistics and technologies in rural China to make all of this possible.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)