Behind JD’s Sales Record of 349.1 Billion Yuan: New, Intangible and Global
by Siyi Zhao and Mengyang He
JD has completed this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion with a total transaction volume of RMB 349.1 billion yuan during the 11-day sale that started from 8 pm on Oct 31, setting a new record for the sales of its annual shopping festival. Behind this number are several distinct consumption trends.
New and high-quality products
During this year’s grand promotion, JD has witnessed the consumption trends of products that are new and of high-quality, along with attributes catering to consumers’ various demands.
JD continues to demonstrate its strong position in the home appliance category, with over 50 million households choosing JD to shop for their products. The number of all-category products sold regrading JD’s IoT smart ecosystem was twice that of the same period last year, with the number of thin and light high-performance notebooks sold increasing by 270% YOY, and 4K smart projectors achieving a YOY growth of 160%.
Under the trend of consumption upgrading, consumers also prefer high-end flagship phones, with the number of items regarding brands of Xiaomi, OPPO, Honor, and vivo sold over 4 times as much as that of the whole day (Nov 11) of last year.
As for agricultural products, consumers are more and more concerned about the place of origin. During JD’s promotion, the transaction volume of Wuchang rice, the most popular rice brand from Heilongjiang, increased by more than 5 times YOY, and those of Suqian hairy crabs increased by 600 times YOY.
In the past year, JD Apparel has ushered in more than 100 international and domestic key account (KA brands), while more than 6000 new fashion brands were among this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion. The total product volume of JD.com apparel are of 15 times more than that of the same period last year.
Shop for service-products
These days, consumers are not satisfied with buying solely tangible products online—they have been also flocking to place orders for a slew of services.
The transaction volume of pet products and smart products during the promotion increased by 267% YOY, while the volume of online pet consultation services surged by 178% compared with the same period of last month.
Also, on Nov 11, the consultation volume of the maternal and child health department of JD Health Internet Hospital increased by 10 times YOY, the transaction volume of genetic testing increased by 16 times, the HPV vaccine appointment services by more than 7 times, and the dental health orders by nearly 5 times, all of which reflects the new trend of purchasing a new form of intangible product, namely service, online.
A global perspective
Through cooperation with international and local partners, JD has established a supply chain network covering more than 220 countries and regions. The volume of products sold globally during this year’s Singles Day Grand Promotion increased by 27 times YOY. JD Worldwide also imported a wide range of high-quality products from abroad. The transaction volume of JD Import Supermarket grew by 14 times YOY.
JD also took its Singles Day Grand Promotion to a larger group of international consumers. For example, JD.ID in Indonesia partnered with TikTok, and through livestreaming set a JD.ID sales record. In Thailand, JD Central reported a transaction volume from midnight to 2 am on Nov 11 with a YOY increase of 227%. Baby supplies and food and beverage are the top two categories that had the fastest growth among Thai consumers. Phones, PCs, and home appliances all sustained a 3-digit growth.
JD’s 2021 Singles Day Grand Promotion has continuously become a reflection on China’s consumption trend, a trend that is upward and dynamic, and demonstrates a great potential for China’s consumption force.
JD.com’s new headquarters in Beijing
MUJI and JD.com Join Hands to Launch Fresh Food Complex in Shanghai
by Mengyang He and Yuchuan Wang
Japanese retail giant MUJI launched a fresh food complex in collaboration with JD.com’s SEVEN FRESH in Shanghai on Nov. 11, 2021. 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 debut of MUJI’s foray into the fresh food industry in China, and the first appearance of SEVEN FRESH, JD.com’s innovative fresh food supermarket chain, in Shanghai.
Comparing with traditional MUJI stores, the store inside the complex provides an expanded offering of food selections including ramen, oatmeal, frozen food, ice cream, pizza and more across an area of 1,208 square meters. It also introduces MUJI’s fashion brand MUJI Labo and MUJI Walker.
The supermarket area adopts an omni-channel approach by incorporating online and offline services to meet customers’ different needs. Consumers can order products via the SEVEN FRESH app to get orders delivered in as fast as 30 minutes.
It’s not the first time for the two companies to explore innovation in retail. In June 2020, MUJI launched a new format, MUJIcom, at JD headquarters in Beijing, providing employees selected products such as daily necessities and food, including lunch boxes featuring simple meals.
JD.com Posts over RMB 349.1 Billion Yuan Transaction Volume for Singles Day Grand Promotion 2021
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.
JD in the Netherlands Bolsters Hunkemöller’s Rapid Growth in Europe
On October 28th, JD.com’s international logistics team in Europe welcomed Philip Mountford, CEO of Hunkemöller, a Dutch-based international lingerie retailer for a visit to JD’s automated warehouse in Venray, the Netherlands.
The two sides entered into cooperation this June with the shared vision towards cutting-edge technologies as key to driving B2C retail operation efficiency. It is estimated that JD’s tech-driven distribution center has shortened two-thirds of Hunkemöller’ s average daily order production time.
Philip Mountford, CEO of Hunkemöller (center) visited JD’s warehouse in the Netherlands
“Our omni-channel has grown so significantly over the last few years that we needed to find a strategic partner who would help us grow in the future. JD is an amazing partner, and it was great to visit their new Venray distribution center, which will handle our Benefrux omni-channel business. Their state-of-the-art facility will allow us to deliver exceptional speed and fulfill our last mile requirements. I would like to thank the team for completing this whole project in such a speedy manner,” said Mountford
As China’s largest retailer and supply chain-based technology and service provider, JD.com is bringing its expertise in e-commerce and supply chain management in the building of its first warehouse in the Netherlands, which amounts to 12,000 square meters and is equipped with self-developed automations such as AGVs (automated guided vehicles), robotic arms, digitalized vertical storage racks and advanced logistics management systems that can greatly help merchants improve operating cost and efficiency, thus creating a faster and better service experience for the customers.
JD’s warehouse in the Netherlands was built within four months
Hunkemöller is one of the fastest-growing lingerie brands, expanding worldwide with state-of-the-art online shops and approximately 900 stores. It is the first Dutch retailer to cooperate logistically with JD.com. At present, JD’s warehouse is handling Hunkemöller’s orders in four countries in Europe including the Netherland, France, Belgium and Luxemburg.
JD’s team used only four months’ time to build the warehouse from scratch into full operation. “If a European partner had been chosen, this would never have been possible so quickly,” Gijs van Engelen, chief digital officer of Hunkemöller told RetailTrends. “They would have needed to order robots and other things, but JD.com has everything in-house.”
According to Van Engelen, about one-third of Hunkemöller’s total online orders are now handled in Venray, and there is still room for further scaling up.
Kannan Qian, general manager of JD International Logistics in Europe said, “As brands expand their omnichannel businesses, JD’s tech-driven fast-response fulfillment solution comes as a fitting answer for them to holistically manage their product supplies to different channels and have more flexibilities on order productions at different times and shopping scenarios.”
In addition to the warehouse in the Netherlands, JD.com is also operating two highly automated warehouses in Germany and Poland respectively so far, which can work in synergy to serve clients in Europe on product storage, packaging, shipping assistance and more.
JD Fresh Launches over 70 MSC Certified Sustainable Seafood Products
by Mengyang He
On October 28, JD Fresh launched more than 70 sustainable seafood products with MSC blue ecolabel (MSC states as Marine Stewardship Council) at the MSC sustainable seafood event in the conjunction to 26th Annual China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Qingdao, Shandong province. Guests from the Embassies of Canada and Denmark to China, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) and Norwegian Seafood Council shared the overview and best practices of the international sustainable fishing industry at the event.
Featuring the MSC ecolabel, JD’s newly launched over 70 seafood products are a result of the partnership with the MSC. Being an international non-profit organization established to address the problem of unsustainable fishing and safeguard seafood supplies for the future. According to Yan An, the representative of MSC China Program, seafood products with MSC ecolabel are estimated to have an annual retails value of US$ 12.9 billion (Year 2020), which provides a great foundation for the development of the sustainable fishing industry in the global market.
According to Yu Zhao, Managing Director of Seafood and Aquatic Products at JD Fresh, JD Fresh has sustained a compound annual growth rate of over 100% since its establishment in 2016, leading the industry in the Chinese market. In addition, its domestic cold chain coverage reached 83% in 2021, and its strict quality control and traceability system ensures food safety.
Yu Zhao also noted that as JD Fresh will offer more seafood products from MSC-certified sustainable fisheries in the future, the MSC ecolabel seafood products will help JD Fresh build a sustainable supply chain, standardize the sales of sustainable seafood, and raise awareness of marine conservation and green consumption for customers at large.
JD Procured RMB 310 Billion Yuan Imported Products in Past 2 Years
by Mengyang He
On November 2, JD released its “Report on JD.com Imported Products Consumption” at the “Ambassadors’ Forum on International Consumption” in Beijing, revealing that JD has procured RMB 310 billion-worth of imported products over the past two years.
Ahead of the upcoming 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) and amidst JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion, senior diplomats from five countries, including ambassadors of Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Minister for Commercial Affairs of Embassy of Japan, joined the forum and discussed the pathways for China’s import consumption.
“Among imported products on JD, cherries from Chile, cookies and milk powder from Denmark, latex pillows from Indonesia, bird’s nest from Thailand, Nintendo and Sony game consoles from Japan are some of the most popular imported products among Chinese consumers,” said Simon Han, Vice President of JD.com and Head of JD Retail V Business Group.
JD’s report on imported consumption also highlighted the increasing popularity of the categories of beauty, maternal and child, and nutrition and health products. In addition, the rising categories in JD’s 2020 import consumption include medical care, pet supplies, food and beverage, personal care, and more.
H.E. Luis Schmidt, the Ambassador of Chile, noted that Chile is the first country from South America that established a National Pavilion on JD.com, and the Chile National Pavilion offers products from 30 Chilean brands. According to statistics, the transaction volume of Chilean cherries soared by 210% on Day 1 of JD’s 2021 Singles Day Grand Promotion.
Till now, JD has opened 22 National Pavilions. The number of new brands on JD.com being introduced through national pavilions has increased over 100% in 2020, and more of them are expected to continue to bring local authentic and high-quality products to Chinese consumers.
H.E. Thomas Østrup Møller, the Ambassador of Denmark, mentioned that “in the last year, China became Denmark’s 5th export market for the first time. Lego, Arla, B&O, ECCO are very popular in the Chinese market.”
In bringing overseas brands and merchants, especially SMEs, “JD Worldwide has proposed a range of methods, including through third party operation and livestreaming,” explained Mr. Frank Yu, Deputy General Manager of JD Worldwide at JD Retail V Business Group.
Logistics is also of critical importance to cross-border trade. As of June 30, 2021, JD has approximately 50 bonded warehouses and overseas warehouses combined, which cover more than 500,000 square meters. JD is constructing two “48-hour roads” (routes through which packages can be delivered internationally within 48 hours) in a bid to increase shipment of goods from overseas to China and vice versa.
H.E. Djauhari Oratmangun, the Ambassador of Indonesia, also recognized that “JD has played a significant role in promoting Indonesian products to the Chinese market. Meanwhile, JD’s e-commerce joint venture in Indonesia, JD.ID, has already developed into one of the six largest e-commerce companies in the country.”
H.E. Arthayudh Srisamoot, the Ambassador of Thailand, noted that Thai products are also very popular in China. During JD’s 618 Grand Promotion in 2021, 260,000 durians were sold on JD.com. The Ambassador also praised JD’s joint venture with Thailand’s Central Group, aka. JD Central, as it has been a great help amid growing Sino-Thailand trade.
Mr. Tanaka Eiji, Minister for Commercial Affairs of Embassy of Japan expressed that during his recent visit to JD’s Plant Factory in suburb Beijing, the hygiene standard was very high, and he was hoping Chinese consumers can access to Japanese vegetables and products more easily.
In addition to giving keynote speeches, the senior diplomats also participated in a discussion about cross-border trade, the economy, and the Singles Day Grand Promotion.