JD News Roundup Vol. 14: Henan Flood Relief, benefit Launch and More

Posted on by Kelly Dawson

Welcome to volume 14 (June 19- July 25) of our 2021 weekly digest. Here we consolidate a selection of JD news regularly and give context on why it matters. If you have any questions or topics you are hoping we will explore, please email press@jd.com.

 

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

 

JD Logistics: Henan Flood Relief

As heavy downpours resulted in massive flooding across China’s Henan province last week, JD.com initiated emergency support for thousands of stranded residents, including delivery of emergency supplies via JD’s self-developed logistics drone in Xinxiang city. Capable of both taking off and landing in rain conditions, the drone was also leveraged in Zhongmou county of Zhengzhou city to help survey flood conditions.

Additionally, on July 21 JD Logistics delivered over 540 boxes of food and mineral water to Tielu train station in Zhengzhou, Henan province, where hundreds of passengers had been stranded on the railway for more than 40 hours. On the same day, another batch of rescue supplies from JD’s local warehouses were sent to provide relief for 9,000 medical workers and patients stranded at two local hospitals.

JD’s relief efforts were part of a company policy initiated in 2012, stating that if a disaster happens anywhere in the country, the nearest JD warehouse should immediately donate and deliver goods to meet emergency demands. The manager in charge of the warehouse is entitled to make such a decision on the ground without waiting for approval from upper management.

 

JD Retail

benefit Opens Flagship Store on JD

benefit, owned by the world’s biggest luxury giant LVMH, will open its online flagship store on JD.com on July 19th. Speaking of the cooperation, benefit’s Brand General Manager in Greater China Yan Wang said, “The all-stops-covered delivery operation and service of JD.com could reinforce a more efficient and closer communication between benefit and the consumers. We believe that the cooperation with JD.com will deliver benefit’s ‘feelgood’ philosophy to more consumers.”

On-demand Delivery of vivo Phones on JD.Com Thanks to Dada Partnership 

Leading global smartphone manufacturer vivo’s phones are available for one-hour delivery service on JD.com thanks to an omni-channel partnership with JD partner Dada Group, China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform.

JD Daojia, the on-demand retail platform of Dada Group, is cooperating with vivo authorized stores in terms of product management, digital marketing, targeted user operations, and order fulfilment optimization.

JD to Highlight e-Sports and More at ChinaJoy Expo

In the upcoming ChinaJoy 2021 expo taking place in Shanghai from July 30 to August 2, JD’s biggest-ever 3,000-square-meter exhibition zone in E7 hall will offer an immersive experience for visitors with live shows, games and interactions with e-sports influencers and more. Additionally, the exhibit will aim to help people understand the latest e-sports trends, what motivates China’s Gen Z consumers, as well as the tremendous marketing opportunities arising from these developments. Come join us if you are in Shanghai!

SEVEN FRESH Opens Fourth Store in Chengdu

JD’s omni-channel supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH continues its rapid expansion across China, opening a new store in Chengdu on July 23. The new location is the fourth SEVEN FRESH supermarket in Chengdu, and also the first subway station storefront of the chain. In recent months the chain also opened three stores in Shenzhen, as part of SEVEN FRESH’s overall strategy to focus on four major regions, including the Beijing-Tianjin area, South China coastal area, Western China Sichuan-Chongqing area, and Central China Hubei-Hunan region.

 

Stay tuned for more updates next week, with a major luxury brand announcement and other new partnerships on the horizon.

 

(press@jd.com)

JD.com to Invest 12 Billion RMB in Tianjin

Posted on by Kelly Dawson

by Kelly Dawson

JD and the city of Tianjin signed a cooperation agreement on July 26, outlining an expansive plan in which the e-commerce giant will invest RMB 12 billion yuan in the city to drive 50,000 jobs and drive the city’s digital transformation. The cooperation is under the framework of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).

Leveraging JD’s advantages in digital technology, the cooperation will promote the construction of a new digital economy innovation center, a smart manufacturing digital technology industrial park, a connected intelligent vehicle manufacturing industrial park, an intelligent computing power and operation center, and other projects. JD will also open new offline stores as part of its omni-channel expansion, including supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH, JD convenience stores and other retail formats.

Additionally, JD will give full play to its advantages in digital technology and supply chain to support Tianjin’s transformation into a smart city, participating in the construction and operation of an industrial digital platform for the city, accelerating the implementation of new smart distribution models, integrating the cultural and tourism industries, and jointly building a new online trading platform for both imported and domestic brand cars.

The cooperation will also support JD’s efforts to promote rural revitalization, supporting the local agriculture industry. Relying on JD’s B2C e-commerce platform, B2B2C community shopping platform, B2B supply platform and conveniences across the country, JD will establish a diversified upstream channel for local agricultural specialty products and help improve the economic conditions of local farmers in the greater area of Tianjin.

JD previously entered into cooperation with Hubei province in 2020, investing RMB 6 billion in the region to support the local economy, build next-generation infrastructure, and construct a series of smart city services including an emergency material management platform and digital media information service platform. JD has also pledged to support local brands in Hubei by growing their business and marketing to the e-commerce platform’s more than 500 million customers.

Additionally, JD has been working together with NVIDIA to transform Changshu, Jiangsu province into a smart city serviced by widespread use of JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

Dada Ramps Up Expansion of Autonomous Delivery in Partnership with JD

Posted on by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

Dada Group (Nasdaq: DADA) (“Dada”), China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform, today announced that it is set to advance an autonomous delivery operation open system, which has already been adopted by SEVEN FRESH and Yonghui Supermarket to normalize the scalable use of unmanned delivery vehicles for on-demand delivery service. Teaming up with JD Logistics and autonomous delivery vehicle developer White Rhino, Dada Group will jointly establish the autonomous delivery ecosystem in the supermarket scenario.

Dada Now, Dada’s on-demand delivery platform, has leveraged its proprietary software and technologies for on-demand delivery and massive online shopping scenarios to develop the autonomous delivery operation system for unmanned delivery vehicles in supermarkets. The system has realized automatic order distribution for supermarket stores, and can manage package loading, terminal connection, and abnormal order operation through its human interaction system in order to assist the unmanned vehicles in efficiently fulfilling the online orders. Dada Now’s autonomous delivery operation open system has already been applied by SEVEN FRESH and Yonghui’s unmanned vehicles to cover a dozen neighbourhoods, fulfilling nearly 5,000 orders with driving mileage over 10,000 kilometres.

Yonghui’s unmanned vehicles to cover a dozen neighbourhoods, fulfilling nearly 5,000 orders with driving mileage over 10,000 kilometres.

The demand for online grocery delivery service is growing fast in China. According to the report “China’s On-demand Retail Industry 2021” conducted by iResearch this June, consumers are increasingly embracing on-demand consumption, with the most commonly purchased categories including fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and eggs. This rapid growth in on-demand delivery, rising labour costs and a shortage of couriers have at times led to difficulty in fulfilling orders quickly for consumers. The unmanned delivery vehicles provide a viable alternative to address these challenges.

Compared with traditional delivery, unmanned vehicles feature lower delivery cost, larger carrying capacity, stronger stability, and higher safety, for one-hour delivery. For example, the manufacturing for JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles includes over 50 processes and over 140 checks for quality to ensure its stability. And the vehicles support “scheduled delivery,” in which customers can designate times for the vehicle to come to their neighbourhoods. The unmanned vehicles can be deployed in extreme weather conditions, as well as peak and out-of-business hours to autonomously complete delivery missions when the availability of delivery riders is limited.

The on-demand delivery industry has become more open and collaborative as an ecosystem. Technology is playing a core role to help partners collaborate through digital platforms, and to optimize operational efficiency. As the establisher of the unmanned delivery ecosystem, Dada also aims to link its upstream and downstream partners, and scale up the R&D of the software and infrastructure for autonomous delivery services as part of its latest effort to accelerate the transition to the era of smart delivery. To expand its unmanned delivery network, Dada Now together with JD Logistics and White Rhino, plans to bring unmanned delivery to the daily lives of China’s urbanites.

“On-demand delivery is one the first application scenarios where unmanned delivery vehicles are commercialized. We are confident that the combination of Dada’s system for autonomous delivery and our partners’ highly intelligent delivery vehicles will enable sweeping delivery cost reductions, make our roads safer, lower carbon emissions, and bring greater value to retailers and business partners,” said Jun Yang, Co-Founder, Director and CTO of Dada Group.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

Sales Soar for Sportswear Brand Erke on JD.com After Flood Relief Donation

Posted on by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

Sales of Erke, a Chinese sportswear brand, surged by over 520% on JD.com on July 23rd, the first day of JD’s promotion campaign on sports related products, after the brand donated RMB 50 million yuan ($7.71 million) worth of relief supplies and other aid to the flood-stricken Henan province.

Sales of Erke products spiked after the brand announced a RMB 50-million-yuan donation to Henan on Chinese social media last week. The brand received wide support from across China, as many Chinese netizens were moved by the company’s kind act. Many netizens expressed support, in addition to concern for whether the domestic company’s sales performance could support such a large donation.

“It seems like you might go out of business, because you donated so much,” one netizen commented. Some consumers even chose to pay extra money when purchasing products at offline store locations, despite salespeople at the stores advising against irrational consumption. The host of an Erke livestream event also called on consumers to spend rationally, but many consumers commented that they were happy to spend “wildly” so as to support the brand.

Erke’s sales spike is not an isolated case, as JD’s data shows that the overall sales of domestic sports brands increased by more than 280% from July 22 to July 23 YOY, with running shoes, basketball shoes, pants and T-shirts ranking among the top categories in terms of sales volume. This growth has been attributed by some experts to increased interest in sports due to the ongoing Tokyo Olympic games.

In addition to Erke, domestic sports brands including Anta Sports, 361 Degrees, and PEAK also embraced significant sales growth of more than 500% during this period.

Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Guangzhou became the top five cities with the highest sales of domestic sports brands on JD, with sales in Beijing reaching 530% YOY, and even reaching 750% YOY in Shanghai.

“Thanks to JD.com’s reputation for guaranteed authenticity and fast delivery services, it has become the go-to destination for consumers to buy sports brands both internationally and domestically,” said a spokesperson from JD Sports.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD.com and Geely Form Partnership in Smart Logistics

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com and Geely signed a partnership agreement on Jul. 26 stating that the automotive company will leverage JD.com’s integrated supply chain abilities for its business and cooperate in supply chain consulting, intelligent forecasting, omni-channel warehousing, internal logistics, smart warehousing, commercial vehicle technology opening-up and more.

Based on the partnership, the two parties will fully leverage each other’s advantages in terms of supply chain, smart logistics, technology research and development.

JD says that it will explore how its service capabilities will contribute to helping Geely lower procurement cost and improve operations efficiency in the areas of omni-channel sales, digital procurement and more.

Geely says that with the rapid development of electric and intelligent vehicles reshaping the global automobile industry, the company will continue to adhere to an open and shared mentality to build the industrial alliance and ecosystem.

As a technology and service enterprise with supply chain at the core, JD.com has been dedicated in opening up its technology, supply chain and infrastructure to industry partners.

Geely Holding Group is an industry-leading global innovative technology group involved in service of vehicles, as well as digital technology, financial services, education and more.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

JD Cloud’s Data Center Awarded as Carbon-Reduction Innovator

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

JD Cloud won an innovation award for its low-carbon data center in Suqian of Jiangsu province and has been certified as an excellent carbon disclosure internet and tech company in the latest evaluation of data centers’ carbon emission performance organized by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), publicity center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Open Data Center Committee (ODCC) on July 13th in Beijing.

“The fast development of digital transformation in many industries has driven up energy consumption for data centers,” said Liqiang Gao, president of JD Cloud. “We have been adopting technological innovation and clean energy in operating JD’s data centers across China to go digital and green in our carbon reduction efforts.”

JD Cloud has taken measures in four main areas to cut its data center carbon emission, including improving power usage effectiveness (PUE) by adopting frequency conversion products in all water pumps and fans; careful disposal of waste water and batteries; adoption of photovoltaic and solar power in its industrial parks and self-developing high-performance liquid-cooled servers, and equipping IoT devices at scale to optimize the efficiency of the electric system and more.

In recent years JD has been committed to sustainability, as outlined in its recent ESG report published earlier this year, and as early as 2018, in its Sustainability Report 2018-2020.  In October 2019, JD Logistics announced to join Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), becoming the first Chinese logistics company to join this initiative. In November 2020, it made the commitment to reduce 50% carbon emissions by 2030, a target that has been approved and listed on SBTi’s website.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

SEVEN FRESH Opens Fourth Store in Chengdu Inside Subway Station

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

JD’s omni-channel supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH opened a new store in Chengdu on July 23rd, making it the fourth location in the city and the chain’s first subway storefront, located inside Chengdu’s Shijicheng subway station.

The store will offer fresh vegetables and fruits, seafood, local delicacies, ready-to-cook dishes and baked food developed by SEVEN FRESH.

During the opening ceremony, the Chengdu store offered a wide range of discounts to customers, providing them with a superior fresh produce shopping experience.

Helson Zheng, head of SEVEN FRESH shared, “SEVEN FRESH has built a strong supply chain network that connects delicious food from all over the world in one place. Using various cooking methods developed by our team as well as fast delivery service, we hope customers can enjoy the instant and convenient in-store and online shopping.”

JD plans to open a fifth store of SEVEN FRESH in Chengdu in late September.

In recent three months the chain opened three stores in Shenzhen, as part of SEVEN FRESH’s overall plan to focus on major regions in China. Zheng said that SEVEN FRESH will keep the expansion momentum over the next three years.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

JD Puts Logistics Drones in Henan for Disaster-Relief

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD’s self-developed logistics drone was dispatched from Xi’an to Henan province and put into use since Jul. 22 to deliver emergency needs in Xinxiang, a flood-stricken city to the north of Zhengzhou, Henan province as the rain in Central China continues to strike the region.

In addition to facilitating the transportation of goods, JD’s rescue drones were also used in Zhongmou county of Zhengzhou, to help survey the flood.

A JD logistics drone takes off in Xinxiang on Jul. 22

JD.com initiated emergency support for Henan province since Jul. 21 including donation of raincoats, rubber shoes, spades, instant noodles, mineral water and more to local people.

On February 16 of last year, JD.com flied its two drones to spray disinfectant in the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone of Ordos City, an important industrial city of Inner Mongolia, China. There will be more scenarios in which drones may play a non-substitutable role.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)