by Ling Cao

 

JD.com kicked off its initiative to bring fresh milk from a pasture in New Zealand to Chinese consumers by partnering with imported milk brand Theland. Announced on Jun. 18, the peak day during JD’s 618 Grand Promotion (June 1-18), both companies aim to bring high-quality New Zealand milk to JD’s over 500 million customers. 

 

“Utilizing JD’s experience in e-commerce and retail, as well as combined insight from industry consumption trends, we’ve seen that more and more customers demand high calcium milk. We believe the partnership will help us deepen our research in milk products, providing customers with a healthy and premium milk consumption lifestyle,” said Xiaojun Wang, general manager of packaged foods at JD FMCG Omni-channel.

 

“The partnership has not only helped bring local labels to Chinese customers, but also worked as a means of cultural communication with JD.com serving as a bridge to showcase the nature-consciousness of New Zealand. Based on the cooperation, customers are able to enjoy purchasing the best-in-class products from all over the world while at home,” said Roy van den Hurk, general manager of global R&D at Theland.

Su Wang, vice president of e-commerce at Theland (left), and Xiaojun Wang (second from left) speaking onsite at JD headquarters, as Roy van den Hurk makes a speech remotely from New Zealand at the newly opened JD Pasture

Theland has 29 pastures in New Zealand. The customized milk from the JD pasture initiative will be officially sold in September. Consumers will be able to trace every step of the production process, from milking, to manufacturing and transportation.

According to Hurk, the product uses raw milk sourced directly from New Zealand, and its protein content far exceed the EU standards.

As JD’s long-term partner, Theland’s milk products are popular among customers. On the first day of this year’s 618, sales of the high-end diamond series of Theland milk increased 17 times YOY, while another children’s milk series sales increased six times YOY.

Data showed that on June 1, sales on the JD Worldwide (JDW) platform increased over 120% YOY. Nearly 1,500 brands’ sales increased over 100% YOY, respectively. On Jun. 14, the designated promotion day for imports, sales of the online supermarket for imported food increased 240% compared with the previous day, while first party retail grocery sales increased 130% YOY.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

In appreciation of Swiss brands’ strong performance on JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce company issued the “Friend of JD.com – Excellent Performance Partner” award to the Swiss embassy to China on Jun 18, the final date of the national mid-year shopping festival, known as the JD 618 Grand Promotion.

Mr. Yves Morath, counselor and head of the Swiss Business Hub China accepted the award at JD’s headquarters in Beijing.  Speaking about the potential for cooperation with China and JD.com in the future, Mr. Morath said that: “Switzerland is definitely a very strong country for premium consumer goods, so we are very optimistic that we can benefit from the potential market of the Chinese market with JD.com. What we see is more and more Swiss premium consumer goods are very active in the Chinese market, especially in the e-commerce market. We see a very great potential, so of course we hope that we can strengthen our position also on JD.com, and have even more tight collaboration in the future.”

Mr. Yves Morath (second from the right) received the “Friend of JD.com” award on behalf of the Swiss Embassy

Swiss brands enjoy a high reputation among Chinese customers, as they do in the rest of the world, for their high quality and reliability. Being an e-commerce platform that always puts trust and quality at the core of its business, JD.com is the natural go-to place for Swiss brands in China, with products ranging from luxury, food, and beauty to healthcare products and more available on its platform.

Mr. Yves Morath in an interview during his visit to JD’s big data command center on June 18. 

Swiss watches are a good case on this point. JD Fashion offers over a hundred Swiss watch brands through both the first-party and marketplace models. Most recently, Zenith SA launched an official third-party store on JD.com on May 17. The store is an addition to the brand’s first-party store on JD.com which opened in 2017. Breitling, another time-honored Swiss watch brand operating under both sales models on JD.com, was awarded by the platform as the “Sustainable Development Partner of the Year” on May 20 in recognition of the brand’s efforts to bring environmental-friendly products to JD’s customers.

Sustainability is close to the hearts of many Swiss brands and the Swiss embassy. Nestlé, the Switzerland-based company has been working deeply with JD on many fronts, such as, designing Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) products that are better tailored to Chinese customers’ needs, developing medical purpose baby food while promoting pediatric knowledge and nutrition related content, and collaborating on a greener supply chain and digitally-driven distribution center that reduces waste in fulfillment processes.

During the Sino-Swiss Economic Forum (SSEF) last November, Swiss Ambassador to China Bernardino Regazzoni emphasized Swiss enterprises’ commitment to sustainable development in China: “They are even generating synergies among themselves here in China to bring out sustainable, innovative and creative solutions to global concerns.”

 

(Vivian.Yang@jd.com)