Topic

by Ella Kidron

JD.com’s 618 Grand Promotion (Jun. 1-18) officially began at midnight on Jun 1. Four minutes after paying the remaining balance on her pre-sale order, Ms. Wang, a resident of Changshu, Jiangsu province, received the skin care set she ordered, delivered by none other than JD’s autonomous delivery robot.

In Baiyin, a prefecture-level city in Gansu province, Ms. Fang received the face masks she ordered only five minutes after completing the payment, emphasizing the extent of JD Logistics’ network. With omni-channel across a bunch of categories such as fresh, FMCG, mobile phones, digital products, maternal and child, pharmaceutical, personal care, makeup and more, JD’s 618 covers 1,400 districts and counties this year with “delivery-in-minutes” service covering over 200 cities. This type of delivery speed is possible thanks to JD’s optimization of the logistics network over the pre-sale period to put products closest to customers before they’ve even completed payments.

JD Retail CEO Lei Xu said: “JD is in its 18^th year of establishment this year, and this 618 we welcome the company’s 18^th birthday. In 18 years, we have created a unique business model, with its core philosophy being the continuous pursuit of the optimal solution to efficiency, cost and experience.” According to Xu, this is JD’s core competitive advantage and what has allowed JD to stay tenacious all of this time.

In the first five minutes after midnight, JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, saw sales of coffee beverages, oat milk, fruit wine and other new products increase over 15 times. The transaction volume of food, baby and maternal, and alcohol surpassed RMB 500 million yuan in the first two minutes of the sale. Popular milk tea brand Yuanqisenlin (元气森林) was up ten times in the first 5 minutes on Jun. 1 while oat milk brand Oatly and meal replacement brand Wonderlab among others were up 15 times. Sales of products from industrial belts increased 300% YOY and nearly 100,000 kg of fresh agricultural products were sold on the Jingxi platform.

This 618 also demonstrates the importance of service in the context of the customer experience. In only 15 minutes on Jun. 1, JD’s “one hour” delivery service transactions increased eight times and the number of users of the service increased 6 times. Home and living products with the “hassle-free renovation” label saw sales up 260%.

In the first 15 minutes, health services such as medical checkups, cosmetic medicine, hair transplants, dental services, vaccines and hereditary tests increased 6 times; cosmetic medicine alone increased 15 times. Products eligible for JD’s service where pet food can be returned if the pet doesn’t like it increased over 200%. Sales of smart pet products increased 300 times and pet snacks and treats increased 28 times.

JD Auto Shops car maintenance packages increased 165% compared to the previous period while limited RMB 9.9 yuan car washing packages sold out in only five minutes. From May 24 to Jun. 1, the number of people buying cars on JD increased 127%. Within 10 minutes on June 1, motorcycle sales increased 103% YOY and helmets increased 150% YOY.

Domestic mobile phones are in high demand. In just 15 minutes, Huawei phone sales increased 120% YOY, vivo sales doubled and the number of One Plus phones sold increased five times. Sales of gaming phones (smart phones dedicated for gaming with specifications that suit mobile phone games) increased 300% YOY. Gaming PCs from the Asus Tianxuan series doubled. Partition washing machines increased 20 times.

International products are still in high demand. In only 10 minutes, products from 900 international brands from over 100 different countries more than doubled. In the first five minutes, health and nutrition products from brands such as BY HEALTH and Swisse as well as medical products from brands like Omron achieved transaction volume of over RMB 1 million. In the first 15 minutes, the turnover of nutrition and health care products intended to relieve fatigue increased by 500% YOY while probiotics increased more than 300%.

Technology also plays a critical role. JD Cloud provides an essential guarantee of the customer experience during the sale. In the early morning of June 1, the peak number of user visits per second increased by 223% compared with the same period last year. JD’s smart customer service already covers over 160,000 merchants participating in 618.

Xu said that JD Retail’s philosophy is to “sell all goods of the world” and “to sell goods all over the world”. He emphasized the importance of a supply chain intermediate platform in this effort including 1) connecting different scenarios and obtaining consumer insights through partnerships in different scenarios, 2) highly efficient supply and demand matching capability, 3) order and supply chain dispatch management, and 4) product and logistics management capability. Without the supply chain intermediary capabilities, it is impossible to realize this mission, according to Xu.

 

 

(ella@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

JD.com and Chang’an Ford signed an agreement to further deepen cooperation on May 28 in Chongqing to ensure the supply of a full line of Chang’an Ford’s products through JD.com together with timely after-sale services.

Minxian Wang, general manager of first party automotive products, JD Auto, on the right; Huaicheng Tang, after-sales director of Chang’an Ford, on the left

The cooperation extends the two sides existing partnership, and will expand the product categories of Chang’an Ford products sold through its flagship store on JD.com. Since joining JD, Chang’an Ford has seen robust sales performance and continuous customer growth, thanks to JD’s strong platform capabilities and vast consumer pool. According to JD’s data, sales of JD’s Chang’an Ford flagship store increased by 30% YOY in 2020. The store also brought in nearly an increase of 50% of new consumers to its offline 4S stores.

In addition to product expansion, Chang’an Ford also promised direct supply of auto parts from its manufacturing factories with a bid to guarantee authenticity. Meanwhile, Chang’an Ford’s after-sales team will work closely with JD to provide both telephone and online after-sales services through JD.

To fulfill increasing demands from consumers during this year’s 618 Grand Promotion, Chang’an Ford has teamed up with JD’s offline self-operated car maintenance network, JD Auto Service, to increase the supply of auto parts products at the offline stores and ensure professional car maintenance services.

“Relying on JD’s image as a guarantee of authenticity, JD Auto will unite Chang’an Ford together with other auto brands in joint brand promotions, thus bringing more traffic to them. While promoting the growth of Chang’an Ford sales on JD, JD Auto will also further work to create a convenient and high-quality shopping experience for consumers,” said Minxian Wang, general manager of first party automotive products, JD Auto.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD has unveiled a smart supply chain decision system for industrial enterprises. Announced on May 31^st, the system aims to solve clients’ pain points for procuring a massive amount of non-standard products.

Previously, due to inefficient fulfillment services and in order to keep the production line running smoothly, many enterprises needed to over-purchase materials, which resulted in a huge need for storage and a maintenance burden. Now, JD’s system combines clients’ digital procurement processes with a product pool that JD has developed, enabling them to easily find and purchase specific, non-standard products on JD— for instance, a very specialized screw.

In addition, based on clients’ different requirements for speed of delivery time, location, product selection and services, the system can provide tailored and optimized fulfillment solutions, including the ability to organize multiple orders into one and send to clients in one shipment. Ultimately, the system can shorten the middle process and increase the procurement efficiency.

JD also self-built infrastructure to improve the service quality, including specific transfer centers, forward warehouses and intelligent lockers.

“JD has built a product pool of over 50 million SKUs, so we changed the traditional procurement process from person-to-goods to goods-to-person in order to make it easier to find the best product for your needs. Because of this new service philosophy, our efficiency has improved compared with traditional suppliers,” said Deming Ding, general manager of JD Industry.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

JD Logistics (JDL) and GSP Automotive Group inked a partnership on May 31, in which JD will assist GSP in building a global auto parts industrial chain platform utilizing the company’s long-established integrated supply chain solutions.

According to the agreement, JDL will help GSP build a complete supply chain planning system and provide end-to-end supply chain solutions leveraging JD’s domestic and overseas warehousing network and logistics resources.

Back row from left to right: Bing Fu, head of strategy at JD Logistics; Stard Huang, president of JD International Logistics; Jiaru Zhou, chairman of GSP; Chonglong Zhou, vice president of GSP

Front row from left: Jinghua Bao, general manager of JD International Logistics East China region; Longsheng Zhou, president of GSP

JDL will facilitate the digitalization of GSP’s supply chain in terms of warehousing operations, production allocation, demand forecast, inventory management, fulfillment and overseas warehousing and distribution. The partnership will first begin with the transformation of GSP’s domestic supply chain operations by establishing a supply chain planning platform and warehouse management system in its Ningbo warehouse.

“Our partnership with JDL aims to build a highway for Chinese aftermarket enterprises going overseas and going digital, and to bring innovative breakthroughs for the global auto part industry,” said Jiaru Zhou, chairman of GSP Automotive Group.

Stard Huang, president of JD International Logistics, said that the partnership will jointly promote industry development.

GSP Automotive Group is a China-based manufacturer for auto parts. Its sales network covers more than 120 countries and regions with 90% of its revenue coming from overseas markets.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

By Vivian Yang

Besides car and motorcycle services, JD Auto is piloting efforts to help its customers learn to fly. On June 1, JD Auto announced that it will join hands with China’s leading driving and flight instruction school Eastern Pioneer to introduce flight training courses.

Eastern Pioneer’s official page on JD Auto currently offers both one-day and one-term flying courses. New learners can also book a flying experience class first via JD’s platform before making the decision to commit to all the hours required to become a licensed pilot.

Easter Pioneer’s one-term flying course on JD Auto

Eastern Pioneer and its subsidiaries can provide a number of options for airports and flight routes in Beijing, Shandong, Henan, and other provinces in China, and can offer high-quality fixed-wing aircraft training sessions for pilot licenses, recreational courses and flying club services — with rich aircraft options including Cirrus SR20, Beech Bonanza G36, Beech Baron G58，Tecnam P2006T，P92-JS, P2002-JF and more.

The bar for application and acceptance to flight instruction courses is not too high. According to China’s qualification rules for civil aircraft pilots, applicants above 17 years old who have graduated from middle school and acquired a C2 and higher-level driver license are able to register for flying classes. In order to receive a pilot license for private jets, they only need to pass tests administered by their flight instructors, without going through the trouble of theoretical and flying technique tests required by the Civil Aviation Administration to pilot commercial aircraft.

For those who’ve received their pilot licenses, congratulations! Next, JD Auction has got you covered with options for where to buy an aircraft. During the ongoing JD 618 Grand Promotion, two helicopters will be auctioned on JD’s platform with a super low starting bidding price of RMB 6,180 yuan each, or a little under US $1,000.

Two helicopters that will be auctioned on JD Auction 

Moreover, for those who bid successfully for aircraft on the platform, JD Auto is also partnering with Eastern Pioneer to provide hangar and maintenance services, paving a fast track for its customers to effortlessly realize their dreams of flying.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

 

 

by Yuchuan Wang

 At the 8^th International Congress of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles Technology (CICV) held in Beijing on May 25, Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area (BJHAD) issued China’s first road test licenses for autonomous delivery vehicles. This means that autonomous delivery vehicles will be fitted with licenses for the first time. JD became one of the first three enterprises in China to obtain the qualification, along with Meituan and Neolix.

Dr. Qi Kong (in red), chief scientist and head of JD’s autonomous driving technology receives the license from Lei Kong, vice director of management committee of Beijing Economic Technological Development Area and head of promotion working group of BJHAD

JD debuted its first autonomous delivery vehicle in September 2016. The company revealed its 4.0 robot in 2019 following years of research and iterations, and became the world’s first company to apply Level-4 autonomous driving technology on public roads without any human interaction.

Levels of driving automation (source: synopsys.com)

As of April this year, JD has put its autonomous delivery vehicles into daily use in over 20 cities in China for the last-mile delivery of e-commerce parcels.

 

Intelligent last mile

Rising labor costs and the need to reduce social logistics cost is increasingly prominent in China.

According to the Sate Post Bureau, in the past decade, China’s express logistics industry has experienced rapid growth, with parcel volume surging from 2.3 billion units in 2010 to 83.4 billion units in 2020. In the same period, the working-age labor force dropped from nearly 940 million to 890 million.

China’s ratio of social logistics costs to GDP has continuously decreased from 18% to 14.2% in the past 10 years according to the National Bureau of Statistics, but it still lags behind developed countries, such as the U.S. where the figure is only 8%. Intelligent last mile delivery is an inevitable trend meaning promising opportunities for autonomous delivery vehicles.

“Technology research, industry development and the national conditions have enormously promoted China’s development in autonomous delivery,” said Dr. Qi Kong, the chief scientist and head of JD’s autonomous driving technology.

Dr. Qi Kong

Dr. Kong is a pioneer and top expert in China researching self-driving. Under his leadership, JD keeps making technological breakthroughs in the industry. The company is the first to commercially apply Level-4 autonomous driving vehicles at scale.

The vehicles will carry packages from delivery stations or supermarkets to nearby office buildings, residential compounds, school campuses and more.

JD’s autonomous delivery vehicle will automatically call the customer and send a message with pick-up code once it arrives at the pick-up point. The photo shows a customer in Changshu received her 618 order at 00:04 on Jun. 1, 2021.

In addition to satisfying consumers’ demands for instant delivery, the adoption of autonomous delivery vehicles can potentially re-allocate couriers’ working time by releasing them from parcel delivery and giving them the chance to spend more time on customer service and the maintenance of vehicles.

For example, in Changshu, over one fifth of JD’s delivery stations have used autonomous delivery vehicles for daily operations, enabling couriers to deliver 1.5 times the orders during peak sales seasons such as the 618 Grand Promotion.

Dr. Kong adopts a concept of “human-machine synergy” to enable employees to handle tasks smartly and swiftly. “Profit margins in the logistics industry are not very high. By introducing autonomous delivery, the structure of the industry and margins will be improved in the long run.”

 

The in-house technologies

The core of JD’s autonomous delivery robots is the autonomous driving system developed in-house.

“We designed the vehicle as a driverless one from the beginning, unlike many passenger vehicles which were transformed to be driverless,” said Dr. Kong.

Many of JD’s competitive companies mainly test robots in closed parks, rather than on public roads. For a public road where traffic conditions are more complicated, the technology must be similar to that of a robo-taxi, which uses highly autonomous driving technology for public roads.

JD’s autonomous delivery vehicle

Using AI models to integrate information from sensors such as laser radar and computer vision cameras, the vehicle can recognize and avoid obstacles. Its recognition accuracy rate for small items such as traffic cones and fences can reach 98%.

JD’s technology enables the vehicle to travel in tunnels and over bridges, as well as under various weather conditions including mid rain. When faced with complicated traffic intersections, it can intentionally plan its route.

Even under scenarios which requires such high calculation, Dr. Kong’s team is able to lower the power consumption of arithmetic logic unit to 10% of the industry average which is about 60 Watt, and is believed to be the lowest in the world for Level-4 vehicles.

Smart avoidance

“One of the most significant advantages of JD doing this is [the company’s] massive e-commerce scale and nationwide self-operated logistics network,” said Dr. Kong. He believes that the development of autonomous vehicles relies on large-scale operation to accumulate enough data to adequately train AI and realize a snowball effect.

“Looking at the industry from a global perspective, China has an advantage over other counties,” said Dr. Kong. “For example, its road conditions are much more complicated than in the U.S. which means running the same distance, the vehicle will learn more and the technology will grow faster.”

JD also researched a cloud simulation platform which accumulates historical operations data and is able to discern how the robot should behave in numerous traffic scenarios, improving the vehicle’s ability to drive safely on open roads. Its autonomous delivery vehicle management platform can enable one staff member to supervise as many as 50 vehicles in operation at the same time, to handle unexpected situations. “The number could be increased to 100 along our continuous improvement of the technology,” said Dr. Kong.

JD is currently entitled to over 400 patents in the field of unmanned delivery, covering the aspects of environment sensing, high resolution mapping, simulation, operating system, design and more.

 

Pioneers and policies

Audi announced the launch of its Level-3 Traffic Jam Pilot system for its A8 series as early as 2017, but the absence of regulation as well as safety concerns among stakeholders involved in the discussion made the manufacturer abandon the system.

Compared with the swift development of autonomous driving technology, regulations concerning the use of these devices have yet to be finalized and announced. Autonomous vehicles cannot departure from mature business models and accumulated operations experience. Their application must rely on the establishment of relevant regulations.

In the U.S., as early as in 2011, the State of Nevada legislature passed a law to authorize the use of automated cars. In 2017, the United States House of Representatives approved the SELF-DRIVE act.

China has not yet enacted laws considering autonomous vehicles. The Chinese government did however invest a number of efforts to promote the development of the self-driving industry.

According to the report by Nanfang Metropolis Daily, by Oct. 30, 2020, 21 cities in China had announced self-driving test policies and 60 enterprises had gained road test plates.

In Feb. 2020, China released the Strategies for Innovation and Development of Intelligent Vehicles, which outlined the goal to achieve the scalable production and application of Level-3 cars by 2025 and fully establish an ecosystem for autonomous vehicles between 2035 and 2050.

In May, China’s first trail rules on autonomous delivery vehicles was carried out by Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area (BJHAD) on the 8^th CICV.

According to Lei Kong, vice director of management committee of Beijing Economic Technological Development Area and head of promotion working group of BJHAD, the trial rules will:

• Explore the traffic rules for such vehicles and manage them referencing the right of way of non-motor vehicles
• Regulate the vehicle standards for road operation in terms of its size, load, speed, power and other specifications
• Explore innovative business models such as unmanned retail
• Innovate the supervision model
• Explore insurances for new technology and products such as regulate the insurance for autonomous delivery vehicles

With the worldwide promotion of autonomous delivery vehicle road tests and commercialization, represented by pioneer companies such as JD Logistics in China and Nuro in the U.S., the industry needs systematic management policies to guide future implementation and business development.

“It will provide more space and opportunities for the industry to grow,” said Dr. Kong. “JD will proceed with larger scale road tests and commercial operations on public roads which will accelerate our technology advancement to provide experienced intelligent delivery service to customers.”

 

The game changer

The pandemic has accelerated the commercialization of autonomous delivery vehicles. In February 2020, JD’s autonomous delivery robot was put into use in Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, to ensure contactless delivery to hospitals and residential compounds. The robot traveled over 6,800 kilometers and delivered more than 13,000 packages.

According to Kong, autonomous delivery can be applied in last mile scenarios far beyond the logistics industry.

“There are many demands, such as food delivery, that can be satisfied through an autonomous delivery network. This network is not just about providing value to one company, but rather can benefit society as a whole.”

JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles are already being used to deliver fresh produce from supermarkets to residential compounds in Yizhuang, Beijing. Rakuten, the retail giant in Japan, also adopted JD’s vehicles to deliver convenience store orders in Tokyo.

In addition, the cost for unmanned delivery vehicles has also been lowered with the development of technology. According to Dr. Kong, the cost for laser radars has decreased from tens of thousands of US dollars in 2016 to a few thousand RMB now.

“With the increase in production capacity, the cost of each JD autonomous delivery vehicle could be as low as RMB 60,000 to 80,000 yuan in the near future,” said Dr. Kong.

Eventually, autonomous delivery vehicles will become a part of the city’s infrastructure, “like subways,” said Kong. They will lead the transformation in urban supply chain, and even reshape the retail industry. “One thing is for certain – it will make the entire industrial chain more agile and digitized.”

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

JD Health debuted its intelligent health management equipment, products of its  “family doctor” telemedicine services program, and smart health solutions at China International Big Data Industry Expo 2021 from May 26 to 28 in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

Among all the products presented was a robot which can measure ECG, heart rate and blood oxygen, and combine them with big data analysis to quickly understand health status and provide them with appropriate suggestions. Visitors to the expo gathered around the robot to take a picture of their faces or their tongues, and place their hands on the robot to obtain a physical examination report in only two minutes.

“The report will show many aspects of my health status including eye dark circles, skin age and BMI. It’s convenient and the result can also give me advice on daily diet, exercises and so on,” said Feng Qiao, an expo visitor.

“The robot currently covers three major fields, including Chinese medicine, health and nutrition. It can also provide one-stop services of health report output, in-depth interpretation of test reports, health consultation and expert guidance,” said Qinggang Wang, senior technical manager of JD Health.

In addition to health management equipment, products created through JD Health’s “family doctor” telemedicine services program also won attention at the expo. The “family doctor” program can provide consumers with 24/7 online consultation services with top physicians from around China and provide timely drug delivery in accordance with patients’ needs.

Meanwhile, JD Health also worked with Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to help complete seven healthcare informatization projects, including healthcare cards for local residents, a monitoring and management system for public health, and five systems for health management in schools, for signing up family doctors, for village doctors, for skilled medical experts, and for administrative management respectively.

JD exhibited products from JD Cloud, JD IoT, JD Health, JD Retail and JD Logistics among other businesses at the expo which involved 225 enterprises covering frontier technology, digital application and the intelligent technology industry.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

“AI will impact the digital economy in technology innovation and industrial integration. Enterprises will find better solutions in cost, efficiency and experience,” said Dr. Tao Mei, head of computer vision research and development at JD Technology (JDT) and the director of JD’s computer vision and multimedia lab, during a group interview on May 27 at the China International Big Data Industry Expo held in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

“Over 90% of queries in JD’s supply chain services were handled by our smart chatbot, which will also guide customers to the right personnel to deal with for the remaining 10% of queries,” Mei added.

According to Mei, JD is integrating computer vision, NLP, machine-learning and other technologies under AI in one open platform, in order to provide better service for different industries.

Mei also shared his perspective for the future trend of AI development. In addition to trustworthy AI, another important development is the integration with other technologies for making broader value, such as 5G, big data and IoT.

This year’s Big Data Expo gathered 225 enterprises to exhibit their business and new products, covering frontier technology, digital application and the intelligent technology industry. JD showed products across a wide range of businesses, including JD Cloud, IoT business, JD Health, JD Retail and JD Logistics.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)