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by Vivian Yang

A new wave of digital economy development is taking place in China in the post-COVID era with digital transformation services expanding from “to customer” to “to business” such as shops and factories, as well as “to government”, noted Dr. Jianguang Shen, chief economist of JD Technology during the OECD’s Emerging Market Network (EMnet)’s virtual meeting under the topic of “the challenge of digital transformation in emerging markets” on May 26.

Dr. Shen was invited as a guest speaker at the opening session of the organization’s working group discussion to share his thoughts on the progress of digital transformation in China.

Dr. Jianguang Shen, chief economist of JD Technology speaks at the opening session of OECD EMnet’s working group meeting

China’s decade-long investments in digital infrastructure such as the internet and 5G are paying off as these have allowed most companies to still engage in business during the pandemic, and the government has used digital infrastructure as an important tool to control the spread of COVID-19 in one quarter’s time, enabling the country’s economy to quickly pick up speed in the following quarters and achieve positive growth in 2020.

Shen shared his observation that most cities in China now offer free WiFi access in public areas, such as on the streets, on subways, in railway stations and more. He cited the mobile banking case to demonstrate the power of digital technology in supporting the government, business and households to deal with the difficult situation. Thanks to the wide application of fintech by banks, securities, insurance companies and more, “China’s financial sector achieved 8% growth in the first quarter of 2020 while overall economic activity fell 6.8%”.

With this experience, “from shops to manufacturers now, everyone knows that they have to embrace digitalization to be successful, using the internet to provide services online and maintaining reachable to their customers.” Shen also attributed this as a primary reason for the growing number of unicorn companies emerging in China.

Shen noted that the Chinese government is stepping up its effort in digital infrastructure investment after the pandemic outbreak by building data service centers, encouraging studies and applications of artificial intelligence, and supporting the development of companies and labs in relevant areas.

“The digital economy has been put at the center of China’s future development,” said Shen while stressing that “the government needs to strike a balance between using data as a productivity driver and protecting privacy.”

Juan Carlos Mora, president of Bancolombia, François Candelon, managing director & senior partner, global director of BCG Henderson Institute, and Maryleana Mendez, general secretary, ASIET also joined the panel discussion and shared their insights on the topic from their respective regional perspectives in Latin America, Europe and Africa.

All the speakers emphasized that public-private partnership is important to foster an ecosystem that can promote inclusive digitalization. In response to this point, Dr. Shen added that it’s important for the government to set up the principles and enable the proper use of data, then the private sector can contribute a lot in offering virus prevention services and beyond.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com’s international business, JD Worldwide, signed a partnership with Ping An Bank’s Shenzhen branch on May 31, to collaborate on foreign trade services including bank account service, cross-border finance, offshore finance, supply chain finance, e-finance and more.

“We hope to work with Ping An Bank to jointly help the trade industry decrease costs and increase efficiency, and continuously innovate its services,” said Xiaobing Yan, president of JD Worldwide. “We target to enable Chinese brands going overseas and provide our global clients with high quality, efficient and comprehensive integrated supply chain solutions.”

Zhiqun Yang, vice president of Ping An Bank said, “Ping An and JD.com are long-term partners. Leveraging our differentiated services in “finance + technology”, we will provide JD Worldwide with one-stop financial services to enable the global extension of its business.”

JD Worldwide’s foreign trade comprehensive service platform team will work closely with Ping An Bank to establish a series of services for international trade.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

Rui Yu, CEO of JD Logistics met with international and Hong Kong media on May 28 in Beijing and online immediately after the company’s ceremony to celebrate its successful listing on HKEx.

Over 40 media organizations participated the press conference in person or through live webcast. International media including AP, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Kyodo News attended the IPO gong-ringing ceremony and press conference at JD’s headquarters. Hong Kong Economic Daily, Hong Kong Economic Journal, AA Stocks, RTHK, SCMP, BBC, Fortune magazine and other media joined the press conference online from Hong Kong and other regions.

Rui Yu, CEO of JD Logistics at the IPO press conference

“Providing integrated supply chain solutions based on clients’ demand and JD’s technological capabilities” is the key advantage of JD Logistics, said Yu when answering the question about how the company differentiates itself from other players in the highly competitive market.

According to Yu, unlike most logistics companies which provide standard delivery service products, JD Logistics aims at offering flexible and customized supply chain services that can best support its clients’ business development in a fast-changing market environment.

“Changing business models and technologies (such as social and livestreaming e-commerce) will bring serious implications to supply chains,” said Yu. “We continuously iterate our supply chain services, dive deep into supply chain processes and study timely feedback, so that we can help our clients to shorten their distance to customers, and create more sales opportunities with less inventory.”

Yu pointed out that by the end of 2020, external clients accounted for nearly 47% of JD logistics’ revenues, with the majority using its integrated services which involve supply chain solutions, systems management, warehousing and more. Yu said that the number of external clients will continue to grow at a fast rate in the coming year, lessening JD Logistics’ reliance on its parent company and making positive contributions for its overall profits.

In responding to media’s questions related to the industry’s tighter regulatory scrutiny, Yu noted that there is sufficient market competition in the logistics market in China. With over 10-years of experience in serving customers and business clients in all products and categories, he believes that the recent regulations will bring JD Logistics more open opportunities and help it reach more platforms and enterprises that were previously not easy to access.

On overseas operation plans, the company will continue to build its global logistics network, infrastructure and supply chain solutions to better serve cross-border sellers to China, mainly from North America and Europe, and explore new markets in line with Chinese brands’ globalization destinations, such as Southeast Asia, South America and other regions. Additionally, Yu eyes some business breakthroughs in cargo flights in the foreseeable future.

Click here to watch the replay of the press conference.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD Logistics (JDL) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on Friday, May 28 with the ticker 2618.HK. JD Logistics CEO Yui Yu is confident the company’s external business will continue its rapid rise, he told the Financial Times (FT).

According to FT, JDL’s external customer base maintained a triple digit growth rate in the first quarter.

“In the future, JD Logistics will take ‘driving superior efficiency and sustainability for the global supply chain’ as its mission and use its technology-driven integrated supply chain to maximize its support of the real economy and the development of new businesses, and continue to provide clients with a high quality experience, and enable them to enjoy the most trustworthy service. We will also work with our partners to reduce social logistics costs and drive efficiency improvement for business and society,” Yu said in his remarks during the ceremony today at JD’s headquarters in Beijing.

An executive from one of JDL’s important partners, Skechers, told FT that JDL’s services are both efficient and priced well.

The Skechers executive was among the representatives who participated in JDL’s gong-ringing listing ceremony on stage, a group that included JDL’s customers, clients, and frontline employees.

Skechers started its cooperation with JDL in 2019. JDL helped the U.S. lifestyle leader optimize its warehousing network planning and the inter-regional merchandise distribution for Skechers’ e-commerce business in China.

As a result, Skechers’ weighted average fulfillment costs were reduced by 11%, and its weighted average delivery time in China was reduced by approximately five hours.

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

JD Logistics listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on Friday, May 28 with the ticker 2618.HK. An IPO celebration ceremony was hosted at JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing, virtually connected to the exchange in Hong Kong. The opening price was HKD 40.36, and the IPO raised an estimated HKD 24.11 billion.

Nine representatives stood on the stage in Beijing to virtually ring the gong. They included JDL’s customers, clients and frontline employees. Willie Tan, executive officer of Skechers Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Korea, and JD Logistics’ six-axis robot (a logistics robot arm used in warehouse automation) sounded the gong together.

JD Logistics CEO Rui Yu and the JD Logistics management team

Rui Yu, CEO of JD Logistics said in his remarks at the ceremony: “JD self-built its own logistics network in 2007. In the past 14 years, JD Logistics has taken the improvement of the customer experience as its responsibility. Through unrelenting investment in logistics infrastructure and technology, JD Logistics has launched services such as “211” (same- and next-day delivery) and 24-hour delivery in tens of thousands of counties and towns, redefining logistics service standards and providing JD.com customers with the best experience in the world.”

JD Logistics CEO Rui Yu

JD Logistics is the largest integrated supply chain and logistics provider in China in terms of revenue in 2020. The company operates a network of over 1,000 warehouses covering approximately 21 million square meters. It opened its first Asia No. 1 warehouse in Shanghai in 2014 and now has 32 such warehouses across China, including a fully unmanned warehouse which can process more than 1.3 million orders per day during peak seasons. JD Logistics has over 240,000 personnel, including 190,000 in-house couriers who deliver all across the nation, including the hardest to reach areas of remote villages and islands, day in and day out.

Yu added: “Following 10 years of incubation and accumulation of experience, JD Logistics opened up to the outside world in 2017, embarking on a new period of ‘integrated supply chain’ development. In 2020, JD Logistics provided supply chain solutions and logistics services to more than 190,000 enterprise customers around the world, earning their recognition and trust.” In addition to its own warehouse fleet, the company has over 1,400 cloud warehouses operated by third-party warehouse operators, enabling existing warehouses to become intelligent and digitalized thanks to JD’s technology. Today JD Logistics external client revenue has already reached 46.6% of total revenue.

Reflecting on the meaning of the IPO, Yu said: “This IPO allows JD Logistics enter a new stage of development, and also symbolizes taking on more social responsibility. In the future business scale and people organization will change, but the ‘customer first’ philosophy certainly will not. Business logic based on experience, efficiency and cost will not change. Adhering to the ‘noble principle of doing the right thing the right way’ also definitely will also not change.”

According to the company’s prospectus, JD Logistics proceeds will be used to upgrade and expand its logistics networks; to develop advanced technologies to be used in its supply chain solutions and logistics services; expanding the breadth and depth of existing solutions and for penetrating existing customers and attracting potential customers, specifically though investments in sales and marketing personnel and industry solutions development; and general corporate purchases and working capital needs.

Yu closed: “In the future, JD Logistics will take “driving superior efficiency and sustainability for the global supply chain” as its mission and use its technology-driven integrated supply chain to maximize its support of the real economy and the development of new businesses and continue to provide clients with the a high quality experience and enable them to enjoy the most trustworthy service. We will also work with our partners to reduce social logistics costs and drive efficiency improvement for business and society.

JD Logistics is the third JD entity to list on HKEx, joining JD.com (9618.HK), which completed its secondary listing on HKEx last Jun. 18, and JD Health (6618.HK), which listed last Dec. 8.

 

(ella@jd.com)

JD Logistics listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on May 28 with the ticker 2618.HK. An IPO celebration ceremony was hosted at JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing, virtually connected to the exchange in Hong Kong. The opening price was HKD 40.36, and the IPO raised an estimated HKD 241.13 billion. Nine representatives and a JD Logistics six-axis robot sounded the gong.

 

JD opened an all-cargo charter flight between Shenzhen and Bangkok on May 28, the e-commerce giant’s first in the Asia-Pacific region. Open to enterprises (SMEs) in both countries, the freight-dedicated route will facilitate delivery of goods from China to customers in Thailand and vice versa within 48 hours.

 

JD Property, the business division for smart industrial development under JD.com and Beijing Tianrun New Energy investment Co., Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s leading clean energy solution provider Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd., announced on May 26 to establish a joint venture focusing on clean energy development, investment and operation. First row in the photo shows Gang Li (left), head of operations, JD Property and Yantian Pan (right), vice president of cooperate business, Goldwind at the signing ceremony.

 

Carol Fung, president of JD FMCG Omni-channel, attended the 2021 CCFA China International Retail Innovation Summit held from May 23 to 25 in Shanghai, and gives a main stage speech titled “Embrace the new structure of retail, co-build new business ecosystem.” Click here to learn more about the key takeaways.

 

JD.com delivered its emergency aid to Yangbi Yi autonomous county in Yunnan province at 5 a.m. on May 22, after the county was struck by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake at 9 p.m. on May 21. In 2012, JD.com’s founder Richard Liu announced a company regulation stating that if a disaster happens anywhere in the country, the nearest JD warehouse should immediately donate and transport its goods to meet the emergency demands, and that its management does not need to obtain prior approval.

by Yuchuan Wang and Martin Li

JD Logistics (JDL) listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on May 28 at 9:30 am Beijing time with the ticker 2618.HK. The company held a celebration at JD.com headquarters in Beijing, virtually linked to the exchange in Hong Kong.

Representatives including JDL’s customers, clients, and frontline employees participated in the gong-ringing ceremony on stage. Willie Tan, the executive officer of Skechers Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Korea, and a six-axis robot (a logistics robot arm) sounded the gong together.

Rui Yu, CEO of JDL expressed his gratitude towards clients, employees and their families, he said, “You are the most valuable fortune of JDL and our development cannot be separated from your great efforts.”

 

Wenhui Zhang, who runs a small electronics company in Beijing, is a loyal customer that started using JD in 2004. Now he also uses JDL’ services to meet needs of his company.

“JD’s logistics service is really good and fast. I can receive my parcel the next day,” said Zhang.

“JD’s couriers are very thoughtful. They will call me before each delivery to check if there is anybody at home. They are also very polite to my family members,” added Zhang.

Zhang said he is satisfied with the logistics service he’s received in the past over 10 years.

“I’m willing to pay for better service,” he said.

 

Fan Zhang is the secretary of Shuangjing village in Chenggu county, Shaanxi province. The village has over 60,000 tangerine growers. Affected by COVID-19, the procurement price for Shuangjing’s tangerines dropped sharply from nearly RMB 1 yuan a year ago to RMB 0.3 yuan in 2020.

JDL dispatched trucks to farms in Chenggu and helped sell over 200,000 kg tangerine leveraging parent company JD.com’s e-commerce resources.

“JD’s procurement price is 2 to 3 times higher than our previous channels,” said Fan Zhang. “They helped us sell nationwide and provided services from order collection, transporting, last-mile delivery and even after sales.”

 

Born in 1998, Xinyue Dong is a survivor from the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. Now he is a merchant committed to selling Wenchuan’s local specialties to China’s customers.

Dong began using JDL’ services in 2017. JDL is the only company he believes that can deliver his fresh fruits to nationwide customers without damaging them.

Each year, JDL will help Dong deliver over 15,000 kg of products. “Orders can be delivered as fast as the next day,” said Dong. “I wish JDL a brighter future and hope to collaborate in areas from logistics to business development.”

 

Willie Tan is the executive officer of Skechers Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Korea.

Skechers started its cooperation with JDL in 2019. JDL helped the U.S. lifestyle leader optimize its warehousing network planning and the inter-regional merchandise distribution for Skechers’ e-commerce business in China.

As a result of JD’s planning and execution solutions, Skechers’ weighted average fulfillment costs were reduced by 11%, and its weighted average delivery time in China was reduced by approximately five hours.

 

Tony Domingo is the senior vice president of supply chain and procurement of Nestlé Greater China.

In September 2020, JDL and Nestlé co-launched a large-scale smart storage and distribution center in Tianjin, spanning an area of nearly 30,000 square meters and handling over 1,000 tons of cargo a day.

Leveraging JDL’s superior operational capability and technological advancements in supply chain management, the distribution center can identify specific products and loads that are destined for Nestlé customers, recognize their geographic locations, and use advanced intelligence to visualize and control the migrations or infiltrations of loads between different provinces.

The collaboration with JDL greatly increases the center’s efficiency, helping speed up code scanning and printing processes by 160%.

 

Jian Liu, a Beijing native, has been working at JDL for fourteen years. He started as a driver in JDL’s northern China region and now leads a team of around 40 people.

Liu has not only improved his work skills by taking on different challenges at JDL, but also managed to complete a college degree. In 2014, supported by the company’s employee education program, he received a degree in business management from Renmin University after two years of study.

He also bought his own home and car, and even built a house in Fangshan in Beijing where he was born.

“Joining JD was the most correct decision I’ve made. I will keep growing with the company and making my contribution,” said Liu.

 

Yangjun Tang who hails from Sichuan, joined JDL in 2016 to work at the service station in Dongtou district, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, which is home to over 100 small and big islands and five of them have permanent residents.

In her first three years, Tang didn’t take a single vacation. Under her leadership, the station has grown to now have nine employees, who serve permanent residents living on the five islands. Three of the five islands are only accessible by boat. Island residents mainly rely on delivery service to receive their daily necessities.

“When our station opened, very few people knew of JD. Sometimes they even referred to JD as DJ. However, people now speak highly of JD’s service,” said Tang.

The station handles around 1,000 parcels each day. The number more than doubles during peak sales seasons such as JD’s 618 Grand Promotion.

Earlier this year, Tang took on a new responsibility to develop customers, which was a challenge for her. However, Tang, a resilient woman, chose to learn from other service stations and experienced colleagues, and communicate with sales team.

“I’m the type of person who must do something well if I decide to do it at all,” said Tang.

“Many people say women can’t work in logistics because it’s physically challenging. I don’t agree. Women are reliable, sophisticated, down-to-earth and good at communicating with customers. I hope more women can join my industry,” said Tang.

 

Rui Zou, who was born in 1994, joined JD by working at JD’s Asia No.1 fulfillment center in Shanghai in 2016 after graduation from Anhui Polytechnic University.

Zou was involved in the construction, device adjustment and operation management of the unmanned warehouse in the center. He now is in charge of the unmanned warehouse, which has daily handling capacity of 1.3 million orders.

Zou has partnered with colleagues to explore innovations to improve operating efficiency of devices in the warehouse.

This past March, Zou bought his own home in Shanghai with the help of the company’s supportive financial measures.

 

Yonghuo Zou, joined Kuayue-Express in 2014 and started by unloading cargo. JD acquired controlling interest in Kuayue in August last year.

He has received many company awards for his dedication to work and for his outstanding performance.

Zou said that, since the cooperation between JD and Kuayue, the work process has become more standardized. “Whenever we need to check any date, we can quickly find it,” he said.

Zou’s wife also joined Kuayue in 2020 and works as a driver.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com; bjlihao3@jd.com)

by Yuchuan Wang

JD Logistics (JDL) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on May 28 at 9:30 am Beijing time with the ticker 2618.HK. Among the representatives ringing the gong was a six-axis robotic arm from JD’s warehouse, which sounded the gong together with JDL’s client representative Willie Tan, the executive officer of Skechers Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Korea.

The six-axis robot is one of dozens of different kinds of robots utilized by JDL. It is based on AI technologies including deep learning, image recognition and more for automated picking up, sorting and stacking. Robots play a significant role in securing the fast and agile fulfillment of hundreds of millions of orders across more than 1,000 warehouses nationwide. JDL’s Shanghai Asia No.1 logistics park is able to handle as many as 1.3 million orders a day thanks to the application of advanced robots and automation technology.

The core of achieving such high efficiency is the execution of the concept of “human-machine synergy,” enabling employees to handle tasks smartly and swiftly.

In JD’s Beijing Asia No.1 logistics park, 330 AGVs (automated ground vehicles) work collaboratively to pick up consumers’ orders. Utilizing QR codes on the ground to guide their routes, the little robots automatically recognize and plan their route.

AGVs inside JD’s warehouse

JD’s “picker” employees can stay on the working platform and wait for the AGVs to come to them, enabling individual pickers to each pick about 250 orders per hour, which is three times the efficiency of a traditional picking approach where the warehouse worker would have to walk to the shelf, get the goods themselves and then go back to the packing area.

In Changshu, Jiangsu province, nearly a hundred autonomous delivery vehicles are delivering JD.com’s parcels to consumers’ homes. The application of such vehicles enables local couriers deliver 1.5 times more parcels a day, helping to increase their daily earning potential.

 

JD’s autonomous delivery vehicle

Logistics technology including robots and automation have offered huge potential to help employees develop and leave the hardest and most boring jobs to technology to handle. As early as 2016, JD launched a “cloud ladder plan” to equip staff members with technical abilities. Now, many front-line workers in JD’s warehouses and delivery stations have become professionals with technical abilities.

According to JDL’s prospectus, the company has invested nearly RMB 5.3 billion yuan in technology in the past three years. By the end of 2020, JDL was entitled to over 4,400 patents and computer software copyrights (including applications thereof), of which over 2,500 are related to its automation and unmanned technologies.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)