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JD Digits to Publish a Book on Industrial Digitalization

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Sep 5, 2022 by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

JD Digits Research Institute will publish a new book in Chinese language by CITIC Publishing House titled Industrial Digitalization in January 2021. With COVID-19 ramping up digital transformation across sectors, the book is expected to provide valuable insights and practical guidance for both traditional and emerging industries as they gather pace in going digital.

The book “Industrial Digitalization” will be published in January 2021 in Chinese language

The book argues that under China’s dual circulation economic strategy, which involves industrial upgrading and tapping into the country’s huge domestic market, the digital economy will serve as a golden key to start a new engine for the transformation and development of China’s economy.

The institute, led by Dr. Jianguang Shen, Chief Economist of JD Digits and the lead author of the book, focuses on the studies of macroeconomics, industries and digital technologies based on the tech giant’s vast data resources.

Dr. Jianguang Shen, Chief Economist of JD Digits and the lead author of the book

“The development of industrial digitalization is centered on data, supported by technological advancement and driven by the goal of higher production efficiency. In the digital era, every industry deserves to be digitally reinvented, and this momentum is also key for China’s economy to break the growing bottleneck and pursue high-quality growth,” the book notes in the preface.

Across 15 chapters, the book demonstrates a comprehensive grasp of the status quo and prospect of China’s digital industrial transformation. It dives into the key technologies behind the rise of the digital economy such as AI, big data, block chain, 5G, IoT and more, and proposes a path forward through concrete actions for digital industrial reforms.

Also examined in the book are a string of real-world cases with the use of digital technologies in the fields of finance, city planning, farming, marketing, consumption, payment and more, in order to explore the second growth curve for each sector.

The main trends to accelerate industrial digitalization in the coming years are the power of data, traditional enterprises’ integration with technology platforms, and synergy with government and city projects, according to Dr. Shen.

The book is co-authored by Tian Jin and Jin Gong, both senior researchers of JD Digits Research Center.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

In-depth Report: JD’s e-Sports: A Golden Bridge Connecting Customers and Manufacturers

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 15, 2022 by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao and Ella Kidron

When people are gaming on their cell phones, they process is easy. Go to the app, and play. The veteran gamers will gradually add all sorts of accessories to trick out their gaming devices, operating with more and more precision.

Nevertheless, very few people would come to think about what goes on behind the scenes of this rapidly developing industry. As an early mover in gaming laptops and phones, and as the force behind an award-winning e-sports team, JD has demonstrated how the gaming ecosystem is inseparable from a strong supply chain.

RMB 270 billion by 2022

According to an industry report, China’s e-sports market grows 10% annually and is expected to reach RMB 270 billion yuan by 2022. Furthermore, On Dec. 16, e-sports was declared an official event for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Globally, people have spent more time gaming while at home during COVID-19. China is no exception. JD data shows that the epidemic has promoted the growth of online gaming and more and more customers have bought game related products on JD in the past year.

When inventory was tight at the height of the outbreak, JD used its supply chain advantage to help merchants resolve their stock-out challenges. Going forward, the habits formed around gaming during COVID could be indicative of a long-term trend.

How JD got its start in e-sports

JD, which entered the consumer electronics category very early on, moved into the gaming space in 2014 with the first gaming laptop, the G150TB in collaboration with Haier’s high-end laptop brand Thunderbot, with the primary purpose of supporting hours of uninterrupted game time, rather than e-mail, surfing the internet, or even watching movies. In 2015, JD formed a Game+ department, starting with gaming hardware. Also in 2015, the company collaborated with HP to develop the OMEN series laptop. The project involved a deep analysis of JD’s consumer behavior data to determine the ideal specifications from screen size, to memory and more.

HP’s OMEN series laptop

Several years later, there came gaming phones. Finally, moving from being an observer and a facilitator of gamers and gaming to being a full-fledged participant, the company made the decision to operate its own e-sports teams. In the whole process, JD is connecting links from upstream to downstream, from manufacturer to customer.

A Bridge between JD and Players

According to Daniel Tan, president of JD Mobile Devices, “Games have become one of the best ways to relax and socialize for younger generations. They can also work as bridge to increase JD’s brand awareness, attracting gamers to search for gaming devices and equipment on JD.” He added, “By entering deeply into the e-sports industry, through efforts such as forming game teams, we gained more valuable feedback from users, which drove our Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) product launch.”

Daniel Tan

The company has also launched game related programs in campus. By cooperating with Tencent to build a campus e-sports player system, both companies have worked with young people to design gaming phones. Design ideas from the initiative will then be put into use in future product design and development.

Dr. Dan Wu, general manager of game device platform at Tencent shared that a recent survey showed that that when buying a new phone, 70% of gamers will focus on whether the phone is good for playing games, 65% of them will focus on smoothness of experience, clear picture quality and ability to endure long gaming sessions. ” We hope the cooperation with JD will promote the awareness of gaming phones among users of our game,” said Wu.

JD’s Gaming Layout

Liangkun Jiang, head of e-sports at JD JD Mobile Devices, witnessed the establishment of JD Game+ firsthand. “In the beginning we just wanted to create a new category, because game players are key users for computer and digital products, and e-sports combines both software and hardware industries,” he said. Jiang shared that one good game can promote development of the entire industry. When the famous e-sports PUBG (Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds) launched in 2018, the high requirement for hardware accelerated the upgrading of gamers’ devices. At the same time, hardware companies were all concentrating on upgrading computers, monitors and video cards and more, as well as accessories which use the game’s IP. Through gaming competitions, more and more users will get to know the game. Further, Jiang shared, “We also found it’s important to operate our own game teams, in order to provide an integrated gaming environment for users.”

Liangkun Jiang is attending an e-sports competition held by JD during Singles Day. From left to right: Xiwen Xu from JD Communications; Lingyi Cheng from JD Communications, Chunle Wang from JD’s marketing department, Liangkun Jiang, Bo Yang from JD’s marketing department, Qiaoqiao Wang from JD’s marketing department, Qi Liu from JD Communications

JD has also holds game competitions. Zhiqiang Cui, head of the gaming department at JD Computers and Digital Products shared that this year is the sixth year of the annual JD E-sports Competitions. Leveraging JD’s experience in e-commerce, marketing activities such as livestream, and see-now-buy-now programs, the competitions can help connect JD with its customers. Data showed that customers frequently search game related words, such as LPL, go for it JDG team, game devices and more, on JD during the competitions. As Cui explained, “E-sports can extend a game’s life cycle, and promote sales for e-commerce platform like JD.”

Zhiqiang Cui

The Importance of the Gaming Supply Chain

A strong supply chain doesn’t only mean fast delivery and stable inventory, more importantly, it means a tailored solution based on customers’ needs. The PUBG cooperation with Tencent has proved how industry players can work together to provide a solution which provides maximum benefit for customers.

Cui shared, “Currently the game laptops is an important sub-category for JD’s computer and digital products business. JD has worked with many brands to design C2M products, which are welcomed by customers.” These C2M initiatives, which leverage JD’s inherent supply chain capabilities as well as marketing, can help manufacturers expand their product lines, and using the IP of the game to do marketing can also enhance overall sales.

“In the end, JD aims to create a platform, which can share all of the requirements from hardware, software companies and gamers, and effectively deliver a better experience.

Further Penetrating

JD has launched many offline stores to provide an omnichannel sales experience for customers, including JD Retail Experience Shops, JD Computer and Digital experience stores and more. These stores are also a place to connect game players as JD has set up full-gaming layouts in some of the locations. For example, at JD’s E-Space experience store in Chongqing, there is a special e-sports area where youngsters frequently will go and play games with their friends on the weekend, or attend events with top gamers. JD also works with internet cafés.

E-sports area inside JD’s E-Space in Chongqing, China

Looking ahead

JD has been continuously developing the gaming sector. On Dec. 18^th, the company launched an e-sports gaming phone alliance with industry partners in Sanya, Hainan province. The alliance leverages JD’s expertise in supply chain, technology, distribution, marketing and payment solutions to upgrade the gaming ecosystem, and also solidify JD’s position in it.

As technology is getting more advanced, gaming is getting more sophisticated. Daniel shared, “With new technologies such as 5G and IoT, it may be possible to develop cloud-based games. This means players will not be limited by devices, and can play games whenever and wherever they want. This will require platforms like JD to integrate resources based on supply chain capability.”

Daniel added, “I hope players in the industry can share user resources, so that gaming-related services can be delivered with more precision, attracting a group of loyal customers with a high repurchase rate. Finally, we hope to make more contributions to the whole industry.”

(ling.cao@jd.com; ella@jd.com)

JD Helps Elderly with Digital Service System in Tianjin

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 18, 2021 by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

With the sudden drop in temperatures across China’s northern region this week, JD’s robots have called and alerted elderly people in Tianjin in advance, reminding them to wear warm clothes. According to JD, the robots will provide regular calls to over 5000 elderly people who live alone in Tianjin, combined with human calls and indoor care services.

The program is part of a digital elderly service platform which JD Cloud & AI cooperated with the Hexi district of Tianjin municipal government. After a year of system construction, the platform is an integrated source to manage and update elderly people’s information in one place, such as family status and health conditions, and providing them with efficient service solutions.

One example is the one-click device (“一键通” literally means “one click and done) built for elderly customers, which is part of the overall program. In the morning of November 10^th, Ms. Weng, an elderly woman who was home alone, felt uncomfortable. Her daughter was sick and hospitalized at the time, so she immediately pressed the device for help. The residential compound’s workers and volunteers came to see her in just five minutes.

A representative from JD Cloud & AI said, “As one of the key technology providers for the program, the platform is a trial to leverage technology into services for the elderly, which on the one hand, meet the elderly people’s demands, and on the other hand, make the whole process fast, efficient and cost-effective.”

(ling.cao@jd.com)

JD Couriers Trivia and Significant Stories

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Sep 9, 2022 by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD’s couriers received over 200 appreciation letters in 2020. Behind the letters are the elderly, pregnant mothers, kids and other ordinary customers. Below are some selected stories told through the appreciation letters.

Willingness to help others

In the afternoon on August 25, 2020, Ms. Liu from Tianjin received a phone call from Ju Peng, a JD courier. Peng told Ms. Liu that he had attempted to deliver a package, but no one seemed to be at home to receive the order. Usually during this time, Liu’s elderly mother would be at home. Liu asked Peng to leave the package with her neighbor, thinking her mother might have stepped out. But after Peng hung up, he insisted on knocking on the door. After a while, Liu’s mother finally opened the door.

“[Peng] called me again and told me my mother was at home, but she seemed unwell, and suggested that I go back home as soon as possible and take her to see a doctor,” said Ms. Liu.

Ms. Liu’s appreciation letter and flag

Later that day, Liu’s mother was confirmed to have subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), which is a life-threatening type of stroke caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain. Fortunately, the surgery and a series of treatments went very well, and Ms. Liu’s mother was discharged from the hospital in late September.

“Peng Ju’s willingness to help others saved my mother’s life and my family. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Peng.” wrote Ms. Liu. I hope more people can learn from him.”

Considerate

A customer from Shanghai sent an email to JD’s customer service team, suggesting that JD “must praise Yan Lei,” a JD courier who delivers to her community compound.

A young mother wrote this mail who just gave birth recently. Every time Yan delivers a package, he contacts the customer via text message instead of making the standard phone call, and waits quietly outside, to make sure his arrival doesn’t disturb her and her baby.

The customer mentioned in the letter that sometimes Yan waits for her for over 10 minutes, and he always helps bring household waste downstairs. During the height of COVID-19, Yan helped customers to buy masks and always carried a disinfectant spray to put customers at ease during deliveries.

Trust

Another customer from Shanghai demonstrated her complete trust in JD courier Zhaohai Shi. Mrs. Wu is over 60 years old and lives alone. As she is not in good health, Wu wrote a letter to Shi with her bank card password, requesting that he withdraw money on her behalf.

“It shows Ms. Wu’s trust in me that she gave me her password,” Shi said. “And such trust makes me feel quite moved and encouraged.”

Mrs. Wu’s letter

Such stories are everyday occurrences between JD’s customers and couriers, but there have also been more extraordinary stories too.

A JD’s courier in Wuhan, Dongdong Xu, helped customers deliver vegetables to elderly parents during the lockdown. Jian Ma, head of a JD delivery station in Xinjiang, together with his other five colleagues purchased 120 soccer balls as a Children’s Day gift to a local primary school.

In September, JD couriers were awarded by China Post News overseen by State Post Bureau as “Most Beautiful Couriers”, in recognition of their hard work and beauty of character, especially during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

JD Health Provides Door-to-Door Nucleic Acid Test Service, etc

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 25, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

In cooperation with third-party testing institutions, JD Health announced plans to upgrade nucleic acid testing services on Dec. 30, with results issued in as fast as 4 hours. Also available will be door-to-door testing services, group nucleic acid testing services and food nucleic acid testing services.

The service upgrade follows recent sporadic COVID-19 cases resurfacing in Beijing as well as several provinces in China. Among them, the door-to-door sample collection service will not only enable consumers to complete the test without leaving home, but also minimize the risk of potential cross-infection. In addition, food nucleic acid testing services include testing food, agricultural products, catering utensils and more, especially for cold-chain food and restaurant tableware.

So far, consumers can book nucleic acid testing services through JD’s app in 42 cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Chengdu. Consumers can simply type in the keywords “核酸检测” (nucleic acid test) to enter into the specific page to place an order. Consumers can book the testing time online and bring their ID cards to offline institutions to receive the service and the results can be issued in as fast as 4 hours. Both individuals and groups can either choose to receive testing services at offline institutions, or receive door-to-door service.

JD Health announced the launch of a dynamic information platform on Dec. 28 to release vaccine-related news from all over the country, including the latest news on the development and availability of the COVID-19 vaccine. The platform will also offer convenient services such as vaccine Q&A, vaccine-related knowledge, and registration.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD’s Data Reveals Gift Consumption Trends

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 25, 2021 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

In a latest released report, JD analyzed consumption big data, finding patients, lovers and children to be the most important targets of Chinese gift-giving, and people born in and after 1985 becoming the major consumption force of gifts, accounting for 70% of the total number of gift-giving consumers on JD.

From a geographical perspective, Guangdong, Beijing and Jiangsu dominated the top three areas in gift consumption in 2020 in terms of spending power, with Hubei province recovering significantly in the second half of the year and again ranked among the top 10. JD’s data shows that gift consumption represents regional characteristics. For example, consumers in western China prefer to buy sports, outdoor products, beauty, and skin care products; and consumers in eastern China like to buy luxury products and jewelry; while top sales for porcelain in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, have propelled the province to lead the country in terms of consumption in the field of artwork.

According to a survey of over 1,000 people, 70% of JD consumers under 35 years old said that their major targets of gift-giving are parents, lovers and children, which account for about 25%, 20% and 17% respectively.

According to JD’s data, in addition to 618 and Single’s Day grand promotion, Valentine’s Day, Chinese Valentine’s Day (July 7 of the lunar calendar), and National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival have become the key occasions for gift consumption. Taking the consumption difference between different age groups on Chinese Valentine’s Day for example, Generation Z consumers (16-25 years old) prefer to buy sports, outdoor products and perfume and makeup, while people aged 26-35 are more likely to buy luxury goods, perfume and makeup, and consumers over 35 years old tend to buy products such as healthcare, artwork, watches and jewelry.

In terms of purchasing channels, young people prefer to shop from e-commerce platforms, accounting for 80% of the total gift consumption number; and people over 56 years old also choose to shop online thanks to JD’s logistics advantages. Quality guarantee and authenticity are the most import elements for consumers to consider, and young consumers pay more attention to exquisite packaging and customized services.

In general, gift consumption has sped up due to the consumption acceleration during the pandemic in 2020, and thanks to JD’s logistics advantages and quality guarantee.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD Continues Poverty Alleviation Efforts in Inner Mongolia

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 6, 2021 by Yuchuan Wang

by Martin Li

JD partnered with Arxan city in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on December 21 to launch a special page on its e-commerce platform to promote and sell local specialties.

The first local enterprises to have their products on the page include mineral water, food and agricultural produce companies.

JD is expected to make use of its strong supply chain capabilities to bring quality local products to more consumers across China.

It is the latest effort by JD in its poverty alleviation campaign started in 2016.

JD has helped put online over three million products from poverty-hit areas, achieving sales of over RMB 100 billion yuan and benefiting over one million poor rural households.

Wang Yunbo tends weeds on his farm.

Wang Yunbo, a farm owner in Linyi city of Shandong province, reflects that his smartest decision was to expand online with the help of JD in 2019.

Wang’s farm produced high-equality purple sweet potatoes. However, restrained by poor transportation, his potatoes could not reach beyond nearby places.

When he learned about the special page on JD to help promote local products in Linyi, he decided to give it a try.

During JD’s annual grand 618 promotion this year, Wang saw sales of his purple sweet potatoes jump 230 percent on JD, compared with the same period of last year.

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

WRC Features JD Health’s Doctors as Retail’s Frontline Heroes

Posted on Dec 30, 2020Oct 20, 2022 by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

The World Retail Congress’ end-of-year publication edition featured JD Health’s telemedicine doctors as part of the organization’s salute to retail’s frontline heroes in the fight against the COVID-19 in 2020.

“The story of retail in 2020 is of course about the massive shift online,” said the publication. “But throughout everything, the most important and incredible factor has been all of the thousands of retail employees working ‘on the frontline’… Many thousands were literally putting their jobs before their own safety. Probably for the first time, retail employees around the world were recognized as being essential workers for their role in literally ensuring that people could continue buying the products they needed.”

A handful of individual stories are included in this special edition to showcase the unbelievable work and dedication by countless people in retail who went above and beyond to service customers and support their businesses, among which JD Health’s full-time doctor Dr. Xingxing Xiao was the first highlight:

FULL TEXT OF THE STORY:

Dr. Xingxing Xiao, aged 38, had been working as a respiratory doctor in Beijing’s 301 hospital (one of the most well-known hospitals in China) for 12 years before she embraced the internet and became one of JD Health’s full-time telemedicine doctors in early January 2020.

A few weeks after she joined JD Health, COVID-19 started to hit China.

“Patients’ inquiries had flooded in. I could feel their deep anxiety and tried my best to answer their questions and calm them down,” recalled Dr. Xiao. Since the Wuhan lockdown began during the Chinese New Year, she spent two days of her holiday vacation doing nothing but responding to patients via her mobile phone.

“Nobody asked us to do so, but my colleagues and I decided to return to the office where we could work more efficiently,” she said. “On the third day of the Chinese New Year vacation, I said good-bye to my family members in my hometown and travelled over 300 kilometers from Qinhuangdao of Hebei province back to Beijing. It felt like charging towards the battlefield.”

Dr. Xingxing Xiao (first from the right) and her colleagues worked in office

during Chinese New Year Festival (photo provided by Dr. Xiao)

While doctors in the hospital fought the virus by saving people’s lives, telemedicine doctors supported the fight through their relentless work to provide people professional medical knowledge and mental support, easing their uncertainty.

During the toughest period, Dr. Xiao and her over 300 colleagues handled upwards of 150,000 patient interactions everyday – equivalent to 500 interactions per doctor, per day.

Since there was limited information about the virus, doctors had to first learn and then explain information to the public. Dr. Xiao volunteered to join dozens of livestream events to promote health and medical advice to over one million viewers.

JD Health’s full-time telemedicine doctors at work

“Seeing the virus situation stabilize in China now, I feel hugely proud of what we did. My family, especially my two lovely children, my 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, are now my biggest fans and loyal users of JD’s services.”

Thanks to these telemedicine doctors’ hard work during COVID-19, more and more Chinese people now turn to JD Health for healthcare support, or to JD’s online pharmacy to buy medicine. They can enjoy delivery by JD Logistics within as fast as 30 minutes.

Read more about JD Health and the stories of its telemedicine doctors.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)