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by Ling Cao

Leveraging long-term cooperation with brand partners, two gaming cellphones will be launched on JD.com this week.

One is iQOO 7, which is the official cellphone for KPL (King Pro League) e-sports, and will be available on Jan. 15. The cellphone is from iQOO, a sub-brand under vivo, China’s cellphone brand. In addition to service and accessories that come with purchasing the new cellphone, JD will provide other benefits including a special trade-in policy.

Another cellphone is Huawei’s nova8 ProX, which launched on JD today (Jan. 13). This is a KPL tailored cellphone that will be sold in a special set, including a tailored cellphone case, charger and other accessories. The new cellphone can provide a 4D immersive experience for gamers, such as enabling gamers to experience a sense of vibration according to the game reaction.

JD has long explored the potential for the gaming industry. In July last year, JD cooperated with a Tencent game, Black Shark, Lenovo and hardware suppliers, operators, as well as livestream platforms to jointly launch the JD Esports plan, promoting development for the industry, and aiming to provide a better experience for customers.

Daniel Tan, president of JD Mobile Devices said, “Games have become one of the best ways to relax and socialize for younger generations. They can also work as a bridge to increase JD’s brand awareness, attracting gamers to search for gaming devices and equipment on JD. By entering deeply into e-sports, we hope to make more contributions to this industry.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

by Vivian Yang

China Entrepreneur Magazine published its first cover story in 2021 on January 5th, focusing on the topic of Chinese factories’ “C2M” movement, and recognizing that the Customer-to-Manufacturer model is becoming an important force in driving the digital transformation of factories, with COVID-19 being an accelerator of this trend.

The article, having been widely reposted and discussed on multiple media platforms, argued that e-commerce companies like JD.com and other main players on the market which have accumulated years of data, traffic, consumer’s insights and marketing means are in a race to use C2M to engage factories in China and transform them for flexible manufacturing.

“A factory revolution is happening,” said Zhenhong He, president of China Entrepreneur Magazine. “E-commerce companies, manufacturing enterprises and tech companies are the three main forces amid the race to grab factory resources in China right now.”

Behind the race for factories is a RMB 40 trillion yuan available market. Data of the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China’s total economic output in 2019 was close to RMB 100 trillion yuan, in which the industrial sector contributed 39%, or near RMB 40 trillion yuan. However, internet technologies have a very low penetration rate so far in this market, presenting an enormous opportunity for a “factory revolution”.

A study on innovation conducted by Clayton Christensen (1952-2020), the late Harvard Business School professor and the founder of the theory of “disruptive innovation” shows that only 5% of new products developed by most companies will achieve market success, while the R&D expenditures on new products can take up 50% of these companies’ total budget.

The 5% vs 50% finding resonated strongly with Dr. Bowen Zhou, chair of the JD Technology Committee: “If a company does not develop new products, it will lose market and die; but if they go for innovation, the chance for success is merely 5%. This is the deepest pain point of innovation.”

According to Zhou, JD’s technologies will help its partners to shorten more than 80% of the time to market for their new C2M products.

“We aim to build a C2M technology that is fully powered by AI, including using AI to understand customers’ potential demands, simulating users’ reactions through a neural network, and simulating the evolution of the C2M products through another neural network,” explained Zhou.

In the eyes of Dr. Jianwen Liao, Chief Strategy Officer of JD.com, C2M is the ultimate model of a mature supply chain. “Changes are happening every year in the retail industry, but the supply chain will remain unchanged. Looking across the world, most of the leading retail companies all have strong abilities in integrating the supply chain.”

Today, JD Retail manages more than 5 million SKUs and operates over 700 warehouses, with inventory turnover rate as low as 34 days, a remarkable supply chain efficiency given its scale, and the rate continues to improve.

The report noted two characteristics of C2M supply chain innovations: one is to organize products’ design and manufacturing based on consumers’ demands; the other is to minimize the intermediaries between manufacturers and end users. Zhou said that JD keeps leveraging its technologies in AI, 5G, IoT, Cloud and more to build intelligent C2M factories which can effectively connect the whole chain of production, circulation and services.

JD launched its private label brand Jing Zao in collaboration with partnered manufacturers in 2018, followed by a series of initiatives in 2019 including detailed guidance for brand partners on making products with reverse customization, customized C2M services for customers’ clothes orders, a dedicated C2M online channel for direct-from-factory products and more.

Among the total of 6.7 million manufacturing factories cross China, their level of digitalization is less than 20% at present. With the growth of their digitalization, more small and medium-sized factories will be able to connect with greater market demands, which will in turn create more opportunities for the development C2M model, the report said.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

by Rachel Liu

JD Super, JD’s online supermarket, recently worked with French brand Biostime to launch Terroir infant milk powder for 12-to-36 month babies on JD.

The milk that the new Biostime Terroir product uses originates from Poitou-Charentes region of France, one of the only two AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée, one of the four origin and quality labels recognized in Europe) recognized origins in the country. It also adopts Biostime’s unique SN-2PLUS breast milk fat optimization technology to make the milk powder more similar to breast milk.

The product also adds GOS probiotics and lactose, which helps balance the intestinal flora of babies, and nucleotides which can help improve immunity.

Fengting Li, China CEO of H&H Group said: “Terroir is an important product for us in e-commerce channels. Biostime will work with JD Super to provide healthier and high-quality products for Chinese consumers.”

Biostime joined JD in 2014. The brand debuted the Terroir series on JD in 2018. JD Super has a large group of quality customers, and leverages its advantages in big data and customer operations to help Biostime continuously improve its performance as the brand continues to grow in the China market. In Q3 2020, sales of Biostime milk powder increased 12.6% in China. “JD Super will continue to support Biostime through exploring new channels and lower-tier markets, as well as marketing opportunities,” said Lizhen Liu, general manager of JD FMCG.

 

(liuchang61@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

370,000 membership cards were sold in 10 minutes during the JD PLUS Annual Grand Promotion held on Jan. 8. Newly registered members increased 65% YOY. JD PLUS is JD’s premium membership program. Data showed that transaction volume from PLUS members increased nearly 60% YOY, and lifestyle privileges redeemed by members increased 441% YOY.

JD provided a wide range of benefits and discounts from Jan. 2 to 8. Benefits include 720 brands providing 5% discounts for members purchasing products on JD, and special deals on millions of products on JD. The best-selling products were Chilean cherries, Yili Satine milk and JD Health services. The top three cities by transaction volume were Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

Other popular privileges include the options to purchase a hamburger for RMB 1 yuan, as well as movie tickets, and coffee and milk coupons.

Chunhui Meng, head of JD PLUS said, “Since its launch in 2015. JD PLUS has continuously upgraded membership benefits by partnering with brands. We aim to create new value for JD, brands and our members.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)