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JD.com Included in 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

Leading supply chain-based technology and service provider JD.com is included in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), which was announced on January 31. It is the first time the company has been listed in the index.

Pang Zhang, Chief Human Resources Officer of JD.com, said, “We are pleased to be included in the 2023 GEI, which is a welcomed recognition of JD.com’s progress in building diversity and inclusion. We deeply believe that employees’ development should not be limited by gender and that their growth should take precedence over business success.”

“By offering an equal, diverse, inclusive environment with long-term development opportunities that help employees gain a sense of belonging and happiness, a company is bound to generate greater value for the whole society,” she added.

The GEI brings transparency to gender-related practices and policies at listed companies, increasing the breadth of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data available to investors. The reference index evaluates companies across five pillars: leadership & talent pipeline, equal pay & gender pay parity, inclusive culture, anti-sexual harassment policies, and external brand. JD.com scored high in particular on the second and fourth pillars in this year’s evaluation.

JD.com’s 2021 ESG Report stated that the company adheres to the principles of openness, fairness, impartiality and equal recruitment; actively provides employment opportunities for disabled groups; guarantees the rights of female employees; ensures that male and female employee enjoy equal pay for equal work, and more. One such example is JD Retail’s special program known as the “Sunshine Angels,” which aims to provide physically challenged people with online customer service job opportunities. The program currently employs women in 70 percent of core roles, and was recognized by APEC Women Leadership Forum as one of the best innovation practices in women’s empowerment in 2023.

A member of JD “Sunshine Angles” team takes a customer’s call

JD.com highly values female talent and commits to their safety, health and growth. According to JD’s ESG Report in 2021, more than 10,000 female employees received various kinds of trainings on self-development, management skills, technological briefings and more. Meanwhile, the company also provides lactation rooms, parking space and other care facilities for pregnant women, as well as nursery and kindergarten services for employees at its headquarters  which have benefited thousands of employees.

A playground for employees’ children inside JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing

Last November, JD.com announced that it would add RMB 10 billion yuan to its employee housing fund, and also expand its relief fund for employees’ children. JD.com has promised its employees that if, for whatever reason, they encounter misfortune that leads to incapacity or loss of life, the company’s fund will support their children’s living and education up to 22 years old, the age they would graduate from college.

The 2023 GEI reaches globally to represent 45 countries and regions and included 484 companies that scored at or above a global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect disclosure and the achievement or adoption of best-in-class statistics and policies.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

Posted in ESG

Chinese Spring Festival 2023 Consumption Trends: “3R” Food, Routine Shopping and More

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

Among the most prominent consumption trends during this Chinese new year holiday period (from January 21-27) were the continued booming of “3R” food, diversified and routine e-shopping categories, and the vast potential in the lower-tier markets, according to a report prepared by JD.com’s Consumption and Industry Development Research Institute.

“3R” food (short for “ready-to-cook”, “ready-to-heat” and “ready-to-eat” food) saw six-fold growth in transaction volume year over year during this period.

Food is an essential element of Chinese Spring Festival celebrations. With the 3R industry thriving in China in recent years, more and more Chinese families are choosing to order 3R dishes to enrich their reunion meals, especially meaningful holiday dishes such as chicken soup with fish maw; those with complex preparations such as Sichuan-style fish filets with pickled vegetables; and those that require special cooking skills, such as the delicacy known as “Buddha jumps over the wall,” which requires hours to simmer a variety of seafood, meat, and other nutritious ingredients.

The report also noted that with the normalization of non-stop delivery service during the festival, Chinese consumers are accustomed to ordering all kinds of “routine” products during the festival period. The transaction volume of mobile phones, home appliances, and health products on JD.com all witnessed substantial increases. (This year marks the 11th year in a row that JD Logistics has offered non-stop delivery service during Chinese New Year.)

Meanwhile, after-sales services have been in hot demand during the holiday, such as mobile phone warranty service (up by 296 percent YoY), home appliance repairs (83 percent) and home cleaning (302 percent).

Consumers’ shopping preferences vary in different tiers of cities. The report found that during the spring festival period, consumers living in higher-tier markets shopped for a lot of fresh food, flowers and pet supplies on JD.com, while those from lower-tier markets bought more mobile phones, home appliances, furnishing and decoration products. This is reflective of the trickle-down effect by which young people returning to their homes from big cities during the holiday are spreading their online shopping habits to their relatives and friends in villages and towns, and enabling more people to enjoy the convenience and quality goods that e-commerce offers, according to the report.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

Ambassadors Experience Chinese New Year Shopping and Meal at JD.com

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

 

During JD.com’s Chinese New Year (CNY) Grand Promotion in the past two weeks, ambassadors and diplomats to China from 15 countries including Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Uruguay and others sent their best wishes through videos and livestreaming to consumers at JD.com, while they enthusiastically recommended their countries’ specialties as Chinese people engage in the Spring Festival shopping.

It is a tradition for Chinese people to make special purchases – food in particular, ahead of the Spring Festival(CNY’s Day) with the highlight of a multi-course family dinner on the eve of the new year, which will fall on January 22 this year， ushering in the Chinese lunar new year of the rabbit.

A Chinese meal with imported food and wine

Ambassadors from Thailand, Moldova and Denmark visited SEVEN FRESH, the omni-channel grocery store under JD.com to personally experience the festival preparation atmosphere with local Beijing residents, and enjoyed a special Chinese-style banquet, on January 10, 2023.

Designed by William Wu, the star chef of SEVEN FRESH, the menu manifested the fusion of Chinese tastes with a variety of imported ingredients from countries the ambassadors represent, including black tiger prawns and rice from Thailand, pork from Denmark and wines from Moldova.

Moldovan ambassador to China H.E. Dumitru Braghis was delighted to invite all guests to appreciate the color and flavor of the wines and explained Moldova’s well-established wine industry and long history that offers classic quality wines for Chinese consumers’ choices.

“It’s simply astonishing what you can buy online here in China,” marveled H.E. Dorthe Lange, ambassador-rank Deputy Head of Mission of Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark at the variety of products from all over the world that are available for Chinese customers. Besides the famous Danish butter cookies, Ms. Lange also recommended Danish seafood, pork products and beers as good choices for new year grocery shopping.

Thai ambassador H.E. Atthayut Srisamoot and his wife Mrs.Kamoltip Srisamoot showed more familiarity with Chinese cuisine and the trend of ready-to-eat food. They recommended all kinds of Thai curries, Tom Yum Kung and other prepared cooking products with which customers can easily make delicious Thai dishes at home.

National pavilions and imported live lobsters 

With the development of international cold-chain logistics, JD.com has been enhancing efforts in importing more fresh products globally to meet the increasing demand from Chinese consumers. During this year’s CNY sales, the transaction volume of frozen products directly procured by JD Fresh saw strong growth compared with the sales data from last year’s shopping festival, such as black tiger prawns from Thailand (up by 2 times), beef from Argentina (up by4 times), shrimps from Greenland of Denmark(up by 6 times), whereas the transaction volume of live lobsters jumped over 10 times compared with last month. These lobsters are harvested ashore from Canada and delivered to Chinese consumers in as soon as 17 hours through JD’s e-commerce platform, fresh and at a good price.

To facilitate more high-quality products to access the Chinese market, JD.com introduced the National Pavilions project which is supported by embassies, trade associations, and other official institutions, to serve as a window for products of each country to be more identifiable all in one portal and help merchants to test the water of the Chinese market. As of now, nearly 100 national pavilions are set up on JD.com, greatly enriching Chinese consumers’ shopping choices for the new year as strong sales are seen on Italian olive oil, Cyprus’ blue wine, South American mate drink and many more products.

This year marks the 11th year in a row that JD Logistics commits to non-stop delivery service during the CNY holidays, as part of the company’s commitment to satisfy consumers whenever and wherever they need.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

JD.com and APEC Women Leadership Forum Co-Launch Report on Women’s Contributions to Sustainable Consumption and Production

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

APEC Women Leadership Forum, the premier platform on fostering women’s economic empowerment among the 21 economies of the Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and JD.com co-launched the “APEC Report: Observation of Women’s Value in Sustainable Consumption and Production,”  on January 14 in Sanya Hainan province, which adopted extensive surveys and consumption data to examine the role of women as both producers and consumers in advancing sustainability.

The report found that women instinctively lead the green consumption path with their actions, and their shopping choices often determine the consumption patterns of each household. Meanwhile, women demonstrate prominent leadership in driving the “Sustainability/ SDG / CSR” fields in the corporate world.

Shopping greener “before you know it”

Based on the results of a survey conducted by JD.com’s Consumption and Industry Development Institute on over 2,000 respondents on the topic of responsible consumption, women weigh “environmentally friendly” as a much higher consideration than men when considering products. In fact, it is the only factor on which they outscored men, whereas the latter showed comparatively more concerns for other factors such as brand, culture, and price.

Interestingly, when being asked about the concept and their understanding of sustainable consumption, female respondents gave themselves more moderate ratings than male did, with only 49.75 percent choosing “understand very well” and “understand,” while 31.19 percent opted for “not sure.” However, their feedback on actual shopping choices unveiled a stronger tendency towards energy-saving, trade-in, replaceable and recyclable products, especially in the categories of home appliances, furnishing and decorations, office supplies, car accessories, footwear, health products and more. These results demonstrate that women may have a deeper understanding about the concept of sustainable consumption than they give themselves credit for, as they are more likely to choose sustainable products instinctively.

When asked, “Which player is more important in promoting sustainable consumption?” Forty-four percent of female respondents chose “consumers” over “product makers” （30 percent）, and “circulators” (27 percent). Female respondents also showed higher approval of producers for behavior categories including offering job opportunities, supporting disadvantaged groups, proper waste handling and more.

Shaping sustainable producers with “SHE Power”

With more and more enterprises setting up the dedicated function of “Sustainability/ SDG /CSR,” the role to implement these initiatives is mainly led by women, accounting for over 60 percent in surveyed companies that have set up such dedicated departments, and 82 percent in other companies that have relevant positions, according to APEC Women Leadership Forum’s research on women business leaders, in a new attempt to study women’s role as producers in sustainable consumption.

According to the surveys on which the report is based, women leaders demonstrate stronger focus on long-term value and innovation for sustainable solutions, with respondents expressing that they started formulating relevant thinking 6 to 10 years ago (30 percent). A majority are driven by the factors of “enterprise development need” (76 percent), “inspired by global trends” (73 percent), and “guided by domestic policies” (73 percent).

The report also noted that it is urgent for the whole society to enhance awareness of responsible consumption and production amid global uncertainties in order to continue making progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal. Meanwhile, how to strike a balance between the Goal and enterprise ROI, and the lack of unified ESG standards, talents and corporate capacities, all pose threats to this course.

As a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, JD.com is committed to collaborating with upstream and downstream partners and the whole society to collectively build a more productive and sustainable world. JD.com’s green supply chain efforts, known as the “Green Stream Initiative,” have so far engaged more than 300,000 enterprises in carbon reduction activities ranging from packaging, warehousing, transportation, product recycling and more. On the demand side, the company introduced the “Green Impact Initiative” in May 2022, which made nearly a million kinds of products on its platform more identifiable with environmentally-friendly labels, in order to raise awareness among its hundreds of millions users.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

 

JD Chinese New Year Grand Promotion Trends: “Realistic” Shopping and More

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Tong Shen

During this year’s JD Chinese New Year Grand Promotion, total 34 days from December 26 to January 28, consumers are displaying strong preferences for gifts that demonstrate care for their loved ones and more, all while prioritizing a more “practical” approach to shopping, according to a report based on sales figures and relevant surveys conducted during the first two weeks of the Promotion.

This year, the promotion covers a wide range of products and empowers merchants with more efficient traffic, more effective marketing, and simpler ways to participate, uniting more brands and merchants to bring consumers a one-stop shopping experience with attractive discounts.

The report captured various trends:

  • Festive atmosphere

According to the survey, most consumers are highly focused on the pursuit of creating a festive atmosphere this year: 82.2 percent of consumers said they would purchase traditional food and specialties, while 59.9 percent of consumers said they were willing to buy festive decorations such as CNY couplets, traditional paintings, paper cuttings and other products.

  • Care products

Over 70 percent of consumers said they would buy products that demonstrate care for their parents, such as nutritional products, wine and pastries; while 27.7 percent of consumers said they would buy products for children such as educational books. Care has become a hot topic of consumption, and 33.2 percent of consumers said they would focus more on age-friendly and healthcare products this year.

It is worth noting that 14.9 percent of consumers expressed their willingness to buy smart home devices during CNY promotion, such as sweeping robots and other products, which reflects consumers’ demand for upgrading quality of life for family.

  • “Rational consumption”

Nearly 80 percent of consumers are demonstrating more rational shopping behavior this year. In addition, 78.7 percent of consumers said that this year they tend to shop within their means; while 36.6 percent of consumers said they will give priority to cost and practicality; and 28.2 percent of consumers said that beyond price they will also consider quality, service, and after-sales terms.

It is worth noting that 12.4 percent of consumers said they would follow the new trends emerging in big cities, such as smarter, more environmentally friendly products with more segmented demand, which to a certain extent is driving the popular products in first-tier cities to enter the lower-tier markets.

  • New consumption trends driven by JD

Hourly Purchase

According to the sales figures of JD Shop Now, JD’s on-demand retail business that offers delivery within one-hour, from December 29 to January 4, sales increased by nearly 70 percent YoY. Compared to the previous month, dried meat gift boxes, cookie gift boxes, baijiu gift boxes, and low-temperature cooked food gift boxes increased by 10 times; while pickled and preserved food gift boxes, dried fruits and nuts gift boxes, and fruit gift boxes increased by 8 times.

Ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat

Statistics show that both ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat meals have been selling well during the CNY promotion. Sales of Chinese delicatessen items have increased 450 percent, and Western delicatessen products have increased 400 percent, frozen semi-finished meals have increased 200 percent, and fresh-cut vegetables have increased 50% YoY.

 

(press@jd.com)

 

JD.com Recognized for Best Practice of Women Empowerment by APEC

Posted on by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang and Tong Shen

JD.com was recognized among those with the best innovation practices in women’s empowerment by the APEC Women’s Leadership Forum, which was held on January 14 in Sanya, China. The recognition was given based on JD Retail’s special program, known as the “Sunshine Angels,” which aims to provide physically challenged people with online customer service job opportunities with an energetic team led by women leaders.

Encouraging gender equality, enhancing women’s rights and abilities, and engaging them in the development of digital economies were among the main considerations of the APEC jury while assessing each case submitted for this year’s final nominees.

The “Sunshine Angels” program was selected mainly for its inclusiveness toward physically challenged female employees in the fast-growing e-commerce industry, enabling them not only gain confidence in themselves, but also create value for society, which is in line with the UN’s SDG to promote sustainable consumption and production.

At present, the “Sunshine Angels” team has expanded from 12 to nearly 100 people, with women accounting for 70 percent of the core members, contributing greatly to the team’s strength. The following two stories of team members shed some light on how the program raises women up in their professions and beyond.

Inclusiveness and equality

Huili Song is a congenital cleft lip and palate patient, with dysphonia. She had been rejected more than 40 times for jobs before becoming a JD.com online customer service representative in the “Sunshine Angels” Project. According to Song, the compensation and benefits, promotion opportunities, training programs, and other benefits that are same as non-disabled employees have boosted her self-esteem and ambition. Despite her struggles with pronunciation, her gift of articulate communication has been fully demonstrated and brought into play through typing in her current role. She has placed 1st in performance for six consecutive months, demonstrating her excellent work ethic and potential to be cultivated as a leader.

Concerning the physical protection and mental support of the “Sunshine Angels,” JD has set up exclusive barrier-free facilities in office areas, restaurants, dormitories and washrooms etc., and regular gatherings and counseling are provided at no charge.

In addition, JD.com has continued co-working with third parties to enrich employment for physically challenged people, and has provided technical training for thousands of individuals so far.

For example, in 2017, JD cooperated with China Foundation for Disabled Persons (CFDP) and L’Oreal Group to provide a variety of support options for physically challenged people, such as counseling, employment training and diversified job positions, ultimately helping 400 such individuals get  their jobs.

Regain confidence in life even when struggling

On the “Sunshine Angels” team, there are many women who are keen to participate in voluntary activities, using their own personal experiences to inspire more people who struggle with physical challenges. Shenghua Luo, who cannot walk normally due to a congenital disease, has taken the initiative to participate in more than 800 voluntary activities to make a difference and has set an example for many physically challenged people with her optimistic attitude towards life, helping more than 100 physically challenged people to regain their confidence in life.

During the past ten years, through working with JD.com, more and more “Sunshine Angels” have replenished their hope, recognized their own value, had more control over their lives, and provide services to society.

 

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

JD to Provide RMB 500 Million Allowances to Front-line Workers during Chinese New Year

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

2023 marks the eleventh year that JD.com will provide standard delivery service during the Chinese New Year holiday, in 366 cities and 1,700 districts and counties across China. JD Logistics has announced that it will provide RMB 500 million in allowances to front-line workers who opt to working during the holiday, ensuring benefits higher than the national standard.

The allowances will also be used for a family gathering program that enables employees’ kids to travel from other places to visit their parents working away from home. This program, which was announced in 2014 by Chairman Richard Liu, gives employees who live apart from their children a special cash payment so that the children can travel to visit their parents during the CNY holiday. Later the program was extended to childless employees as an extra stipend for their holiday work.

Hui Liu is a female courier in Beijing, and she was the first employee on her team to apply for working during the holiday. She plans to bring her two children from Handan, Hebei province to Beijing to celebrate the Year of Rabbit. “My husband also supports my decision,” she said. “Apart from all kinds of allowances, I can also earn thousands of extra RMB.”

For these employees, JD Logistics will also offer a more flexible rotation policy so that they can enjoy vacations before or after the week-long national holiday. Jiquan Zang, a courier in Beijing, recently visited his parents-in-law before the holiday; Binbin Cui, a courier in Qinghai province plans to go back to his hometown in Henan province on the day of Lantern Festival, which is 14 days after the Chinese New Year’s Day; Wenxiong Chen, a courier in Fujian province, has promised his daughter to bring her to visit the ancient city of Licheng after this holiday.

Eleven years ago, JD.com was the first e-commerce company in China to commit to delivery during CNY, featuring standard service without delays or extra fees. This year, Deppon Logistics will also join JD Logistics in securing delivery. Moreover, 600 autonomous vehicles and over 100 indoor robots will also join the crew to fulfill last-mile delivery in 30 cities in China.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

JD.com Selected as Franz Edelman Award Finalist for Responsible Supply Chain

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

JD.com was selected by INFORMS as a finalist for the 52nd annual Franz Edelman Awards, the world’s most prestigious honor for achievements in analytics and operations research (O.R.). The company has been recognized for its advanced research and application of a responsible supply chain that facilitates JD to achieve three levels of superior performances, including daily operational excellence, resiliency under disruption and value creation for the ecosystem, according to a press release by INFORMS on January 17.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the retail industry, causing supply chain disruptions to different parties within the ecosystem. JD-Y, JD.com’s smart supply chain research body, developed a collaborative and holistic supply chain solution to mitigate the disruptions.

From the retailers’ end, based on AI deep learning, JD-Y’s “End-to-end Optimization” offers an optimal automated replenishment plan that provides almost certain forecasts even under uncertain conditions. It leverages enormous historical data, deep learning technology, inventory strategy and more, to enable better decision-making process and supply chain operations. Based on this end-to-end solution, JD.com has achieved an automated procurement rate of 85 percent, an online availability of 95 percent and 31.5-day turnover days while owning over 10 million SKUs.

From the consumers’ end, emergencies such as the pandemic can result in delayed fulfillment due to closure of roads, shortage in labor, skyrocketing order volume and more. JD-Y’s “Intelligent Risk Management System” can detect and identify the risks and disruptions even before they take place, rank their severity and coordinate the whole supply chain at the same time to allocate and ensure supplies catch up with demand and reach end-consumers effectively. This system helped JD.com rank No.2 on Fortune’s 2022 Change the World List for its efforts in delivering essential supplies during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

From the manufacturers’ end, given the fact the chain is long and there are several intermediate links between the manufacturer and consumers, it is hard for manufacturers to accurately and quickly capture the demand. Additionally, the bull-whip effect usually increases the inventory cost. More efficient product development and operation are crucial especially during disruptions, because the resources and cash flow are more limited. JD-Y’s C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) solution helps manufacturers improve their overall efficiency, from product design, intelligent production planning, to inventory planning and sales strategies. It has been proved to enable manufacturers to reduce product launch time by 67 percent.

Named after Franz Edelman (who established one of the earliest industrial operations research and management science groups) shortly after his death in 1982, the award aims to recognize and reward global outstanding examples of operations research, management science, and advanced analytics in practice.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)