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JD Health Provides Free Online Consultation Targeting 60 Million Chinese Overseas

Posted on Mar 17, 2020Oct 23, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

JD Health announced the launch of a free online medical consultation platform today. The platform, which is in Chinese, targets more than 60 million Chinese living overseas.

It features doctors and medical experts with rich frontline experience in fighting against COVID-19, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experts and physicians who can offer services in both English and Chinese.

As of 11 am Beijing Time on March 17^th, according to Chinese official data, more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in over 150 countries and regions around the world, excluding China. JD Health integrated its medical resources and technology to bring the innovative medical services to overseas Chinese as the global epidemic situation is escalating. Patients simply need to type in key words “全球抗疫” in JD’s app to log onto the platform.

Free Online Medical Consultation for Overseas Chinese

Doctors from Frontline

A member of the medical staff who volunteering in the epicenter in Hubei province, Jinwei Yin is not only a full-time doctor from Xishan People’s Hospital in Wuxi City, Jiangsu province，but also a part-time doctor working for JD Health. He is also one of the first batch of 38 doctors who volunteered to offer free online medical consultation to help overseas Chinese on JD’s consultation platform.

“We pick up our cell phones as soon as we take off our protective clothing, hoping to provide overseas compatriots with our first-hand experience in the fight against the epidemic and offer them professional and practical medical advice they really need at this stage,” said Yin.

Jinwei Yin Working in Isolation Ward

TCM Experts & Bilingual Services

The online consultation platform has gathered more than 300 doctors from different clinical departments, including infectious disease and respiratory departments, among which over 30 are TCM experts to offer guidance on traditional medicine to overseas Chinese.

Although the platform’s interface itself is in Chinese, the platform does offer some bilingual services. Nearly 20 doctors are able to provide free consultation services in both English and Chinese.

JD Health also offers a free hotline service, 400-622-6108, in Chinese for people who need psychological support.

“Our overseas compatriots have been concerned about China and donated money and supplies to help us over the past two months. They are now facing unprecedented challenges since the disease is accelerating. We’re feeling the same and want to help them out,” said Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health.

As early as January 26th, JD Health launched a free online consultation platform within JD’s app for people who suffer from COVID-19 related symptoms in China. The platform expanded its services to cover all diseases on Feb. 6^th. So far, the online consultation platform has offered services to over 5 million Chinese consumers with the number of daily consultations exceeding 120,000.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

World Economic Forum Highlights JD’s Use of Drones in COVID-19 Fight

Posted on Mar 17, 2020Sep 16, 2022 by Ella Kidron

by Ella Kidron

An article published by the World Economic Forum’s Agenda blog featured JD’s use of drones in the COVID-19 fight. The article, “3 ways China is using drones to fight coronavirus,” focuses on how China has been piloting ways to incorporate drones into the response to the virus. It also mentions that these efforts may serve as a model for other countries.

The article mentions JD’s use of drones to address delivery challenges to isolated areas during the epidemic period. It writes, “With the support of the local government, e-commerce company JD deployed its drone team. That team quickly conducted ground surveys, designed flight corridors, requested airspace access permission and conducted final flight tests. In just a few days, several drone delivery corridors were put in place replacing hours-long drives with a 2 km flight that could be completed in just 10 minutes.”

JD opened a drone route to Baiyang Lake in Hebei province during the coronavirus period, completing the first delivery on Feb. 7^th. Previously, couriers would deliver packages to the village by boat, but this route was temporarily suspended due to the virus. Without drones it would have required couriers to detour over 100 km to deliver via land-based routes. With JD’s drone program, the drones drop parcels at a fixed point. In this case, customers were able to pick them up without human-to-human contact, better protecting both customers and JD couriers.

JD has also used drones to spray disinfectant, helping strengthen protective measures against the coronavirus. With a flight radius of 5km, using drones enables the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia to cover a wider and more thorough area than they would be able to cover with human personnel, in a shorter period of time.

(ella@jd.com)

Third Party View: Competitors Collaborate: Gome launches flagship store on JD.com

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Oct 7, 2021 by Ella Kidron

by Jiong-jiong Yu, Senior Retail Analyst, IGD

A move underscores a shift in China’s retail industry.

Leverage each other’s strengths

Gome, China’s major brick-and-mortar retailer of home appliances and electronics, launched a third-party flagship store on JD.com last week.

Gome, with a net revenue of US$9bn in 2019, sells high end products that would be traditionally sold offline only.

This partnership sees the two parties leverage each other’s strengths. Gome can expand its customer reach by tapping into JD.com’s 360 million active annual users. It can also increase its product range through JD.com’s supply chain. JD.com will be able to enrich its offering via Gome’s large amount of high-end products that are traditionally sold offline, further enhancing its attractiveness to users.

As part of this partnership, JD will provide data, technology and customer service-related support to the Gome online store.

Competitors seeking common ground

JD.com and Guomei would be traditionally be considered competitors. The new partnership underscores a shift in China’s retail industry where competitors are finding common ground to collaborate.

Walmart is also a strategic partner of JD.com. Walmart sold its online business, Yihaodian, to JD.com in 2016 through an alliance agreement. For Walmart, the alliance greatly expands its omnichannel opportunities, enabling the one-hour home delivery service and contributing to its good performance in China.

This article originally appeared on IGD.com, here: https://retailanalysis.igd.com/news/news-article/t/competitors-collaborate-gome-launches-flagship-store-on-jdcom/i/24497

Wall Street Journal Highlights JD’s Omnichannel Fulfillment Program

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Nov 9, 2022 by Yuchuan Wang

by Ella Kidron

A Wall Street Journal article, “How China kept its supermarkets stocked as coronavirus raged,” published on March 13^th, highlighted the role of JD’s supply chain innovation program, Omnichannel Fulfillment, in ensuring supply of necessities during COVID19. The story provides a comprehensive picture of food supply by private and public institutions during the epidemic period.

The article writes, “JD.com said that when inventories in its warehouses for products like rice, flour and oil started getting tight, it was able to source additional supplies from offline businesses – including mom and pop stores – that were open and closest to customers.” Since demand for these products is generally higher offline in normal circumstances, when the majority of people were remaining in their homes at the start of virus the outbreak, JD turned to its Omnichannel Fulfillment supply chain innovation program.

When a consumer places an order online, the platform matches the order with offline supply closest to the customer in real-time, and then arranges for a courier to deliver to the consumer among the most efficient route. Instead of relying solely on the stock in JD’s warehouses, the omnichannel fulfillment platform will calculate which brick and mortar stores nearest to the customer has the items in stock, and then source the inventory from there, both ensuring supply and delivery speed.

The article also mentions that, “Private companies, including JD.com Inc. and Walmart Inc., rerouted trucks and located supplies that otherwise might not have made it to market.” Early on in the outbreak, JD established a special channel to provide fast aid to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, from across the country. At the same time, the company relies on priority logistics channels to distribute a variety of materials. The goal is to ensure the fastest delivery of the most urgent materials while ensuring the maximum utilization of limited capacity resources. JD also implemented re-routing and inventory planning schemes to avoid goods that need to go to other regions from having to be transferred or sourced via Wuhan, reducing bottlenecks in getting emergency goods to Hubei province.

At the same time, JD launched “Mobile Fresh Basket” to provide a convenient and reliable way for people in Hubei province to get fresh produce that was already around them instead of it having to come from elsewhere. Mobile Fresh Basket sources from three channels for the produce: JD’s Friends Shop Program – a group buying mini program for communities, B2C inner city distribution of fresh products directly from wholesale markets to housing compounds, and government partnerships with agricultural enterprises. JD Logistics picks up the produce and delivers it directly to residential compounds. Following an initial launch in Hubei, Mobile Fresh Basket has expanded to over 50 cities.

(ella@jd.com)

JD’s “Online-Clubbing” Drives Liquor Sales

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Oct 4, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Rachel Liu

JD has teamed up with Taihe Music Group and multiple international liquor brands to bring entertainment online and drive liquor sales.

Budweiser, Rémy Martin, Carlsberg and Pernod Ricard have joined the program. It is the first time for these brands to join such a promotion, and they have seen great sales performance thus far. During one of the live shows, sales of imported liquor from a single partner brand increased 70%, and sales of its whiskey products increased 8 times compared with the same period on the day before. During another show, sales of beer increased 40% compared with the same period of the day before.

Every week, JD invites musicians and DJs from Taihe to hold a three-hour live show through JD Live, and introduce liquor products which viewers can buy with a single click. COVID-19 outbreak has caused many clubs and bars to shut down, which limits people’s choices of entertainment. As a result, “online clubbing” and “online gathering” have become popular choices for fun-seeking people, especially among youngsters at their 20s. Online versions of other traditionally offline activities such as online travel, museum visits and theater performances have also emerged.

Seeing the trend, JD decided to move the entertainment online and leverage these sessions to promote liquor products. By combining online shopping experience and entertainment, JD not only provides customers a new way to shop, but also drives sales for liquor brands which are impacted by the shutdown of offline channels.

JD will continue to leverage live broadcasts of music performance in clubs, live houses and even music festivals for products marketing, making it a long-term program to enrich customers’ shopping experience. It will also open to other categories besides liquor.

(liuchang61@jd.com)

The Economist Spotlights JD Health’s Telemedicine Efforts during COVID-19

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Oct 14, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

The Economist highlighted JD Health’s contribution to fight against the COVID and its irreplaceable role in the industry in the March 7^th-13^th, 2020 issue of the magazine. The report mentions that the novel coronavirus is boosting a fledgling industry – telemedicine – as millions of Chinese are seeking treatment and advice on the internet.

The story states that COVID-19, like SARS, proving a blessing for e-commerce, is also providing space for the telemedicine industry to grow. It quoted Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health, as saying that the monthly consultations for JD’s Internet Hospital platform have grown tenfold since the outbreak, to 2 million. Some 1.6 million tuned in to a talk by a top cardiologist that the JD.com subsidiary live-streamed.

The Economist explains that at first both authorities and Chinese consumers were quite cautious towards telemedicine, and reluctant to embrace it before COVID-19. However, COVID-19 has accelerated the shift and helped telemedicine gain trust from Chinese consumers as a result. “Without the outbreak, such a shift in consumer behavior would have taken perhaps five years,” said Xin.

The article also highlights JD Health offering free online consultations to people across China. “It makes ‘little sense’ to focus on profit at the moment. What matters is how COVID-19 has made people think twice about rushing to hospital and helped foster trust in general practitioners, who provide the bulk of online advice. It has also broadened the appeal of firms like JD Health, beyond middle-aged patients with chronic conditions to web-savvy youngsters seeking advice for parents and grandparents and healthy types simply seeking reassurance,” Xin explains in the article.

Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health

It also mentions that JD Health has also lured more pharmacies to its platform. A full-time doctor working for JD Health, who previously worked in an AAA hospital in Beijing, said many of her old colleagues and classmates are doing the same.

A leading weekly international news and business population, The Economist is read by more of the world’s political and business leaders than any other magazine and has 1.7 million combined circulation of printed and digital version.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD Becomes World’s First E-Tailer to Supply Kiwifruit Directly from Zespri

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Oct 27, 2021 by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

On March 16^th, JD.com signed a contract with Zespri, the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, becoming the world’s first online retailer to supply Zespri kiwifruit from the brand directly to consumers. Given COVID-19, this contract was signed remotely online, instead of in person.

As part of the agreement, JD’s online and offline fresh food businesses, JD Fresh and 7FRESH, will procure over 1.2 million trays (3.3 kg per tray) of Zespri’s kiwifruit from New Zealand this year. With the renewed contract, Zespri’s sales on JD are expected to exceed RMB 300 million annually.

Since the launch of Zespri’s flagship store on JD in 2017, sales of the brand have increased more than 14 times. In 2019, sales of the company’s kiwifruit on JD exceeded RMB 200 million in November. Kiwifruit is especially popular with middle class consumers who are focused on health and nutrition.

“JD is Zespri’s key partner in China in brand promotion, consumer operation and lower-tier city penetration,” said Michael Jiang, General Manager of Zespri Greater China. According to JD’s data, 60% of customers of Zespri products are JD PLUS members and 75% are married. In 2019, sales of Zespri in 4^th to 6^th tier cities increased 46% year-on-year.

This year’s first Zespri kiwifruit harvest will begin selling on JD in April. The brand’s premium SunGold kiwifruit will launch pre-order across JD’s online platform and offline supermarkets on March 23^rd.

As Chinese consumers are increasingly buying fresh food online, JD has leveraged its “new infrastructure”, including digital supply chain and cold-chain logistics expertise to source globally. The success of this has been proven during COVID-19. From January 20^th to February 18^th, JD Fresh sold over 88,000 tons of fresh produce to nationwide customers.

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

PYMNTS.com Features How JD’s Idea of Chatbot Services Customers Smartly

Posted on Mar 16, 2020Oct 30, 2022 by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

A feature story about JD was posted on PYMNTS.com, the top site for the payments industry which covers news related to payments, commerce, and connectivity, on March 13^th.

The article is titled “How JD.com Uses AI To Connect Consumers With Commerce” and is based on an interview between PYMNTS’ founder Karen Webster and Dr. Xiaodong He, deputy managing director of JD AI Research and head of the Deep Learning, NLP and Speech Lab at JD.com.

The article mainly highlights JD’s efforts in smart customer service which is powered by AI. “From a baseline of better connectedness, JD.com has been able to build AI that doesn’t just understand customers’ questions well enough to give them right answers. It understands them well enough to respond to their feelings — and curate the content they see.”

Dr. He explained the thinking behind the technology: “With our idea of empathic chatbots, we want it to be that requests made in text or by voice, we definitely provide the answer, but we also try to give some empathetic response.” With multimodal chat interface, JD’s smart customer service chatbot is able to detect the subtlest human emotions and interact appropriately. It has already helped JD improve the user satisfaction by 57 percent.

The article also highlights JD’s efforts in “curating consumers’ desires”. Apart from JD’s visual search technology SnapShop which “is an arena where a single snapped image can be fed by a customer into the system to have it run through the whole system against the entire inventory catalog at JD to find a match”, JD’s team is also working on a project called “Alpha Sale” which provides “a digital sales agent that acts like a personalized assistant to help every single customer, and to help every single product.”

Dr. He says, “It’s a big job and not an easy project, but among the benefits of having a fully-connected, fully-integrated eCommerce ecosystem that flows between online and offline transitions as a baked-in component is that it isn’t an impossible goal either.”

He goes on to mention: “AI itself is probably not the magic tool to make a big change in the experience that it can be made out to be. There’s some basic infrastructure that has to lie underneath it, and some pretty advanced connections actually, which is actually very important.”

Based in the US, PYMNTS is the No.1 site for the payments industry by traffic and the premier source of information about “what’s next” in payments and commerce.

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)