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Walmart Further Strengthens JD.com Strategic Alliance with Launch of UK Retailer ASDA Flagship Store

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Today, Walmart launched the flagship store of ASDA, its renowned UK retail brand, on JD.com’s cross-border platform, JD Worldwide. ASDA has long been one of the top retailers in the U.K. Launching its store on JD is the latest achievement in the strategic alliance between Walmart and JD.com, which began in June of 2016.

As the retail market in China continues to mature and customers’ demand for imported goods grows, Walmart and JD.com have worked together to bring more authentic overseas products to the Chinese market, leveraging Walmart’s renowned global supply chain. With this step, ASDA is providing customers in China access to its huge range of everyday household products, leveraging JD.com’s famous nationwide logistics network.

Walmart launched the flagship store of ASDA, its renowned UK retail brand, on JD.com’s cross-border platform, JD Worldwide

Founded in 1965 in the U.K., ASDA was created with the underlying principles of affordable prices, durable quality and hospitable services, and it has steadily become a trusted retailer for British customers. Acquired by Walmart in 1999, ASDA, which had 230 stores at the time, has continued to operate as an independent brand under the Walmart umbrella. Today, ASDA serves 18 million customers every week with over 600 stores in the U.K.

At the time of launch on JD Worldwide, ASDA’s primary offerings are in the areas of food and health products, including items such as biscuits, coffee, tea bags, nuts, energy bars, and foods for babies and young children. In keeping with the ASDA brand, all products are sourced from the U.K. with a focus on quality and safety. Some of the initial products on the ASDA Flagship store include the ASDA Extra Special Biscuits for Cheese Cracker Collection, ASDA Extra Special Scottish Shortbread Rounds and ASDA Extra Special Colombian Instant Coffee, all of which are top sellers in the U.K. market. The companies expect the selection of products to significantly expand in the months and years ahead.

“Walmart is delighted to provide JD.com’s 226 million customers access to ASDA’s quality British products at competitive prices,” said Ben Hassing, Senior Vice President of Ecommerce of Walmart China. “The progress that we’ve made in our alliance with JD.com in less than a year provides a hint at the tremendous developments that still lie ahead.”

“ASDA’s flagship store on JD Worldwide marks another significant step forward in the Walmart-JD strategic alliance to bring the best global products to the Chinese market,” said Carol Fung, President of JD Fast Moving Consumer Goods. “Chinese consumers increasingly appreciate and value the quality of British brands and we expect this ASDA store to be warmly welcomed by our customers.”

JD.com Joins Milan Design Week, Launches Strategic Partnership with Leading Italian Home Furnishing Brands

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At Milan Design Week, JD.com announced that it is forming strategic partnerships with some of Italy’s best-known home furnishing brands.

At a ceremony in Milan, Lijun Xin, president of JD Home and Life, officially launched sales of products from SAVIO FIRMINO, Bordignon and Contractin, three leading Italian furniture brands. JD will work with the brands to help them tap into the Chinese market, where demand for high-quality, hand-crafted furniture and décor is growing rapidly. Customers can buy Italian furniture products from the brands through the SAVIO FIRMINO and FIBONACCI furniture flagship stores on JD.com. Home furnishing is one of the fastest growing categories on JD.com, with an average annual growth rate of more than 100% over the last several years. The category covers furniture, household items, home textiles, kitchenware, home décor materials and home decoration service. JD now features many of the world’s best-known brands in the category, including WMF, Umbra, FLEXA, Harbor House, TOTO and Simmons.

“Chinese consumers are more focused than ever on quality and style, and we are excited to introduce them to these renowned brands that represent the best of Italian design,” said Mr. Xin. “We look forward to helping these category leaders access JD.com’s 226 million active consumers, and working with them to develop exciting, new growth opportunities.”

“We are delighted to partner with JD.com, and look forward to working with them to provide Chinese customers with access to high-quality Italian-made home furnishings through China’s most-trusted e-commerce platform,” said Cosimo Savio, CEO of SAVIO FIRMINO SRL. “This strategic cooperation is an exciting step forward for our brand, and opens up a huge new market for SAVIO FIRMINO in China.”

JD.com is participating in the Milan Design Week April 3-15, one of the world’s best-known festivals for home and interior design. This is the second time JD.com has taken part in the event.

This year, JD.com is hosting a special exhibition at the University of Milan in association with INTERNI China. Dongjiang Yang, editor-in-chief of INTERNI China, is serving as the curator of the exhibition. A special booth features a modern design that incorporates Daoist and other traditional Chinese elements. The installation forms a maze-like display space and guides visitors to feel a sense of infinite energy and experience various forms of Chinese design, giving it a complex and interwoven feel.  JD is also hosting a video showcase of 20 designers from China.

The theme of the JD booth has been specially crafted with Daoist elements, which places special emphasis on infinite energy and traditional forms of Chinese design. 

Premium Smartphone Maker OnePlus Signs Long-Term Exclusive Partnership with JD.com

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JD.com and OnePlus, a premium smartphone maker whose products are favorites among tech enthusiasts around the world, have just announced the signing of a three-year strategic partnership, marking the first OnePlus exclusive distribution deal with a partner in China.

According to the agreement, JD.com will be OnePlus’s exclusive third-party online retail platform for all domestic smartphone sales apart from the OnePlus official website. This includes its highly anticipated OnePlus 3T Midnight Black phone model, which went on sale on JD.com yesterday.

OnePlus is renowned, particularly among Android experts, for its outstanding products at a reasonable cost. The brand is quickly increasing in popularity among users in India, the UK, Europe and the US.

The partnership gives OnePlus the chance to leverage JD.com’s industry-leading toolbox of resources—including its same-day self-operated logistics network, big-data that supports optimized marketing strategies, and financing—to streamline and enhance the online shopping experience.

“OnePlus is proud to strengthen our long-term relationship with JD.com, one of the world’s best and most trusted e-commerce platforms, by entering this exclusive partnership,” said OnePlus Founder and CEO Pete Lau. “With its well-earned reputation for convenience, including its ridiculously fast delivery, JD.com is the perfect partner to help us make OnePlus’ premium products even more easily accessible to more users. We look forward to leveraging JD’s wealth of marketing resources to further broaden our consumer base in China.”

Shengli Hu, president of JD.com’s 3C business unit, said, “Over the past several years, OnePlus has continually demonstrated a ‘wow’ factor, particularly to the most knowledgeable and sophisticated Android users. Bringing together their exceptional products with JD.com’s leading e-commerce platform, we are excited to help take OnePlus’s reputation for high-quality phones and outstanding ownership experience to the next level in China.”

Founded in 2013, OnePlus has quickly become an important player in the global smart phone market, recognized for providing world-class functionality and exceptional value for money. In 2016, OnePlus was one of the fastest growing brands during JD.com’s June 18 Anniversary sales event, and its full-year sales volume on JD.com doubled compared to 2015.

Launch of the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black

Available exclusively with 128 GB of storage, and powered by the same industry-defining specs and design that made the original OnePlus 3T a hallmark device, the limited-edition OnePlus 3T Midnight Black model is hewed out of the same space-grade aluminum that lent the original OnePlus 3 and 3T devices their class and durability. A dark coating of just 14 microns in thickness is meticulously applied to the surface of the phone, imbuing the device with a stunning black color built to last, while retaining the look and feel of naked metal.

JD.com Announces Partnership with Leading German Brand Continental Tires

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On March 23rd, JD.com held a signing ceremony for its landmark partnership with Continental Tires, a globally recognized German tire manufacturer. The partnership marks a major development in JD.com’s efforts to provide the best and most convenient tire purchasing experience. The German tire company’s products will be available for direct sales on JD.com.

Tires have traditionally been a difficult product to supply through online sales channels, as customers tend to buy tires from offline shops that then provide installation and post-sale service. The lack of convenient, trustworthy options for purchasing and installing tires has been a long-term headache for car owners in China.

To resolve this bottleneck, JD.com is cooperating with a vast network of offline stores, including auto repair stores and auto beauty shops located throughout China to provide a true O2O end-to-end solution. Customers can buy tires on JD and enjoy the integrated service in the cooperating offline stores, including installation, repairs and post-sale service.

Tires are already the fast growing product category in JD.com’s auto products business, and are especially popular in tier 1 and 2 cities. Users from tier 1 and 2 cities accounted for 48% of total tire customers.

“Our partnership with JD.com demonstrates our unremitting commitment to enhancing Chinese consumers’ experience through sales channel innovation,” noted Dalibor Kalina, General Manager of Continental Tires (China) Co., Ltd. “The e-commerce experience provided by JD.com will enable us to provide premium products, leveraging advanced German technology to more Chinese consumers, therefore further expanding our footprint in China.”

“JD.com has worked hard to develop a network of high-quality offline stores, and we’re excited that Continental Tires is now joining us to provide a superior O2O solution covering the entire tire purchasing process,” said Lijun Xin, President of JD Home and Life, which covers home furnishings and auto supplies, among other products. “We truly appreciate the trust that Continental Tires has placed in us. It is a clear indication that global market leaders understand the importance of placing their products on China’s most trusted e-commerce platform.”

To kick-off this new collaboration, JD.com is holding a special sales event from March 21-28. Customers will receive special promotional coupons during this period, and JD.com has collaborated with offline shops to provide a special “e-card” that can be used to reserve tires in offline stores.

In addition to the collaboration with Continental Tires, JD.com has agreements with many international brands across a wide range of auto-related product categories, covering parts and components, electronic equipment, home decorations, beauty products. Many international brands are already available on JD.com, including Bosch, Philips, 3M, MAHLE, Valeo, Denso, VARTA, OSRAM, Hella, Total, Gulf, Meguiar’s, Johnson & Johnson and Karcher.

Australia’s Nature’s Way Launches Flagship Store on JD Worldwide

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Partnership opens access to top-quality vitamins, probiotics and health supplements for Chinese consumers

On March 22, JD.com announced that Nature’s Way, one of Australia’s most comprehensive quality health supplement ranges, has opened a direct sales store for its products on JD.com’s cross-border platform, JD Worldwide. The move marks another important step in the platform’s growing cooperation with top Australian brands.

The new agreement comes as welcome news for Chinese consumers, who are focusing more and more on personal health and well being. Food safety—especially children’s food safety—is increasingly a point of focus for a consumer base that has witnessed numerous scandals. Australian brands, with their reputation for quality, are highly valued as having natural and trusted products.

Brands like Nature’s Way are benefitting from JD.com’s cooperation with international logistics partners and will be able to leverage the company’s bonded warehouses and delivery network to ensure seamless, timely delivery to customers. For example, customers can receive Nature’s Way products as fast as the day after orders are placed. Collaborating with JD.com, which is trusted by Chinese consumers for its focus on quality and zero tolerance for counterfeits, creates a halo effect for products on the site. Further, JD.com’s customized marketing solutions allow foreign retailers to leverage vast amounts of data to better understand their customers’ shopping habits.

Louie Coorey, General Manager for China at Nature’s Way, expressed his excitement about the new partnership, saying, “JD.com is an extremely trusted online retailer with the nationwide network to help Nature’s Way expand in this crucial market. We’re extremely excited to work closely with the JD Worldwide team to take advantage of the full power of the platform to reach customers throughout China.”

“As one of Australia’s best-known brands, Nature’s Way’s offering of healthy, premium quality products is exactly what China’s consumers are looking for,” said Ting Qi, General Manager of JD Worldwide. “JD Worldwide is dedicated to working with top international brands, and we deeply value partnerships like this one with Nature’s Way, which fulfill our mission of bringing the best imported goods to Chinese consumers.”

Nature’s Way’s offerings include a wide variety of health products, ranging from vitamins (including kid’s vitamins) and probiotics, to superfoods, among many others. For over 75 years, Nature’s Way has built a reputation for its uncompromising commitment to quality, and for driving innovation and new trends.

Every Nature’s Way product draws on a deep knowledge base, from the latest scientific research and nutritional studies to indigenous medicines that have been used for thousands of years, to ensure customers are receiving the very best health products. This includes Kids Smart, a leading kid’s nutrition brand under Nature’s Way. Over the past 10 years, Kids Smart sales have skyrocketed—now accounting for 50% of total sales of children’s vitamins in Australia.

Today’s announcement comes as Australian food and health products have been seeing explosive growth in China. Two Australian brands, Swisse and Blackmores, rank among the top 10 brands on the JD Worldwide platform. During last year’s Black Friday sales event alone, 100,000 bottles of Swisse products were sold on JD.com.

According to the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), China has become Australia’s number one export market, with a total value of UAD 97 billion. The most popular Australian product categories in the Chinese market are supplements, dairy, honey, food, skincare, cosmetics, maternity and baby products, according to Startrack, Australia’s leading freight and logistics company.

JD.com is rapidly becoming the preferred choice for Australian brands looking to expand in the Chinese market. Sales of Australian goods on JD Worldwide saw triple digit annual growth in 2016. On June 29, 2015, JD.com established Australian Mall, a channel on JD Worldwide dedicated exclusively to providing authentic Australian products to customers in China. To date, JD.com has partnered with numerous leading Australian brands across popular categories, including wine, healthcare, maternal and children’s products, food and beverage, and personal care and cosmetics, enabling Australian brands direct access to more than 226.6 million Chinese consumers. The company’s strategic partners include Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Yellow Tail, Jacob’s Creek, Swisse, Blackmores and First Cut, among many others.

Imported Fresh Food Sales Explode During Spring Festival

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The Year of the Rooster began with a bang at JD.com, with total sales and fulfilled orders during the Spring Festival period both doubling compared to last year. Imported fresh produce was a major breakout category with sales increasing 14-fold compared with 2016. Powered by JD’s cold chain logistics network, the company delivered diverse produce from around the world, including lobsters from North America, kiwifruit from Australia and avocados from Mexico to dining tables across the country for the biggest Chinese holiday of the year.

In the months leading up to the Spring Festival, JD.com’s sourcing team of almost 200 experts worked tirelessly to seek out the best produce from around the world. Fresh imported cherries were a major draw. To source the best cherries, which are at their peak in the Southern Hemisphere, the team worked extensively with top-tier cherry farms in Chile, Australia and New Zealand. As a result, JD.com’s Cherry Super Product Day on January 13 saw over 10 million cherries from the three countries sold on that day alone.

JD.com’s sourcing team of almost 200 experts worked tirelessly to seek out the best produce from around the world. JD.com’s Cherry Super Product Day on January 13 saw over 10 million cherries from the three countries sold on that day alone.

Other popular imported fresh produce sold during the Spring Festival included shrimp and beef, which accounted for nearly half of total imported fresh produce sales. Premium prawns from Argentina and Ecuador were especially prized by customers. Beef from Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay also all proved exceptionally popular.

“Chinese Spring Festival is always a time for traditional food, but there has been a huge surge in families looking to add international variety to their tables,” said Xiaosong Wang, President of JD.com’s Fresh Food Business Unit. “In the three weeks leading up to this year’s Spring Festival, sales of fresh produce from the US increased eight-fold versus a year ago, with sales of American lobsters up over 15-fold. This year, JD.com’s sourcing team will continue to travel the world to bring even more exciting imported food to Chinese tables.”

JD.com’s efficient logistics network operated without interruption throughout the Spring Festival holiday, providing same and next-day delivery service in 110 cities and fresh produce in 69 cities nationwide, reaching Heihe city of Heilongjiang province in the north and Sansha City in the southern Hainan Province.

The company expects to see a continued boom in imported food sales as Chinese palates become more sophisticated, and customers become increasingly aware of the breadth of JD.com’s free food offering.

JD Kuaidi Raps in Ode to his Colleagues

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JD.com’s delivery team, who are company employees, are ubiquitous throughout China. Easily recognizable in their red jackets, whether on foot or driving the company’s red scooters, trucks or cars, they are well known to online shoppers across the country.

These “kuaidi,” or deliverymen, are also committed to their customers and passionate about their mission. To share his feelings about the upcoming Spring Festival holiday — a time when most Chinese businesses are shut, but JD will be delivering as usual — one delivery man recently created an unusual Chinese rap video. On his own time, he made the video to share his enthusiasm and make sure his customers and others know that JD will be open and that he and his teammates will be delivering packages with speeds unparalleled in the industry.

Zhihong Yang, who is in charge of the delivery station in Xuanwei, Yunnan Province, manages a team of nine. Together they are responsible for getting orders out to customers in all the villages and towns across Xuanwei county. Some of them appear in the video, along with local customers and many actual scenes of Yang’s delivery territory and home province of Yunnan.

Zhihong originally got into American music listening to Michael Jackson. When he got into rap, Nas and Tupac were among his favorites. Below is Zhihong’s video that he made himself.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3_iCbjPPydU

Punctuated by lyrics that highlight JD’s unparalleled service and the rapid speed of JD’s deliveries, he raps about the jungles, fortresses and ancient cities of Yunnan, where “JD red” can be seen. He also sings the praises of the many items customers can buy, including a variety of foods that can be “steamed, fried, boiled, deep-fried, shallow-fried or braised with soy sauce.”

He raps about the heroic delivery man, “that trusted guy who crosses mountains and rivers to send parcels to you … that guy who always smiles, whether burning sun or cold winter…through streets and lanes, all the day and through the night, walking across the farm, service is all.”

Is it a bit campy? Sure. But his passion is genuine and it’s pretty impressive that he put together the song and the video all on his own—all while holding down a job making sure all of his thousands of packages all get there with blazing-fast speed.

JD Delivering Through Chinese New Year, Connecting Logistics Staff with Family

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With the Chinese Spring Festival holiday approaching, people throughout China prepare to celebrate the New Year festival with family and friends. For some families, the week-long holiday is the only time during the year when they can all be together, as those who left rural areas to work in the cities travel home to reunite with children, spouses, loved ones and friends, and others travel from the countryside to the cities or distant towns where their loved ones work.

In recent years this period has seen what’s been estimated to be the largest human migration on the planet. In 2016, for example, an estimated 3 billion individual trips took place during Spring Festival week, with trains, planes, highways and roads jammed to capacity on many days.

With this much movement across the country, travel becomes challenging. Government offices and most businesses shut down as people enjoy their time off.

Most e-commerce companies also shut down, or they abandon normal delivery commitments and tack on extra fees. JD.com, however, decided years ago to continue supporting its customers during the holiday, delivering to families enjoying the festivities together without the delays or added fees. Consumers can get standard same- and next-day delivery, a level of service that other companies can’t match even during slow periods, much less during the biggest holiday of the year. This allows people to bring gifts to their families or even to have packages shipped directly to them throughout the holiday.

JD.com can do this because it operates its own warehouses, delivery vehicles and end-to-end logistics systems, and because its delivery team is staffed by its own employees.

Since most delivery staff also have families, and many are far removed from one another throughout much of the year, JD took steps several years ago to help ease the burden for those who work during the holiday to make the lives of our customers better. For example, CEO Richard Liu announced a policy in 2014 to give employees who live apart from their children a special cash payment of RMB 3,000 if they have a child, and an additional RMB 3,000 if they have more than one so that the children can travel to visit their parents during Spring Festival holiday. There are also provisions to claim a higher amount if expenses exceed that. The program was extended to childless employees so that they can get an extra stipend for their hard work during the holiday since many of them have to spend it apart from their loved ones as well.

Since the program launched in 2014, JD has spent around RMB 200 million to help over 20,000 JD employees enjoy time with their families during the holidays.

“I miss my family so much and I was disappointed when I didn’t think I would see them on Chinese New Year’s Eve,” said Yan Yong, a deliveryman at JD’s Temple of Heaven station in Beijing. “But then I learned about the company’s program to help my children come join me in Beijing and felt much happier. I got to see them and my customers will still get their packages on time!”

Yan Yong, a deliveryman at JD’s Temple of Heaven station in Beijing.

While the expense to the company is not insignificant, JD.com thinks it’s money well spent if its employees can enjoy at least some time with their families and its customers can continue to rely on the company for all their online shopping needs — even when most other businesses are closed.