As China further relaxed its COVID rules this Wednesday, JD Health introduced its “online anti-COVID clinic” to offer 24/7 medical consultations. With an average responding time of less than 30 seconds, the telemedicine service is expected to provide much-needed assistance for people to deal with the spike of infections.
Local governments like Guangzhou and others have advised mild COVID patients and asymptomatic carriers to rest at home and prioritize internet hospitals or nearby preliminary-level clinics before going to hospitals.
In response to the latest anti-COVID policies, JD Health’s online doctors are geared up to work around the clock to provide users with a range of customized health consultations whenever and wherever they need, ranging from personal and family virus prevention solutions, advice on chronic diseases management, recovery plans, to psychological counseling and more.
A number of renowned doctors have been invited for livestream sessions on JD Health to help the public better handle a variety of health challenges in this time of COVID outbreaks, such as guidance for cardio-cerebrovascular patients’ home-stay health management, prevention of respiratory diseases in winter, effective ways to cope with anxiety and depressions, and so on.
COVID-related testing kits and medications are in high demand in the past week. JD Health’s data showed that sales of medicines for cold, fever, cough, and anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs increased 18 times compared with the same period in October. Transaction volume of antigen self-test kits rose 344 percent week over week.
In addition to COVID-related medicines, JD Health’s pharmacy department also ensures sufficient storage of medicines for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory, digestive, endocrine and other chronic diseases, and conducts real-time monitoring on product demand to safeguard timely supplies and stable prices.
On December 9, JD Fresh, the fresh produce business of JD.com, joined hands with Chilean Fruits Exporters Association (ASOEX) to host a ceremony at the Bund in Shanghai to celebrate the arrival of the first ship transporting cherries of Garces Fruit, Chile’s largest cherry grower and exporter, and to officially unveil JD’s nationwide promotional campaign.
This 2022/23 season of Chilean cherries has kicked off in China, ushering in an annual highlight for both markets and the industry, as data shows that China accounts for over 90 percent of all Chilean cherry exports with an estimated value of $3 billion to be reached in the coming season. Plump, juicy and red in color, cherries are viewed by Chinese people as a festive and auspicious gift during the traditional Chinese New Year, which will fall on January 22nd in 2023.
A LED show reading “cherry shopping on JD.com” was illuminated on a landmark building at the Bund at 8.p.m. during the ceremony.
Close partnership aiming at over 20% sales growth
Chie’s Minister of Agriculture Esteban Valenzuela sent a congratulatory remark via video for JD Fresh’s cherry season opening and in recognition of the close cooperation between Chilean and Chinese partners. Gonzalo Figueroa, Consul General of the Republic of Chile in Shanghai attended the ceremony and stressed the importance of the trade of cherries which has achieved great success commercially and beyond. He described this kick-off ceremony as “one more step for the friendship between Chile and China.”
Esteban Valenzuela, Chile’s Minister of Agriculture congratulated JD Fresh’s cherry season opening
Yang Yuan, general manager of JD.com’s public affairs in eastern China region, noted that thanks to JD’s capabilities in product quality control, global supply chain and cold-chain logistics, JD Fresh has become the largest and best-selling retail channel in China for Chilean cherries. Yuan is optimistic that JD Fresh will achieve over 20 percent sales growth during this new season’s promotion while supporting its partners to strengthen their brands in the Chinese market.
Gonzalo Figueroa, Consul General of the Republic of Chile in Shanghai
A number of leading Chinese fruit importers and distributors were present at the event. Their strong partnership with JD Fresh was acknowledged with honors including the “Golden Quality Award” to Yi Du Cherries; “Best Cherries Supplier Awards” to Yu Qian Group, Jin Guo Group, Ai Ze Group and Jia Ze Group; and the “Rising Brand Awards” to Garces Fruit and JoyVio Group. Meanwhile, two cherry producers San Francisco lo Garces Spa and Copefrut S.A. have been designated as JD Fresh’s global farm partners.
Better cherry-shopping experience for Chinese consumers
JD Fresh announced three improvement measures at the event, targeting fruit quality, price and customer service.
On the produce side, JD Fresh has been collaborating with leading fruit companies on direct sourcing of cherries from Chile and co-designing standards throughout the supply chain to ensure collection of prime berries, with respect to their appearance, size, sugar degree, and hardness; and also picking, packaging, transportation, storage and other shipping processes. Royal Dawn and Santina are two early high-quality cherry varieties that Garces Fruit prepared to cater to Chinese consumers, and took up 48.1 percent and 38.4 percent respectively on the first ship transporting cherries. JD Fresh is one of the company’s prioritized channels to introduce a variety of cherries in China.
In a bid to offer even better prices for more high-quality imported cherries to Chinese consumers, JD Fresh has taken more precise measures to control ocean freight and make dynamic price adjustments in the Chinese market, so as to let more people enjoy “cherry freedom,” a popular term on Chinese social media people use to self-identify when they are wealthy enough to purchase pricey cherries without a second thought. During JD Fresh’s pre-sale period, consumers can enjoy an RMB 220 yuan discount on every RMB 299 yuan spent on certain cherry products.
A charted ship transporting cherries for JD Fresh to depart from the port in Chile
Regarding customer service, JD Fresh aims to accelerate the cherry delivery speed to customers’ doorsteps by working closely with its industrial partners in every step of the journey from custom clearance, warehousing to last-mile delivery. Moreover, in case of any packaging or quality problems found in the fresh foods ordered on JD Fresh, the company has standard after-sales services in place to ensure that consumers will receive immediate compensation without the need to return the products.
JD.com’s B2C omni-channel retail brand in Europe, Ochama, announced that it has launched another 26 pick-up points in Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands in the past two weeks, making the retailer’s pick-up point network reaching to 120+ locations in above countries. Thanks to the newly added points, customers in Germany and Belgium are now able to enjoy fresh and frozen foods offered by Ochama just like customers in the Netherlands, where Ochama was born.
By expanding pick-up points, more consumers are able to enjoy an even simpler and easier shopping experience at Ochama. “Leveraging JD.com’s automated warehousing and global supply chain sourcing ability, Ochama can offer quality products with competitive prices across a full range of categories,” said Lei Ling, an executive at Ochama. “Pick-up points raise the fulfillment efficiency to as fast as the next day, and enable customers to get the things they need when they need them the most, avoiding the additional work to plan ahead or stay at home waiting for delivery.”
New customers who register in offline pick-ups can get a 30-Euro coupon
Since May, Ochama has been scaling up its business in Europe through collaboration with third party offline channels, including opening pick-up points in Blokker stores, a leading Dutch non-food retailer. Partnered stores can earn commission income via fulfilling pick-up orders, and access additional traffic directed from the Ochama webshop and app.
In late November, Ochama joined hands with local SMEs and launched two upgraded co-branded pick-up points in Delft and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, providing both branding and decoration support, and hardware and software upgrades. By implementing digital advertising screens that can take orders for Ochama products and display joint campaigns, digital marketing is made possible for stores.
Currently, Ochama operates a 20,000 sqm warehouse in the Netherlands, powered by an AGV goods-to-people automation system that elevates picking efficiency to three times the efficiency of a traditional picking approach. Offering a one-stop shopping experience for foods, fresh and frozen products, home appliances, home living, electronics, fashion and more, Ochama provides both pick-up service and doorstep delivery. Its delivery service is now available in nearly 10 countries in Europe including Spain and Italy.
JD Logistics and Biedronka, the largest retail chain in Poland, announced about jointly forming a partnership in which the Polish grocery giant will leverage JD Logistics’ warehousing and distribution capability in the country to fulfill its online orders and expand its online business.
Managing over 1,500 warehouses in China and overseas, JD Logistics specializes in offering end-to-end integrated supply chain services to its clients. Its 15,000 sqm warehouse in Poland has been customized to fulfill all of Biedronka’s online orders, and to enable speedy delivery within as fast as 24 hours. This is made possible by JD’s warehouse management system, which manages inventory on the SKU level and elevates the outbound and inventory accuracy rate to 99.5 percent, a leading performance of the industry.
“JD Logistics is honored to cooperate with Biedronka,” said Zhong Zhang, a senior director of JD Logistics Europe. “Our strong end-to-end supply chain capabilities and experiences in omni-channel fulfillment will help boost Biedronka’s online business transformation.”
“E-commerce logistics demands deep expertise and we are glad to have JD Logistics as a powerful partner in our online retail development,” said Jakub Knauer, logistics projects manager at Biedronka. “Together we were able to build a landscape of integrated IT systems for efficient inventory, and outbound and inbound management. JD Logistics’ services have enabled us to efficiently fulfill online orders, even in the face of 17-fold increase in the daily number of orders.”
JD Logistics is a leading technology-driven supply chain solutions and logistics services provider, and is an affiliate of e-commerce retailer JD.com. Currently, JD Logistics’ international business operates approximately 90 bonded warehouses, international direct mail warehouses and overseas warehouses, covering an aggregate GFA of approximately 900,000 square meters with an over 70 percent increase year-over-year.
Jeronimo Martins Polska S.A. is the owner of Biedronka – the largest retail chain in Poland, which has been serving the Polish market for 27 years. As of the end of the third quarter of 2022, the chain has 3,304 stores located in more than 1,100 towns and cities.
In the lead-up to the 35th World AIDS Day on December 1, JD Health joined hands with UNAIDS China to carry out equipment donations, an expert’s livestream and dedicated promotion of anti-AIDS services via its platforms.
Under JD Health’s coordination, more than 10,000 pieces of HIV testing tools and protection kits were donated to Beijing Love Without Borders, an NGO that supports local communities’ work to end AIDS. Eight companies including Gu Xiao Jia, Wondfo, Accu News, Wellday, Jissbon, Leeswell, AiD, and LifeStyles participated in the donation activity.
At the same time, JD Health set up a theme portal on its App from November 30 to December 2 to promote public awareness of HIV/AIDS. On December 1, Dr. Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention was invited for a livestream on the platform to convey AIDS-related knowledge.
During the sharing session, Dr. Wu pointed out that ordering HIV testing products and medications through e-commerce and receiving online medical consultations and psychological counseling via telemedicine methods at anytime and anywhere can significantly enhance people’s access to help for AIDS prevention and treatment, while offering greater relief and privacy protection.
Products for both Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) with clear guidance can be easily accessed on JD Health’s App, and medicines are delivered to users’ doorsteps in a timely manner, along with dedicated telemedicine consultation services from physicians for customized support.
According to data from China’s National Health Committee, there were 129,000 new positive HIV cases found in China in 2021, with 97.9 percent caused by sexual transmission, which continue to be the main challenge for society in fighting the disease.
JD Logistics recently announced the opening of its second warehouse in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Joining the company’s global logistics network, the new warehouse can provide end-to-end supply chain services that cover Asia, Africa and Europe for local and cross-border merchants.
Twenty-minute drive from the Port of Jebel Ali, this warehouse is located in Dubai Industrial City, with an area of 12,000 square meters, providing logistics services ranging from concentrated transportation, sea transportation, air transportation, transition, customs clearance to warehousing, sorting, labeling, dropshipping and more, for both bulky and small to medium-sized products, and meeting both B2C and B2B fulfilment requirements. Adopting JD Logistics’ self-developed management system, the warehouse can digitally manage inbound and outbound inventory, thus precisely predicting the trends and allocating distribution resources accordingly to improve logistics efficiency.
Fordeal is an emerging cross-border e-commerce platform in the Middle East. Leveraging the self-developed warehouse management system, JD Logistics helps Fordeal build an intelligent inventory management system which can manage inventory digitally and make forecasts and plans accurately. JD Logistics also provides an intelligent packing recommendation system to save more packaging materials. Since cooperating with JD, Fordeal’s warehousing costs has been reduced by 30 percent, while fulfillment accuracy reached 99.5 percent. Fordeal’s order outbound time has also been shortened to 12 hours from 24 hours.
“JD Logistics provides us with customized services and a special team to handle inventory,” said Yun Qing, head of Fordeal warehousing in Dubai. “It is amazing that with the help of JD Logistics, our warehousing efficiency doubled and costs decreased by 30 percent.”
At the same time, cross-border merchants can choose to stock their goods in this local warehouse that is nearer to their customers. For example, sales of some Chinese cross-border merchants increased by 3 times, as the local warehousing service greatly speeds up of delivery time. Chinese merchants can also choose to deliver goods to one of JD’s warehouses in China, and JD Logistics will help handle the rest of the work including international transportation, transition, customs clearance, warehousing, last-mile delivery and more.
Siyuan Yue, head of JD Logistics Dubai Warehouse said that, “Powered by digital capabilities, JD’s warehouse in Dubai provides clients with integrated logistics solutions, optimizing the international transportation routes greatly.”
As early as in 2020, JD Logistics began to operate in the Middle East, and its first warehouse was launched in the largest free trade zone in the region, Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), offering logistics services spanning GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and reaching to continent Africa. As a leading integrated supply chain service supplier, JD Logistics operates over 1,500 warehouses in China, in addition to approximately 90 bonded warehouses, international direct mail warehouses and overseas warehouses globally.
Ahead of the 2023 Chinese New Year Grand Promotion, JD Fresh, JD.com’s fresh food business, joined hands with China’s leading fruit company Joy Wing Mau, to launch a high-quality Chilean cherry giftbox on November 29.
As a major importer of cherries, the Chinese market consumes up to an estimated one-third of cherries worldwide. Thanks to JD’s nearly 600 million customers, rigorous quality control measures, and robust global cold chain and supply chain capabilities, JD Fresh has become China’s leading brand of fresh food products, with cherry sales remaining high each year.
Chilean Cherry Giftbox from Joy Wing Mau’s high-end brand Joyvio
Natalia Cortes Garcia, Trade Commissioner of the Chilean Embassy in China, noted in her remarks, “Chile is the world’s leading exporter of cherries, accounting for over 41 percent of the global market. In the last season 2021-2022, Chile exported a total of 356,000 metric tons of cherries, which meant around USD 2 billion in exports. This year, it is estimated that the arrival volume of cherries will be about 25 percent higher than last year, reaching about 446,000 tons.”
Qin Jinsong, Regional Manager (North China) of Joy Wing Mau highlighted, “The company has begun its international business since 2018 with an aim to build high-quality fresh food standards, and it has actively developed a supply chain system relying on Chile’s advantageous industrial chain.
“With the principle of ‘quality first’ in mind, JD Fresh strictly adheres to a series of quality control standards for cherries, such as appearance, taste, specification, sugar content, hardness, packaging, transportation, storage conditions, and more,” added Wang Wenbo, Sales Director of Fresh Food Procurement of JD Foods. According to JD’s data, the transaction volume of cherries sold on JD Fresh exceeded RMB 800 million yuan last year, and this year’s overall sales target is RMB 1.1 billion yuan.
JD Worldwide, JD.com’s comprehensive imported products business, joined hands with ambassadors from Georgia, Moldova, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and business counselors from Austria and Cyprus to share their lifestyle with specialties in a program broadcasted on BRTV (Beijing Radio & Television Station) on November 25, synchronizing the good life of the world with viewers in China.
H.E. Archil Kalandia, Ambassador of Georgia to China (second from right)
Generally considered the “cradle of wine”, Georgia has a history of 8,000 years culture of wine. H.E. Archil Kalandia, Ambassador of Georgia to China, introduced the tradition of Qvevri wine-making method, which was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage, by showing photos of clay vessels buried underground.
“The process is very natural, and it’s linked with the ground. For us, wine is in life rather than just a drink,” said the ambassador, demonstrating a traditional Georgian drinking horn which is used in ritual toasting. He also presented Borjomi carbonated mineral water from one of the world’s four most recognized longevity places, Caucasus of Georgia.
H.E. Dumitru Braghis, Ambassador of Moldova to China (second from right)
H.E. Dumitru Braghis, Ambassador of Moldova to China, first showed audience organic products such as nuts, cosmetics, walnut oil and honey. Since wine is also cornerstone of Moldova’s cultural identity, Ambassador Braghis brought ten bottles to stage with profound introduction of the world’s Top 2 largest wine cellars, Mileștii Mici and Cricova which are underground.
“I’m sure that next year we (China and Moldova) will have more, better and bigger results and we will be able to show to everybody that this friendship is already mature like Moldova wine,” said the ambassador.
H.E. Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China (second from right)
The textile industry is the largest manufacturing industry in Pakistan, contributing a majority of the country’s exports. H.E. Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, displayed both traditional Chitrali hat and hand-made scarfs to unfold the exquisite dying and weaving techniques, as well as Pakistani gem and rice.
H.E. Palitha T. B. Kohona, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China
The well-known Ceylon tea, ginger cookies and coconut-based products from Sri Lanka impressed Chinese audience with Ambassador Palitha T. B. Kohona’s intriguing presentation. “For various reasons, Ceylon tea is considered to be one of the best black tea in the world,” said Ambassador Kohona, adding that the climate, the soil and the way of tea plucking and processing might be the reasons why the tea is special in color, aroma, taste and intensity.
Dr. Michael Berger, Commercial Counselor of the Austrian Embassy in China (second from right)
Dr. Michael Berger, Commercial Counselor of the Austrian Embassy in Beijing, was delighted to see a variety of products such as Red Bull, wafer, milk and wine are popular in China. He highlighted that cows drink natural water and eat grass in meadow in Austria, which is one of the most advanced countries in biological agriculture, and some listen to classical music by Austrian composers Mozart and Haydn to help boost milk quality.
Petros Petrou, Commercial Counselor of the Cypriot Embassy in China (right)
By sharing a story about Venus, the Queen of Cyprus, and her son Cupid, Mr. Petros Petrou, Commercial Counselor of the Cypriot Embassy in Beijing kicked off his demonstration with an array of specialties including traditional Halloumi cheese, blue wine and stuffed toys of Talking Tom.
JD.com had reported RMB 500 billion yuan in the procurement of imported products over the past three years, higher than its goal of RMB 400 billion set in 2019, according to the company’s Report on Consumption of Imported Products 2022 released earlier this month.
With authorization support from embassies in China, JD.com has seen a prosperity in national pavilion program, in which the total number of national pavilions is expected to surpass 100 by the end of 2022, serving as a broader bridge to bring high quality imported products to Chinese market.
