Other supplies and 200,000 RMB worth of masks in an hour

JD.com Ranks 59th in 2021 Fortune Global 500

Posted on Aug 2, 2021Sep 25, 2022 by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

For the first time, JD.com has been ranked in the Top 100 of the latest Fortune Global 500 released on August 2, 2021, rising 43 places in one year.

JD’s recent development is recognized on Fortune’s website as the company profile describes: “With nearly 500 million customers, JD.com’s revenue soared 40% to $32 billion in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the previous year, buoyed by resurgent demand from Chinese customers emerging from the pandemic and new partnerships with popular brands like Starbucks and sports retailer Decathlon.”

JD’s recent IPOs were also highlighted. “The might of the JD.com empire was also on display in the IPOs of the company’s spinoffs. In December 2020, JD Health raised $3.5 billion in its debut on the Hong Kong exchange. Months later, JD Logistics raised $3.2 billion in its own Hong Kong IPO,” the article continues.

Besides being an internet giant globally, the company also sees itself as having unique DNA to deeply engage in the development of physical businesses and the growth of China’s real economy during the country’s post-COVID economic recovery.

“JD will leverage its strength and experience in digitalization and innovation to support enterprises in digital transformation and promote the high-quality growth of China’s real economy,” reads the company’s latest announcement.

By the end of 2020, JD has been serving more than 8 million active enterprises partners both large companies of Fortune Global 500 and local SMEs with its capacities in smart supply chain, Customer-to-Manufacture (C2M) model, logistics infrastructure, cutting-edge technologies in AI and Cloud and more.

By the end of Q1 2021, JD has further reduced its inventory turnover to 31.2 days, continuing to enhance its ability to serve its customers and partners. While operating millions of SKUs online, it has expanded its capabilities to enable the recovery and innovation of offline businesses in the form of omni-channel supermarkets, self-operated and franchised convenience stores, brick-and-mortar stores of digital products, car maintenance services, florists, drug stores and more.

Moreover, the company’s over 314,000 employees including about 200,000 JD frontline couriers not only strived to ensure the premier customer experience and same/next-day delivery service across the country, but also made tremendous efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and the recent flood in Henan to support the government and society on supplying and transporting living necessities and helping farmers and merchants both online and offline to continue their businesses in rough times.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

JD Big Data: Five Consumption Trends in China’s E-Sports

Posted on Aug 2, 2021Aug 12, 2021 by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

JD Big Data institute released a set of e-sports consumption data on July 30^th in conjunction with China’s largest gaming event ChinaJoy 2021. Five trends emerged from the latest data, reflecting Chinese consumers’ fast-growing interests in this market.

Strong growth across all categories

According to JD’s big data, China’s e-sports and gaming hardware products achieved over 50% sales growth in the first half of 2021 compared with the same period last year, with strong growth momentum seen in all key categories across gaming laptops, PCs and mobile phones.

Gaming laptops outshined the others in terms of market demand. The top 5 best-selling gaming laptop brands are Lenovo, ASUS, HP, MECHREVO and DELL; and the fastest growing brands in this category are Xiaomi, MACHENIK, Razer and Alienware, reaching quadruple growth rate in some cases.

Preferences of different age groups

Nintendo holds firm as China’s best-selling game consoles, whereas Sony’s PS5 topped the ranks in terms of transaction volume.

Playstation and Xbox continue to lead the mainstream of family computers. Switch and PSP take the lead in the handheld console market, while Chinese brands like Xiao Ba Wang, CoolBaby, PowKiddy are dominating the middle and low-end market.

JD’s survey also observed that consumers under 26 years old showed the strongest preference for Nintendo Switch. This age group has a preference score 1.5 and 3 times higher than people age between 26-35 and 36-46 respectively. Xbox wins more hearts of people older than 35 years old, and Playstation has a more evenly distributed preference among different age groups, with higher tendency from people between 30-35.

Female Gamers on the Rise

There’s a clear gender inclination in gaming products. JD’s data showed that 80% of PlayStation and Xbox are bought by male users. In comparison, Nintendo draws more female users as it offers more games for family fun. About 40% of Nintendo consoles are bought by women, and many men also claimed that they bought them as gifts for their girlfriends.

As more and more women are plugging in and turning onto games, Nintendo has introduced a variety of tailored products for female gamers, such as Dancing Dreamer, Ring Fit Adventure, and its neon pink and neon green editions.

Market Penetration

On the aspect of geographical distribution, gaming laptops are gaining wide popularity across the country, with customers from central China areas like Zhengzhou, Changsha, Chongqing, etc., emerging with strong demand.

People from Beijing, Wuhan and cities in east China purchased the most high-end gaming PCs. People from coastal regions in east China are also buying more gaming phones. Meanwhile, data shows that orders from consumers living in lower-tier markets in central and western regions for professional e-sports electronics such as computer mouse, keyboards and earphones are quickly increasing.

At the same time, gears of superstar e-sports teams are driving the sales and fashion of gaming products. During the recent game season, many equipment displayed during the game season are actively sought after, including JDG team’s gaming chairs and aseaT, FPX team’s Sensei Ten mouse and (G) PRO X7.1 earphone, and VG team’s (CHERRY)MX8.0 mechanical keyboards and HONOR HUNTER V700 gaming laptops and more.

Single Vs Married Game Shoppers

It’s not surprising to find that single men bought more gaming products than those who have tied the knot. As explained above, most PlayStation and Xbox are ordered by single men, while Switch users showed a more balanced marriage status.

Comparing to single men who buy gaming products, married men spent much less in this category.

A closer look of the expenditures split between the purposes of family use and self-use among married people who ever bought gaming products, the ratio is 50-50 for women and 40-60 for men. The good sign in this perhaps is that more and more women are buying things for themselves, and married men have manifested stronger family responsibility, not necessarily indicating that they cannot afford to spend more on games.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

BVLGARI Stages Its Online Debut with JD.com

Posted on Aug 2, 2021Sep 29, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

JD.com and LVMH’s luxury brand BVLGARI, established in 1884, have launched an innovative cooperation model, as announced on August 2. Through the model customized by JD for BVLGARI, consumers can type in “BVLGARI” or the brand’s related products in the search bar in the JD app, and then enter BVLGARI’s official JD mini program to enjoy the brand’s full range of products. It’s the first time the Italian luxury brand has ever worked with an online third-party platform.

“JD Luxury has rich experience in providing tailored solutions for luxury brands,” said Kevin Jiang, president of International Fashion and Lifestyle. “The cooperation between BVLGARI and JD through a customized and innovative model is a brand new exploration for both of us, and both sides will explore in-depth cooperation in the future to enhance the consumer experience and better meet the personalized needs of consumers while purchasing luxury goods online.”

Many mainstream luxury brands have begun cooperating with JD, thanks to the platform’s large high-quality consumer base with strong consumption power, coupled with the trend of consumers moving online to buy luxury products since the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, JD also launched premium logistics services, JD Luxury Express, to provide chauffeured hand delivery of luxury products, giving customers the joy and delight of an experience commensurate to shopping at a brand’s offline store.

Greek silversmith Sotirio Bulgari opened his first workshop in Rome. Endlessly inspired by Rome, the BVLGARI style was characterized by unusual color combinations of precious stones, exquisite craftsmanship and boundless creativity. The brand is known for its jewelry, watches, accessories and leather goods, fragrances and hotel resorts.

JD’s annual active customers have exceeded 500 million as of April 1^st 2021, with the number of members of JD’s pioneering premium membership program, JD Plus, surpassing 20 million. During this year’s 618 Grand Promotion from June 1-18^th, JD reported a total transaction volume of over RMB 343.8 billion yuan, representing the strong consumption power of Chinese consumers.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

JD Unveils Largest ChinaJoy Show and Upgrade of JD E-sports

Posted on Jul 30, 2021Oct 27, 2022 by Vivian Yang

by Vivian Yang

JD.com launched its biggest ever 3,000-square-meter exhibition at the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, a.k.a ChinaJoy2021, which is taking place from July 30 to August 2 in Shanghai.

The exhibit is designed to showcase the latest gaming industry trends, what motivates China’s Gen-Z consumers, as well as the tremendous marketing opportunities arising from these developments, according to JD’s planning team for ChinaJoy.

As China’s most well-known shopping platform particularly in the area of electronics products, JD will spotlight a number of new gaming products on site to bring a fresh experience for visitors. Beyond that, brands and products ranging from fashion and cosmetics to home appliances and furniture have also joined the bandwagon to introduce their co-branded offerings or tailored-made products in JD’s exhibit and via JD’s online platform.

China’s e-sports market is expected to reach RMB 270 billion yuan by 2022, and will be an official event for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. In response, JD is ramping up efforts to tap the potential of this market and associated partners to incubate a wider industry ecosystem.

During this year’s ChinaJoy, JD announced that it will update its JD Esports plan, which was launched at ChinaJoy 2020 in collaboration with device makers like Lenovo, gaming leaders like Tencent and livestreaming platforms like Huya, to develop a one-stop e-sports service platform encompassing hardware, software, content and events.

As Gen-Z is driving much of the growth in this market, JD is also increasing its marketing outreach to younger consumers. A lineup of live shows, games and interactions with e-sport influencers will be rolled out during the three-day event to appeal to young visitors with interest in anime culture.

Furthermore, JD’s efforts in cultivating the market have also included two gaming teams in recent years, both of which have gained wide popularity among young gamers and wider audiences: JD E-sports (JDE) for Peacekeeper Elite League (PEL) and JDG (JD Gaming) Intel e-Sports Club for League of Legends (LoL). The latter is one of the top-performing teams in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). Plus, JD has organized the nationwide annual e-sports tournament JD Cup since 2014, in an effort to grow awareness of JD as a one-stop platform for everything related to e-sport, from gears, content to entertainment.

Major Zhu, head of integrated marketing of JD Retail, said during the expo that JD will continue to deepen its investment in e-sports. Basing on the company’s strength in supply chain and big data, it can leverage its deep understanding in e-sports to bring partners together, presenting more high-quality products, services and entertainments for the growing e-sports fan base, and contributing to the development of China’s e-sports industry.

(vivian.yang@jd.com)

Behind the Scenes of JD’s Drone Rescue Efforts in Henan

Posted on Jul 30, 2021Nov 25, 2022 by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

Since Jul. 22, JD’s self-developed logistics drone has been delivering emergency supplies in Xinxiang, a flood-stricken city in Henan province.

Chaokang Liu, a drone engineer from JD’s logistics innovation lab, JD-X, received the company’s call for an urgent trip to Henan.

Liu did not hesitate to make the decision to go, as his parents were survivors of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake which killed at least 242,000 people, and he wanted to give back to others.

Liu immediately packed his luggage and a last-mile delivery drone, which can lift 25 kilograms of goods, for the trip to Henan. He rode in a JD Logistics truck and traveled 10 hours from Xi’an, Shaanxi province, where his team is based.

As soon as he arrived, Liu received the request that 30 workers in Xinxiang were stranded in a factory park and were short of food. But successfully delivering the food to those workers would prove difficult.

After three hours of searching, Liu finally found a place from which the drone could take off. However, he had never used this drone at night time, as it is a newly developed model. Moreover, communications in Xinxiang were greatly affected by the flood, and he was afraid that the drone could not manage location tracking accurately. The food might not arrive at the rooftop and fall into the flood.

He decided to give a try anyway. “If you can save 30 people, it’s worth it, even if the drone crashes,” said Liu.

The drone took off—and soon after successfully landed on top of a truck in the factory, where the group of trapped workers were able to access the food supplies.

With Liu and JD’s drone, the group of workers finally got their meal for the day. Soon after that, they were rescued and transported to safety.

Liu said, “It’s my duty to rescue more people, and I’ll keep going on this journey with my drone.”

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

JD News Roundup Vol. 14: Henan Flood Relief, benefit Launch and More

Posted on Jul 30, 2021Aug 13, 2021 by Kelly Dawson

Welcome to volume 14 (June 19- July 25) of our 2021 weekly digest. Here we consolidate a selection of JD news regularly and give context on why it matters. If you have any questions or topics you are hoping we will explore, please email press@jd.com.

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

JD Logistics: Henan Flood Relief

As heavy downpours resulted in massive flooding across China’s Henan province last week, JD.com initiated emergency support for thousands of stranded residents, including delivery of emergency supplies via JD’s self-developed logistics drone in Xinxiang city. Capable of both taking off and landing in rain conditions, the drone was also leveraged in Zhongmou county of Zhengzhou city to help survey flood conditions.

Additionally, on July 21 JD Logistics delivered over 540 boxes of food and mineral water to Tielu train station in Zhengzhou, Henan province, where hundreds of passengers had been stranded on the railway for more than 40 hours. On the same day, another batch of rescue supplies from JD’s local warehouses were sent to provide relief for 9,000 medical workers and patients stranded at two local hospitals.

JD’s relief efforts were part of a company policy initiated in 2012, stating that if a disaster happens anywhere in the country, the nearest JD warehouse should immediately donate and deliver goods to meet emergency demands. The manager in charge of the warehouse is entitled to make such a decision on the ground without waiting for approval from upper management.

JD Retail

benefit Opens Flagship Store on JD

benefit, owned by the world’s biggest luxury giant LVMH, will open its online flagship store on JD.com on July 19^th. Speaking of the cooperation, benefit’s Brand General Manager in Greater China Yan Wang said, “The all-stops-covered delivery operation and service of JD.com could reinforce a more efficient and closer communication between benefit and the consumers. We believe that the cooperation with JD.com will deliver benefit’s ‘feelgood’ philosophy to more consumers.”

On-demand Delivery of vivo Phones on JD.Com Thanks to Dada Partnership

Leading global smartphone manufacturer vivo’s phones are available for one-hour delivery service on JD.com thanks to an omni-channel partnership with JD partner Dada Group, China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform.

JD Daojia, the on-demand retail platform of Dada Group, is cooperating with vivo authorized stores in terms of product management, digital marketing, targeted user operations, and order fulfilment optimization.

JD to Highlight e-Sports and More at ChinaJoy Expo

In the upcoming ChinaJoy 2021 expo taking place in Shanghai from July 30 to August 2, JD’s biggest-ever 3,000-square-meter exhibition zone in E7 hall will offer an immersive experience for visitors with live shows, games and interactions with e-sports influencers and more. Additionally, the exhibit will aim to help people understand the latest e-sports trends, what motivates China’s Gen Z consumers, as well as the tremendous marketing opportunities arising from these developments. Come join us if you are in Shanghai!

SEVEN FRESH Opens Fourth Store in Chengdu

JD’s omni-channel supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH continues its rapid expansion across China, opening a new store in Chengdu on July 23. The new location is the fourth SEVEN FRESH supermarket in Chengdu, and also the first subway station storefront of the chain. In recent months the chain also opened three stores in Shenzhen, as part of SEVEN FRESH’s overall strategy to focus on four major regions, including the Beijing-Tianjin area, South China coastal area, Western China Sichuan-Chongqing area, and Central China Hubei-Hunan region.

Stay tuned for more updates next week, with a major luxury brand announcement and other new partnerships on the horizon.

(press@jd.com)

JD.com to Invest 12 Billion RMB in Tianjin

Posted on Jul 30, 2021Aug 12, 2021 by Kelly Dawson

by Kelly Dawson

JD and the city of Tianjin signed a cooperation agreement on July 26, outlining an expansive plan in which the e-commerce giant will invest RMB 12 billion yuan in the city to drive 50,000 jobs and drive the city’s digital transformation. The cooperation is under the framework of China’s 14^th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).

Leveraging JD’s advantages in digital technology, the cooperation will promote the construction of a new digital economy innovation center, a smart manufacturing digital technology industrial park, a connected intelligent vehicle manufacturing industrial park, an intelligent computing power and operation center, and other projects. JD will also open new offline stores as part of its omni-channel expansion, including supermarket chain SEVEN FRESH, JD convenience stores and other retail formats.

Additionally, JD will give full play to its advantages in digital technology and supply chain to support Tianjin’s transformation into a smart city, participating in the construction and operation of an industrial digital platform for the city, accelerating the implementation of new smart distribution models, integrating the cultural and tourism industries, and jointly building a new online trading platform for both imported and domestic brand cars.

The cooperation will also support JD’s efforts to promote rural revitalization, supporting the local agriculture industry. Relying on JD’s B2C e-commerce platform, B2B2C community shopping platform, B2B supply platform and conveniences across the country, JD will establish a diversified upstream channel for local agricultural specialty products and help improve the economic conditions of local farmers in the greater area of Tianjin.

JD previously entered into cooperation with Hubei province in 2020, investing RMB 6 billion in the region to support the local economy, build next-generation infrastructure, and construct a series of smart city services including an emergency material management platform and digital media information service platform. JD has also pledged to support local brands in Hubei by growing their business and marketing to the e-commerce platform’s more than 500 million customers.

Additionally, JD has been working together with NVIDIA to transform Changshu, Jiangsu province into a smart city serviced by widespread use of JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles.

(kellydawson@jd.com)

Dada Ramps Up Expansion of Autonomous Delivery in Partnership with JD

Posted on Jul 30, 2021Sep 20, 2022 by Hui Zhang

by Hui Zhang

Dada Group (Nasdaq: DADA) (“Dada”), China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform, today announced that it is set to advance an autonomous delivery operation open system, which has already been adopted by SEVEN FRESH and Yonghui Supermarket to normalize the scalable use of unmanned delivery vehicles for on-demand delivery service. Teaming up with JD Logistics and autonomous delivery vehicle developer White Rhino, Dada Group will jointly establish the autonomous delivery ecosystem in the supermarket scenario.

Dada Now, Dada’s on-demand delivery platform, has leveraged its proprietary software and technologies for on-demand delivery and massive online shopping scenarios to develop the autonomous delivery operation system for unmanned delivery vehicles in supermarkets. The system has realized automatic order distribution for supermarket stores, and can manage package loading, terminal connection, and abnormal order operation through its human interaction system in order to assist the unmanned vehicles in efficiently fulfilling the online orders. Dada Now’s autonomous delivery operation open system has already been applied by SEVEN FRESH and Yonghui’s unmanned vehicles to cover a dozen neighbourhoods, fulfilling nearly 5,000 orders with driving mileage over 10,000 kilometres.

The demand for online grocery delivery service is growing fast in China. According to the report “China’s On-demand Retail Industry 2021” conducted by iResearch this June, consumers are increasingly embracing on-demand consumption, with the most commonly purchased categories including fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and eggs. This rapid growth in on-demand delivery, rising labour costs and a shortage of couriers have at times led to difficulty in fulfilling orders quickly for consumers. The unmanned delivery vehicles provide a viable alternative to address these challenges.

Compared with traditional delivery, unmanned vehicles feature lower delivery cost, larger carrying capacity, stronger stability, and higher safety, for one-hour delivery. For example, the manufacturing for JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles includes over 50 processes and over 140 checks for quality to ensure its stability. And the vehicles support “scheduled delivery,” in which customers can designate times for the vehicle to come to their neighbourhoods. The unmanned vehicles can be deployed in extreme weather conditions, as well as peak and out-of-business hours to autonomously complete delivery missions when the availability of delivery riders is limited.

The on-demand delivery industry has become more open and collaborative as an ecosystem. Technology is playing a core role to help partners collaborate through digital platforms, and to optimize operational efficiency. As the establisher of the unmanned delivery ecosystem, Dada also aims to link its upstream and downstream partners, and scale up the R&D of the software and infrastructure for autonomous delivery services as part of its latest effort to accelerate the transition to the era of smart delivery. To expand its unmanned delivery network, Dada Now together with JD Logistics and White Rhino, plans to bring unmanned delivery to the daily lives of China’s urbanites.

“On-demand delivery is one the first application scenarios where unmanned delivery vehicles are commercialized. We are confident that the combination of Dada’s system for autonomous delivery and our partners’ highly intelligent delivery vehicles will enable sweeping delivery cost reductions, make our roads safer, lower carbon emissions, and bring greater value to retailers and business partners,” said Jun Yang, Co-Founder, Director and CTO of Dada Group.

(zhanghui36@jd.com)