JD.com kicked off its peak night of the 19th JD 618 Grand Promotion at 8 pm on June 17, resulting in the year’s biggest consumption boom so far, with 11 stores’ turnover exceeding RMB 100 million yuan in less than 10 minutes—a clear indication of the recovery of consumer demand in major cities and the wider market.

“Quality consumption” has been a common goal for users and retailers during the JD618 Grand Promotion this year. The turnover of ultrabooks, which are leading high-end consumer trends, climbed by two times year over year in the first ten minutes. Air conditioners, gaming TVs, RF (radio frequency) beauty instruments, and other new stylish household appliances are also in demand, with sales of 65+ inches TV exceeding the entire day last year in just ten minutes.

What’s more, since June, the trend of resuming work and production has resulted in structural changes in categories, shifting consumption from “home consumption” to “productivity consumption,” guiding consumption structure development to a more reasonable proportion. Office stationery had a 100 percent year-on-year growth, and home printers had a 200 percent year-on-year growth in the first 10 minutes of the peak night.

The ongoing development toward more premium products remains strong, with social consumption becoming more individualized and diverse. Users’ demand for products has extended throughout the entire life cycle of consumption: Before, during, and after-sales. “Services-driving-consumption” has continued to take shape. The turnover of home appliance trade-ins climbed 6 times year-over-year in the first 10 minutes of the peak night, and the turnover of JD appliances’ value-added services increased 150 percent year-over-year.

Consumers in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and other overseas markets were also enthralled. The first order for JD’s global sales platforms came from Chicago, and the first order for JoyBuy, JD’s B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, came from Indonesia. Chinese domestic brands have seen a 128 percent boost in global sales year over year since the start of the JD618 Grand Promotion.

Following a slow consumer market in April-May, JD 618’s peak night also paid great attention to assisting small and medium-sized businesses in the industrial zone, as well as the regeneration of the countryside. The turnover of Yunnan small grain coffee increased 5 times year on year, while the turnover of Anxi Tieguanyin tea increased 240 percent year-on-year in the first 10 minutes of the peak night.

According to a third-party organization’s report on “New Trends in Online Shopping Consumption,” the pandemic has reshaped online shopping habits, with respondents being more concerned about delivery time and availability of goods, and JD.com being preferred by 88.9 %percent of consumers as a reliable channel, ranking first in the industry.

“Unlike earlier JD618s, which focused solely on economic and industrial value, this year’s JD618 Grand Promotion also includes social value,” said Wei Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and a former vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce.

As of 23:59 on June 18th Beijing time, JD.com reported a total transaction volume of RMB 379.3 billion yuan for 2022 JD618 Grand Promotion, which exceeds last year’s RMB 343.8 billion yuan.

As JD Retail’s CEO Lijun Xin noted, by fulfilling a responsible supply chain, the company is gaining increasing trust and support from customers, merchants, farmers and partners both online and offline who demonstrated unprecedented enthusiasm for this year’s 618 Grand Promotion. In return, JD delivered more attentive services, user-friendly sales policies, more convenient consumer experience and greener products for consumers, doing its utmost to ensure the liveliness of people’s normal lives.

“For the first time, the true value of the supply chain and the society’s perception of it are aligned at this year’s JD618,” said Xin. “With the whole society’s reflection and support, we believe that the entire supply chain industry is facing greater development opportunities ahead and JD is ready to embrace the era of supply chain value.”

Thanks to the company’s solid supply chain infrastructure and digitally intelligent technologies, JD Logistics’ same or next-day delivery services have gone deeper into the country, now covering 94 percent of counties and 84 percent of townships across China.

This year’s shopping festival spotlights seven key consumption trends ranging from consumers’ rising demand for quality services, new and greener products, to the fast growth of omni-channel retail, agricultural products and more. Read the details of the consumption highlights of 2022 JD618 here.

The 19th JD618 Grand Promotion this year, under the theme of “Responsible Supply Chain”, kicked off at 8 p.m. on May 31 and will officially end on June 20.

by Vivian Yang and Doris Liu

“JD.com is ready to embrace the era of supply chain value,” said Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Retail, at the JD618 media briefing session on June 18, noting that the outbreaks of Omicron in China have led the whole society to recognize the value of supply chain in an explicit and profound way. JD.com would continue to open its supply chain infrastructure, technologies, expertise and capabilities to push forward the development of the whole industry, he added.

Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Retail at the JD618 media briefing session

The 19th 618 Grand Promotion  this year is themed “Responsible Supply Chain.”  Several key highlights are revealed through the shopping festival’s consumption data from 8 p.m. on May 31 to date, all of which provide insight into consumption in the second half of the year.  The shopping festival will officially end on June 20.

Good services weigh increasingly heavily, if not being a decisive factor, in people’s shopping choices. At this year’s shopping festival, consumers gave greater approval to JD’s premier customer services, of which JD offers a total of 185, covering the entire consumption process before, during and after sales.

Robot vacuums and air purifiers that promise 30-day free trial and “replacement over repair within 180 days” have seen sales jump by 200 percent. Sales of cracked phone screen insurance increased more than 300 percent YoY, and over 80 percent of users who purchased the insurance opted for an unlimited repair guarantee.

Boosted by JD’s free tire-change service and three-year quality guarantees, the transaction volume of tire products on JD Auto surged 300 percent YoY.

People’s awareness of their health has increased dramatically. The early screening service of critical illnesses is among the most popular health services ordered on JD Health, with its transaction volume rocketing by 50 times YoY. Sales of furniture products in J Shop, JD’s omni-channel fashion and home stores, that were tagged with a prepaid insurance settlement, increased over 160 percent. The transaction volume of online glasses ordering services increased six-fold YoY, to name just a few.

Consumers showed strong interest in the new generation of products with novel technologies, designs, and functions, or those that can bring brand new experiences, propelling manufacturers to present products with better quality and ideas. On the Super Day of the consumer electronics category during JD618, the transaction volume of gaming laptops priced over RMB 10,000 yuan grew by 120 percent compared with the same period last year.  The average growth rate of emerging home appliances such as gaming TVs, fresh-air conditioners and smart vacuum cleaners increased over five-fold YoY.

Transaction volume of new outdoor and camping products rose by 300 percent, and sun protection clothing was up six-fold YoY.

JD’s on-demand retail services including the Shop Now program and JDDJ are providing greater nearby amenities for consumers from online to offline. Deeply connected with more than 150,000 offline stores in over 1,700 cities and counties across China, the omni-channel solution is empowering brick-and-mortar stores of all product categories with richer marketing plans and one-hour delivery services to customers within 3-5 kilometers radius.

During the 618 period, JD also opened its physical home appliance flagship stores in 12 Chinese cities, such as Nanjing, Yangzhou, Wuhu, Liuzhou and more, further expanding shopping experiences and tangible engagement with a broader range of consumers.

The transaction volume of JD Health’s medicine procurement for small and medium-sized drug stores and clinics increased 48 percent, with over 90 percent of these procurers coming from the county or lower-level regions.

4. SMEs and merchants in recovery

As the coronavirus has brought unprecedented uncertainties, JD introduced 30 measures for JD618 to support SMEs and merchants’ businesses and contribute to the solid development of the real economy.

SMEs’ ROI was increased by more than 20 percent during the shopping festival. Transaction volume of over 27,000 brands and 30,000 stores partnered with JD Super, JD’s omni-channel supermarket, saw an increase of five times YoY . In particular, the omni-channel business of Wal-Mart, China Resources, Yonghui increased 6.6 times YOY in sales.

JD’s data showed that more than 4,000 merchants of consumer electronics doubled their sales YOY on the category’s Super Day.

5. Green consumption on the rise

Ahead of JD618 on May 20, JD.com announced the “Green Impact Initiative” to green-label one million kinds of products conforming to a set of environmentally friendly standards to guide people’s responsible consumption.

As of June 5, over 11.57 million products related to green consumption were sold on JD.com, with sales of electric cars up 200 percent YOY and toilets with water efficiency rating up by 8 times in sales respectively.

6. Farmers’ produce items gain popularity

Agricultural products have been emphasized in this year’s campaign as part of rural revitalization initiatives to promote quality produce and boost farmers’ income. To achieve this purpose, JD’s logistics infrastructure continued to consolidate in rural areas, providing supply chain services for more than 1,000 origins and industrial belts of agricultural specialties all across China.

For instance, transaction volume of kiwifruit grown in Sichuan province increased by more than 10 times compared with last month, while sales of Yangshan peach from Jiangsu province and Dongkui waxberry from Zhejiang province rose over six times month over month.

Moreover, since JD’s logistics network enables the agricultural products to be transported smoothly, it can be seen on JD.com that 51 percent of Inner Mongolia’s lamb went to Beijing and 41 percent of the seafood from Zhejiang province to Sichuan.

A responsible supply chain, by JD’s definition, is a combination of both hard and soft capabilities, namely the infrastructure represented by its nationwide warehouse networks and other modernized logistics facilities, and the ability to efficiently integrate all the resources.

As of now, 45 of JD’s “Asia No. 1” intelligent logistics parks and 1,400 warehouses across the country have built a highly integrated logistics infrastructure as well as a network of warehousing and delivery with multiple tiers. The growing logistics network guarantees an end-to-end product circulation, leading to a better customer experience.

JD’s smart supply chain system also synergizes intelligently with 81.2 percent of suppliers of JD’s self-operated stores. With the help of JD’s C2M solution, JC2M intelligent manufacturing platform, the new product launch cycle has been shortened by 67 percent from before to more precisely cater to the target customers.

Technologically, JD Cloud saw a 154.5 percent growth in peak user visits per second as compared to the same period last year. JD Intelligent City Consumption Promotion Platform issued nearly RMB 1 billion yuan of consumption vouchers in more than 10 cities.

(vivian.yang@jd.com; liujun215@jd.com)

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