Jingdong GMV for the first quarter of 2017 increased by 42% to 184.1 billion yuan (US$26.7 billion) from 129.3 billion yuan in Q1 2016. Annual active customer accounts increased by 40% to 236.5 million in the twelve months ended March 31, 2017, from 169.1 million in the twelve months ended March 31, 2016.

GMV from Jingdong’s online direct sales business was 107.9 billion yuan in Q1 2017, up 42% from Q1 2016. GMV from the online marketplace business was 76.2 billion yuan in Q1 2017, an increase of 43% from Q1 2016.

GMV from electronics and home appliance products was 92.6 billion yuan in Q1 2017, an increase of 37% from Q1 2016, while GMV from general merchandise and others was 91.5 billion yuan in Q1 2017, an increase of 48% YoY, and contributed 50% of total GMV, up from 48% in Q1 2016.

JD.com reported net revenues of 76.2 billion yuan (US$11.1 billion) in Q1 2017, representing a 41% increase from the same period in 2016. Net revenues from online direct sales increased by 40%, while net revenues from services and others increased by 62% in Q1 2017, as compared to Q1 2016. Net revenues excluding JD Finance increased by 40% to 75.2 billion yuan in Q1 2017, up from 53.8 billion in the same period last year.

Income from operations for Q1 2017 was 843.1 million yuan (US$122.5 million), compared to loss from operations of 864.9 million yuan in Q1 2016. Non-GAAP income from operations for Q1 2017 was 1.7 billion yuan (US$0.2 billion) with a non-GAAP operating margin of 2.2%, as compared to non-GAAP loss from operations of 295.7 million yuan in Q1 2016.

Net income for Q1 2017 was 355.7 million yuan (US$51.7 million), compared to net loss of 867.3 million yuan in Q1 2016. Non-GAAP net income for Q1 2017 was 1.4 billion yuan (US$0.2 billion), as compared to non-GAAP net loss of 0.2 billion yuan in Q1 2016.

JD.com Key Business Activities in Q1 2017

In Q1 2017, Avène, the leading dermo-cosmetic brand for sensitive skin in European pharmacies, and three brands under Giorgio Armani, including EA7 Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear, launched flagship stores on JD.com’s direct sales platform.

JD Worldwide partnered with ASDA, a leading UK retailer under the Walmart umbrella, to bring high-quality British products to Chinese consumers. Additionally, JD Worldwide partnered with several other top international brands including Bayer, Inferno and Cetaphil.

JD expanded its footprint in the home furnishing and apparel categories, announcing strategic partnerships at Milan Design Week with SAVIO FIRMINO, Bordignon and Contractin, three leading Italian furniture brands.

JD partnered with Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week to stage fashion shows featuring top Chinese designers.

In March, JD.com upgraded its recycling system for used packaging materials. Customers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen can now return empty cardboard boxes to JD.com couriers to receive credits for future purchases on JD.com.

As of March 31, 2017, JD.com’s joint venture, New Dada as a crowdsourcing logistics provider and O2O supermarket platform, had partnered with 80 Walmart stores and 165 Yonghui stores to provide consumers a premium online grocery shopping experience with one-hour home delivery.

As of March 31, 2017, JD.com operated 263 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of approximately 5.8 million square meters.

In April, JD.com announced the establishment of JD Logistics, a new business group under JD.com to provide integrated supply chain and logistics services to businesses across a wide range of industries.

JD.com had approximately 120,000 merchants on its online marketplace as of April 30, 2017, and a total of 122,405 full-time employees as of March 31, 2017.

In Q1 2017, China’s online retail sales reached 1,404.5 billion yuan (US$203.89), a year-on-year growth of 32.1%.

China online shopping market forecast 2017-2019

Jingdong (JD.com) net revenues for the second quarter of 2017 were 93.2 billion yuan (US$213.7 billion), an increase of 43.6% from the second quarter of 2016.

Net loss from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2017 was 287.0 million yuan (US$42.3 million), compared to net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders of 127.6 million yuan for the same period last year.

Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2017 was 976.5 million yuan (US$144.1 million), as compared to 612.6 million yuan in the second quarter of 2016.

JD’s GMV for Q2 2017 increased by 46% to 234.8 billion yuan (US$34.6 billion) from 160.4 billion yuan in Q2 2016. Fulfilled orders in Q2 2017 were 591.2 million, an increase of 41% from 418.9 million in the same period in 2016. Fulfilled orders placed through mobile accounted for approximately 80% of total orders fulfilled in Q2 2017, an increase of 42% compared to the same period in 2016.

Its annual active customer accounts increased by 37% to 258.3 million in the twelve months ended June 30, 2017 from 188.1 million in the twelve months ended June 30, 2016. As of June 30, 2017, JD.com operated 335 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of approximately 7.1 million square meters in China.

JD.com had approximately 130,000 merchants on its online marketplace, and a total of 125,835 full-time employees

JD further expanded its product offerings in Q2 2017 through cooperation with multiple international brands, including Swiss luxury watch brand Zenith, Austrian brand Swarovski, leading Italian furniture designer Kartell, a world-leading producer of ophthalmic lenses Essilor, as well as Casio, MAMMUT, Juicy Couture and Armani.

In April, JD Worldwide launched its JD (x) program to partner with leading global fashion brands such as Chiara Ferragni, Jay Ahr, Haculla, and McQ to design clothing lines that combine premium quality and unique fashion tailored towards JD customers. JD will continue to add internationally known brands to join the JD (x) program to further expand the range of unique and exciting fashion products available to Chinese consumers.

In June 2017, French luxury hair care brand Rene Furterer opened its flagship store on JD. Petit Bateau, a more than one hundred-year-old French clothing brand for children and Merida, a Taiwan-based brand of professional bicycles, also joined the platform in July.

JD and Farfetch announced a strategic partnership for luxury e-commerce in China. The partnership leverages JD’s unparalleled logistics, Internet finance and technology capabilities, and social media resources, with Farfetch’s leadership in global luxury, to offer Chinese consumers a seamless brand experience.

In July, JD and Walmart expanded their cooperation to further integrate their platforms and customer resources in China. Coinciding with the launch of the first Walmart-JD Omni-channel Shopping Festival on August 8, the new initiatives aim to offer shoppers throughout China faster and more convenient access to high-quality products through multiple channels. Walmart China and Sam’s Club US also launched flagship stores on JD.com and JD Worldwide, respectively, during the quarter.

In August, JD and Baidu launched a strategic partnership leveraging both companies’ powerful data resources, user bases and AI algorithm technology to give consumers and advertisers a more tailored and rewarding e-commerce experience. As part of the partnership, Mobile Baidu, Baidu’s flagship mobile search app, will provide JD with level-one access points to the hundreds of millions of mobile Baidu users in China.

E-commerce development in China’s rural areas in H1 2017

In the ninth year of the world’s largest 24-hour shopping event, this year’s Tmall Double 11 2017 will showcase:

Alibaba Economy at scale. 11.11 will demonstrate the technological innovation and global scale of the entire Alibaba Economy. More than 140,000 brands and hundreds of millions of consumers will participate in 11.11 this year. This shopping festival will be supported by Alibaba’s global cloud, payment and logistics infrastructure.

Consumers will enjoy seamless payment and consumer loan services provided by Ant Financial. Alibaba Cloud will serve as the core technology and computing backbone to ensure the best consumer experience throughout the festival. Cainiao Network expects over 3 million logistics personnel to facilitate the hundreds of millions of packages that will be generated from the festival.

The number of annual active consumers on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces reached 488 million, an increase of 22 million from the 12-month period ended June 30, 2017. See the performance highlights of Alibaba in Q3 2017 here.

Power of the Chinese consumer. Alibaba expects that hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers who visit its platforms on November 11 will have access to over 60,000 international brands and merchants to satisfy their increasing demand for goods and products from around the world. This year, Tmall will, for the first time, leverage its popularity outside China to bring over 100 domestic Chinese brands to international markets, targeting millions of overseas Chinese consumers in Asia and the rest of the world.

New Retail implementation. Alibaba’s New Retail model with integrated online-offline customer offerings will be showcased in store locations across China. More than 1,000 brands will convert nearly 100,000 physical locations into “smart stores” and our channel distribution solutions make it easy for more than 500,000 local neighborhood stores and Rural Taobao service centers to sell to consumers in lower-tier cities and rural villages.

Tmall Double 11 Sales Stats 2017

Total sales on Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival reached 168.2 billion yuan in 2017 from 225 countries and regions, 90% from mobile.

167 merchants each has total transactions of over 100 million yuan. Nike store became the first one with over 1 billion yuan in apparel category.

Top 50 Tmall Stores on Double 11 2017

1. Suning
2. Xiaomi
3. Honor (Huawei)
4. Haier
5. Nike
6. Uniqlo
7. Sharp
8. Adidas
9. Linshimuye (furniture)
10. Midea
11. Quanyou (furniture)
12. GREE
13. Huawei
14. Gujia (furniture)
15. Heilan Home
16. PurCotton
17. Sanzhi Songshu (snacks)
18. P&G
19. Dyson
20. GXG
21. Balabala (children apparel)
22. New Balance
23. Semir
24. Peacebird
25. Jack Jones
26. Pechoin
27. Veromoda
28. ecovacs
29. Lancome
30. Zara
31. ONLY
32. Estee Lauder
33. Hisense
34. Anta
35. Philips
36. Gap
37. Chando
38. Eifini
39. Fotile
40. HSTYLE
41. Vivo
42. SK-II
43. Olay
44. Skyworth
45. Little Swan
46. Meters/bonwe (Apparel)
47. Xilinmen
48. Li Ning
49. Siemens
50. Bosideng (Apparel)

Outdoor sports

1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Anta
4. New Balance
5. Li Ning
6. Sketchers
7. Puma
8. Xstep
9. Under Armour
10. Camel

Tmall Sales Progress on Double 11 2017

• 1 billion yuan: 28 seconds (vs. 52s in 2016)
• 10 billion yuan: 3 mins 1 seconds (vs. 6m 58s in 2016)
• 19.1 bn yuan: 5 mins 57s (exceeds total Double 11 sales in 2012)
• 36.2 bn yuan: 16 mins 10s (exceeds total Double 11 sales in 2013)
• 50 bn yuan: 40 mins 12s (vs. 2 hrs 30m 20s in 2016)
• 57.1 bn yuan: 1 hours 49s (exceeds total Double 11 sales in 2014)
• 91.2 bn yuan: 7 hours 22m 54s (exceeds total Double 11 sales in 2015)
• 100 bn yuan: 9 hours 4s(vs. 18 hrs 55m 36s in 2016)
• 120.7 bn yuan: 13 hours 9m 49s (exceeds total Double 11 sales in 2016)
• 168.2 bn yuan at 24:00

Alibaba Cloud processed 325,000 orders per second at peak. Alipay processed 1.5 billion payment transactions in total, up 41% from 2016, and processed 256,000 transactions per second at peak.

Other E-Commerce Platforms Double 11 Stats 2017

Total orders from 1 Nov till 7:46:58 on 11 Nov exceeded 100 billion yuan on Jingdong (JD). Total transactions on JD during the eleven days’ online sales reached 127.1 billion yuan with over 50% growth.

Netease Kaola total Double 11 sales value reached 4 times as much as last year’s. It reached the total transactions of last year’s Double 11 in the first 28 minutes. Kaola has 25.6% market share in China’s cross-border e-commerce market in Q3 2017 ranking first according to iiMedia.

Total orders on AliExpress exceeded 10 million as of 19:50 on Double 11 2017. It covers 184 countries and regions in the first two hours.

Find out more Singles Day 2017 Insights »

For the third quarter of 2017, JD.com reported net revenues of RMB83.7 billion (US$12.6 billion), representing a 39.2% increase from the same period in 2016. Net revenues from online direct sales increased by 38.5%, while net revenues from services and others increased by 46.2% in Q3 2017, as compared to the third quarter of 2016.

Cost of revenues increased by 37.3% to RMB70.8 billion (US$10.6 billion) in the third quarter of 2017 from RMB51.5 billion in the third quarter of 2016. This increase was primarily due to the growth of the company’s online direct sales business, the traffic acquisition costs directly related to the online marketing services provided to merchants and suppliers, as well as the costs related to the logistics services provided to merchants and other partners.

Operating income from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2017 was RMB502.4 million (US$75.5 million), compared to operating loss from continuing operations of RMB234.4 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP operating income from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2017 was RMB1,472.1 million (US$221.3 million) with a non-GAAP operating margin of 1.8%, as compared to RMB542.3 million in the third quarter of 2016 with a non-GAAP operating margin of 0.9%.

Net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders for the third quarter of 2017 was RMB1.0 billion (US$0.2 billion), compared to a net loss from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders of RMB0.5 billion for the same period last year.

Annual active customer accounts increased by 34% to 266.3 million in the twelve months ended September 30, 2017 from 198.7 million in the twelve months ended September 30, 2016.

Jingdong Business Activities in Q3 2017

In October, JD and Tencent expanded their partnership with the launch of the JD-Tencent Retail Marketing Solution. The initiative integrates insights on consumer behavior from Tencent’s social media platforms with online and offline shopping data from JD and its brand partners to enable more precise target marketing and better understanding of consumer behavior for the brands on JD platform.

Consumers will also benefit from this solution, enjoying expanded access to sales promotions and preferred discounts, regardless of whether they are shopping online or in-store. During the past three months, JD.com also formed strategic partnerships with Baidu, Qihoo 360, NetEase, Sogou and iQIYI, leveraging these companies’ powerful big data resources, massive user bases and AI algorithm technologies to strengthen collaboration in precision marketing, user access points and content marketing.

In the third quarter, JD continued to strengthen its position among top-tier international brands as the most trusted retail platform in China. JD expanded its ongoing partnership with Italian high fashion brand Armani with the opening of official online stores for two additional Armani product lines, Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange.

JD Worldwide also worked with several international brands to launch flagship stores, including Spectrum Brands, Reckitt Benckiser and Tiger. Additionally, JD’s newly established Toplife platform attracted marquee brands such as La Perla, Rimowa (LVMH), B&O Play, Trussardi and DYSON to meet strong consumer demand for high-end luxury products.

During the third quarter, JD Logistics test launched its first unmanned sortation center, the first of its kind in the logistics industry. JD also signed a series of agreements to lay the groundwork for the rollout of China’s largest and most advanced drone network. As the company expands the capabilities of JD Logistics, it will continue making its technology infrastructure and services available to businesses across a wide range of industries.

In September, JD Logistics expanded its environmentally friendly logistics and packaging campaign, working together with numerous international and domestic brands including P&G, Nestle, Unilever, LEGO, Kimberly-Clark, Watsons, Erie, Johnson & Johnson, Wrigley, Blue Moon and L’Oreal, among others. Working with these brands, JD seeks to minimize environmental impact by reducing the overall use of packaging materials. JD estimates that the campaign will save billions of cardboard boxes over the next three years.

In the third quarter, JD enhanced its fresh product offerings to meet strong customer demand. In July, JD launched the Canadian Fresh Food Pavilion, the first country pavilion for fresh products on the JD.com platform. With JD’s advanced cold-chain logistics capabilities, live lobsters from Canada can be delivered to customers’ doorsteps in China in as little as 48 hours. During JD’s Super Canadian Day, 140,000 Canadian lobsters were sold within 24 hours.

In September, JD.com, JD Finance, Central Group and Provident Capital announced agreements to establish two joint ventures in Thailand covering e-commerce and fintech services with an aggregate investment of $500 million. Under the terms of the agreements, JD.com will provide its extensive expertise in technology, e-commerce and logistics to the joint ventures, while Central Group will leverage its immense retail store network, its wealth of brand and merchant relationships, and its retail behavior insights from its popular loyalty program across both businesses.

In October, JD and Sam’s Club launched a promotion offering customers discounted bundled memberships for Sam’s Club and JD Plus, JD.com’s membership program. With the introduction of JD Plus over two years ago, JD became the first Chinese e-commerce company to introduce an exclusive paid-for membership service.

As of October 31, 2017, JD.com’s joint venture, New Dada, had partnered with 146 Walmart stores and 301 Yonghui stores, among numerous other supermarkets and grocery stores, to provide consumers a premium online fresh grocery shopping experience with one-hour home delivery. New Dada is China’s largest crowdsourcing logistics provider and O2O grocery platform.

During the third quarter, JD expanded its leadership position in fulfillment capabilities among China’s e-commerce companies. As of September 30, 2017, JD.com operated 405 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of approximately 9 million square meters in China. JD Logistics also provides scheduled delivery service in 250 Chinese cities, allowing customers to choose a convenient 2-hour delivery window in which to receive their goods.

JD.com had approximately 160,000 merchants on its online marketplace, and a total of 137,975 full-time employees as of September 30, 2017. Total transactions on JD during the eleven days’ online sales (Singles Day Shopping Festival) reached 127.1 billion yuan.

Alibaba revenues up 61% to US$8.3T, annual active consumers grew to 488M in Q3 2017

China online retail market totaled 1,974.59 billion yuan (US$311.69 billion) with an increase of 41% YoY in Q4 2017 according to data from Analysis. China’s B2C online retail market reached 1,189.35 billion yuan (US$187.74 billion) with an increase of 43.2%.

Total transactions on Tmall grew by 45% in Q4 2017, accounting for 60.9% of the total B2C market in China. JD grew by 35% to 25.6% market share, followed by Suning and Vipshop.

China’s FMCG spending grew by 4.3% in 2017

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China. Shopping is an integral part of Chinese people’s celebration, and naturally, e-retailers were engaged in fierce battles to compete for attention, and hence preferences, of consumers in the days leading up to Chinese New Year (February 15 in 2018).

JD.com (partly owned by Tencent) and Tmall (B2C platform wholly owned by Alibaba) launched their promotional videos since mid-January. The “battlefield” spanned from main platform Weibo to WeChat, BBS, mobile video pages, video websites and news apps.

In this case, JD.com and Tmall both launched family themed videos on Weibo and WeChat. They also embedded information on Chinese New Year online sales events into these videos to maximize the impact.

Who has a bigger share of voice? More importantly, who has earned more positive sentiment from consumers? Kantar Media CIC did a data analysis based on user-generated contents.

Tmall ‘overbuzzes’ JD.com on Weibo

Both Tmall and JD.com generated significant volumes of buzz on WeChat from their Spring Festival sales campaigns. By cooperating with popular WeChat accounts and taking advantage of unlimited content space as well as rich formats available on WeChat, Tmall and JD.com ensured that WeChat users can be fully informed of their offers during the holiday season.

Tmall vs JD.com on WeChat buzz volume

Their voices were also well heard on news platforms, especially the news channel of Sohu.com and news aggregator app Toutiao. Combined together, the two contributed more than half of total buzz volumes Tmall and JD.com generated in all news platforms. (57.8% for Tmall and 59.4% for JD.com).

However, Weibo is the make-or-break place for the campaign war. JD.com’s share of voice was overwhelmingly defeated by Tmall, which leveraged its partnership with celebrity accounts on Weibo, such as Chinese actress Tian’ai Zhang (张天爱), Chinese actor Honglei Sun (孙红雷), as well as influencer account Hui Yi Zhuan Yong Xiao Ma Jia (回忆专用小马甲). These accounts retweeted or mentioned Tmall videos and managed to help them go viral. Weibo users posted organic comments underneath these clips. Tmall also launched several rounds of retweet lucky draw campaigns to encourage Weibo users to retweet their posts. This tactic also expanded its impression.

By contrast, JD.com just published its video on its official Weibo account and through Weibo accounts of its partner brands, creating much lower volume of buzz.

Tmall vs JD.com on Weibo buzz

Tmall launched a series of family-reunion themed short videos. Many of them told stories of younger generations returning home from big cities for the Spring Festival break and ran into “lifestyle shocks” with their parents. Many of the videos finished with a heart-warming ending, together with the Chinese New Year sales event promotion from Tmall. These impressive videos were retweeted by tens of thousands of times and viewed by more than 23 million times. Weibo users left mostly positive comments under these posts.

JD.com launched one video clip for their Chinese New Year sales campaign, telling three stories of an elderly father, a left-behind child in rural China and a daughter in a Chinese city missing their son/parents/father far away. The slogan was “Don’t let the ones love you wait too long”. However, that’s all video contents from JD.com on Weibo for the Chinese New Year campaign.

In the following days, the focus of JD.com Weibo posts moved to its partnership with other brands, mostly putting its JD.com dog logo as the central visual element for sales campaign posters. It did attract some attention among younger users, but overall their impression was very limited.

In this year’s Chinese New Year sales campaign, Tmall and JD.com both chose “home-coming” and “family reunion” as their themes. However, JD.com only scratched the surface, and then moved onto direct sales promotion, albeit using its JD.com dog logo to soften it a little bit. Tmall, on the contrary, spent much more efforts to create longer and better-scripted videos on this topic, which had moved many users. According to our analysis of Weibo comments around Tmall and JD.com campaigns, Tmall related comments were more family oriented. So apparently people were more emotionally impacted by the Tmall campaign.

Kantar Media CIC Viewpoint

In 2018 Chinese New Year e-commerce promotion campaign competition, Tmall toned down its promotional video clips to keep them away from direct and hard sales pitches. Instead of focusing on the level of discounts available during the holiday season, they emphasized the “homecoming” and “family reunion” atmosphere of these special days. This paid off well, according to our analysis of social media user responses.

In the comments underneath Tmall videos, there were lots of mentions of family, parent, reunion themed words. It is true that Spring Festival is not as special as before in terms of food/gift/shopping options only available during its time, still, Chinese people celebrate it more as a unique season of reuniting with family. This is why Tmall’s videos have triggered so many strong positive feedbacks from consumers.

JD.com also launched its video campaign based on “home-coming” theme. But it didn’t leverage the contents and quickly moved onto poster-based sales promotion campaigns partnered with brands. The buzz volume and sentiments coming out from this tactic were not as high as those of Tmall’s.

During a season as special as Chinese New Year, brands have to dig deeper to understand what this holiday truly means for consumers, and then influence them emotionally. Only through this approach, can brands become more emotionally relevant to consumers.

The Impact of Taobao Villages 2017

This article was originally published on kantar.com

In Q1 2018, JD.com reported net revenues of RMB100.1 billion (US$16.0 billion), representing a 33.1% increase from the same period in 2017. Net product revenues increased by 31.0% while net service revenues increased by 60.0% year-on-year to RMB8.6 billion (US$1.4 billion) in Q1 2018. Annual active customer accounts increased by 27.6% to 301.8 million in the last twelve months ended March 31, 2018.

Compare with Alibaba Q1 2018 results here.

JD.com’s net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB1,524.9 million (US$243.1 million), compared to RMB298.8 million in Q1 2017.

JD.com Key Business Activities in Q1 2018

In April, as part of its “Retail as a Service” offering, JD.com leveraged its retail infrastructure to help Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet launch its first ever online pop-up boutique on the WeChat Mini-Program platform. JD.com offered full technical support, as well as tailored marketing, high-end logistics solutions, and other services, to help the brand tap into the Chinese market.

In Q1 2018, H.Moser&Cie., a top independent Swiss watchmaking brand, launched its first store in China on JD’s direct sales platform. In March, TAG Heuer, SEIKO and MIDO launched “real-time purchases” on JD’s platform in parallel with the Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Show, enabling consumers to purchase their latest models online during the show.

In March, high-end Italian customized men’s wear brand CANALI and British luxury brand Mulberry joined JD.com’s independent online luxury fashion platform TOPLIFE, which brings high-end fashion and luxury items from around the globe directly to Chinese consumers and provides a curated, premium online shopping experience.

Since its launch in 2017, TOPLIFE has attracted prominent international luxury brands including Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Derek Lam, as well as La Perla, Rimowa (LVMH), B&O Play, Trussardi, and DYSON, among others.

As of April 30, 2018, JD.com’s joint venture, New Dada, had partnered with 192 Walmart stores and 424 Yonghui stores, among numerous other supermarkets and grocery stores, to provide a premium online fresh grocery shopping experience with one-hour home delivery service. New Dada is the largest crowdsourcing logistics provider and O2O grocery platform in China.

As of March 31, 2018, JD.com operated 515 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of 10.9 million square meters in China.

JD.com had approximately 170,000 merchants on its online marketplace as of April 30, 2018, and a total of 163,543 full-time employees as of March 31, 2018.

Online account for over 21% of total retail sales in China in Q1 2018

Amazon, McDonald’s & Alibaba top BrandZ’s Top Most Valuable Global Retail Brands inaugural ranking in 2018. China’s JD.com and Suning also make the cut.

The most valuable retail brands in the world are growing their brand value at a pace that outstrips brands in other business sectors – despite seismic shifts in consumers’ habits, priorities, and expectations of the shopping experience. This is according to the inaugural BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Global Retail Brands ranking announced recently by WPP with data prepared by Kantar.

The ranking shows that while store closures often grab headlines, those retailers rising to the challenges of the current climate are innovating their way out of trouble, and winning consumers’ hearts in the process.

Together, the BrandZ Top 75 Retail Brands – from markets as diverse as the US and Spain, China and Chile – are worth over US$1 trillion in brand value. The ranking was launched in conjunction with the World Retail Congress, on the first day of the 2018 Congress in Madrid in April.

Chinese e-retailer JD.com ranked No.15 with a brand value of US$14.58 billion, while Suning made the cut at No.54 with an evaluation of US$3.39 billion.

For the first time in a BrandZ retail ranking, the Top 75 brings together brands in four categories, of which Pure Retail (supermarkets, e-commerce platforms, department stores, convenience stores and DIY chains) is just one. The ranking includes brands of Luxury brands, Apparel, and Fast Food retailers.

“Shopping is no just longer just about buying things,” said David Roth, CEO of WPP The Store, EMEA, and Asia. “Often, a decision to shop is a search for entertainment – whether in a physical space or the virtual world. It can be a way of spending time with like-minded people or being in an environment that reflects an individual’s values.

“Shopping is also a way of simply feeling good – what we used to call ‘retail therapy’. This explains why the BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Global Retail Brands includes brands specializing in everything from business suits and bras to bath oil and burritos. Today everyone is a retailer.” Roth said.

The BrandZ Top 75 Retail Brands report shows how retail brands are seeking new ways to connect with consumers, through unique experiences and products customized for groups of shoppers and individuals.

Leading brands are identifying new shopping missions and fresh ways to build loyalty. And while competitive pressures for many years led inevitably to price wars, now there are innovation wars.

Ian McGarrigle, Chairman of the World Retail Congress, said: “A global brand today can no longer just be about longevity, because a new concept, platform or product can gain an almost immediate global following.

“Retail brands are being forced to adapt and innovate at incredible speeds. What this report shows is that they are doing exactly that,” he added.

Highlights from the BrandZ Top 75 report:

• Retail brands have been growing value 35% faster over 10 years than non-retailers
• Innovation in services, linking online and offline, is helping brands stand out
• A good deal has overtaken “low prices” as shoppers’ biggest priority
• Having a stress-free experience is almost as important as price
• Personalization is helping brands justify a premium and avoid price wars
• Voice-controlled devices promise to transform consumer loyalty
• China is showing what’s possible in speed, online with offline and seamless shopping

The unique BrandZ calculation of brand value links financial performance with the opinions of millions of consumers surveyed in more than 50 markets around the world.

China cross-border retail e-commerce market overview for Q4 2017

Log in to get the PDF download link.

This post was originally published on Kantar.com.

Technology, content and creativity drive biggest ever rise in BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands. China accounts for the three fastest-rising brands as the country’s brands grow at double the pace of US brands. Tencent rose to the fifth ahead of Facebook; and, Alibaba ranks the 9th.

Bingeing on Netflix boxsets, sharing stories on Facebook and downloading content from Apple’s iTunes have contributed to a record year of brand value growth in the 2018 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking released by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown.

The increasing use of data-driven, intelligence-led technologies – such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) – alongside creative marketing approaches has allowed many brands to build a more in-depth understanding of their customers and deliver convenience, personalized content and exceptional brand experiences.

Eight out of the Top 10 are technology or tech-related brands. This category continues to dominate the rankings with Google and Apple retaining the No.1 and 2 spots, growing 23% to US$302.1 billion and 28% to US$300.6 billion respectively. Amazon moved into the No.3 position ahead of Microsoft, growing +49% to US$207.6 billion.

China’s Tencent, after breaking into Top 10 for the first time last year, continued making its foray and rose to No.5 ahead of Facebook (No.6). Another leading Chinese brand Alibaba also nearly doubled its brand value (92%) to rank No.9 globally.

The BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands 2018

Tencent moved up three places from last year’s ranking, growing 65% in brand value to US$179 billion. The Tencent “house of brands” offers consumers everything from social media, mobile payments, and transport bookings. Its dominant social media platform WeChat recently reached over 1 billion user accounts worldwide.

Alibaba’s first appearance in the Top 10 chart was because it expanded its global reach through its advertising campaign which built on its long-term brand purpose. Consumers splurged on Alibaba’s Singles Day, generating sales of over US$25 billion in just 24 hours and dwarfing other popular online shopping days, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon’s Prime Day.

Trailblazing Chinese brands dominate the Fastest Risers this year with Jingdong (JD.com; No.59) leading the march following a staggering +94% rise in brand value (also up 1,273% over the last three years) bolstered by its entry into new categories such as finance. Alibaba is the second on this ranking with only 2 percentage points of difference on growth rate.

Third fastest riser was Moutai (No.34) growing by 89% as rising personal incomes in China allowed more consumers to upgrade to premium brands including high-end spirits.

This was the first year non-US brands grew faster than US brands. Fourteen Chinese brands appear in the Top 100 ranking compared to just one (China Mobile) in 2006. The total value of China’s Top 10 grew year-on-year by 47%, more than double that of the US brands (23%).

As the largest and definitive brand-building platform in the world, BrandZ reflects the brands that are integrated into today’s consumer lifestyles. It is the only brand valuation study to combine interviews with over 3 million consumers globally with analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel).

BrandZ’s ranking methodology combines a brands’ financial performance with brand contribution index derived from consumer data, which quantifies how much of the volume people purchases can be attributed to brand equity and how much of the price premium people pay can be attributed to brand equity. All BrandZ candidate brands have to be owned by a company which releases audited financial reports regularly. Huawei, itself being a private company, has been regularly releasing audited financial reports so it was included.

Despite economic and political uncertainty in many regions of the world, this year’s ranking shows its largest-ever annual increase in value – almost US$750 billion (21%). This gave the BrandZ Global Top 100 an overall total brand value of US$4.4 trillion; up 204% over 12 years since it was first published in 2006. This is also the first year that all categories in the BrandZ Top 100 reported growth.

Other parts of the world, such as India and Indonesia, are also showing strong regional growth. The BrandZ Top 100 included seven Asian brands (excluding China), which grew 14% giving them a total brand value of US$146 billion. Regional bank BCA (No.99) became the first Indonesian brand to enter the ranking, and newcomer Maruti Suzuki entered the Top 10 Car category for the first time.

Amazon moved into the No.3 position ahead of Microsoft, growing 49% to US$207.6 billion. This reflected several strategic investments that continued to drive innovation and deliver comfort and convenience, including Alexa’s integration with auto brand BMW, cross-category acquisitions such as Whole Foods Market and the launch of three new Echo devices.

This year’s Fastest Risers were represented by a diverse range of categories and included PayPal (No.4), Netflix (No.5), Gucci (No.6), Tesla (No.8), Adidas (No.12), Shiseido (No.17) and Louis Vuitton (No. 20). All these brands strived to deliver exceptional quality and provide positive consumer experiences through impactful marketing communications.

Key trends highlighted in this year’s BrandZ Global Top 100

Intelligence-led marketing, such as AI and AR, allows brands to “revive and thrive” and maintain relevance to consumers.

JD.com and HP reappeared on this year’s list, having both been in the BrandZ Top 100 in 2016. US telecoms giant Spectrum (No.27) led the Newcomers to the rankings, with Uber (No.81) and Instagram (No.91). Last year’s fastest riser Adidas jumped into the ranking at 100. It was also the first time an Indonesian brand entered the BrandZ Top 100 with regional bank BCA at No.99.

Partnerships proved pivotal as brands sought ways to maximize efficiency. Leading brands continued to raise the bar on expectations for customer experience at every touch point—both online and offline—from trial to pick-up or delivery by seeking strategic, long-term partnerships.

Retail demonstrated strong growth as the fastest rising category growing 35% in value over the last 12 months.

Tech-related brands continue to dominate. In the “battle of the brands”, accounting for over half (56%) of the BrandZ Top 100’s brand value.

Doreen Wang, Kantar Millward Brown’s Global Head of BrandZ, commented: “Brands that are winning in the intelligence-led marketing era include businesses such as Amazon and Tencent who put the consumer at the heart of everything they do. These brands use technology to understand the needs of their consumers and apply these learnings to create an ecosystem of services that fulfill multiple needs, enabling a seamless consumer experience between platforms.”

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report and rankings, and a great deal more brand insight for key regions of the world and 14 market sectors are available online here.

Also read: China’s mobile advertising market 2017

This post was originally published on Kantar.com.

Google and Jingdong will explore joint development of retail solutions to enable helpful, personalized and frictionless shopping experiences in several regions including Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe. JD.com is to join Google Shopping and offer a curated selection of high-quality products to consumers across multiple regions.

JD.com and Google announced today that Google will invest $550 million in cash in JD.com as part of a strategic partnership.

Google and JD plan to collaborate on a range of strategic initiatives, including joint development of retail solutions in a range of regions around the world, including Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe.

By applying JD’s supply chain and logistics expertise and Google’s technology strengths, the two companies aim to explore the creation of next-generation retail infrastructure solutions, with the goal of offering helpful, personalized and frictionless shopping experiences. JD also plans to make a selection of high-quality products available for sale through Google Shopping in multiple regions.

Under the agreements, Google will receive 27,106,948 newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares at an issue price of $20.29 per share, equivalent to $40.58 per ADS, based on the volume-weighted average trading price over the prior 10 trading days.

China e-commerce market snapshot 2018

In Q2 2018, Jingdong (JD.com) formed a partnership with iQiyi for paid video memberships, launched its AI platform, received investment from Google. More brands such as Balenciaga and Muji launched their stores on JD.com.

JD.com announced net revenues of 122.3 billion yuan (US$18.5 bn) in Q2 2018, an increase of 31.2% year-on-year. Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders declined by 51.04% to 478.1 million yuan (US$72.3 mn) in Q2 2018 from 976.5 million yuan in Q2 2017.

Net service revenues were 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.8 bn), up by 51.0% year-on-year. Operating margin of JD Mall before unallocated items was 1.1% in Q2 2018, as compared to 0.8% in Q2 2017. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2018 was RMB2,212.5 million (US$334.4 million), compared to RMB287.0 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2018 was RMB478.1 million (US$72.3 million), compared to RMB976.5 million for the same period last year.

Jingdong’s annual active customer accounts increased by 21.5% to 313.8 million in the twelve months ended June 30, 2018, from 258.3 million in the twelve months ended June 30, 2017.

Jingdong’s key business activities

In April 2018, JD.com launched a strategic partnership with iQiyi to offer bundled memberships allowing users who purchase one-year memberships for either iQiyi or JD to enjoy the premium service and benefits of both platforms.

It launched its open AI platform, NeuHub. The new sentiment analysis API on NeuHub could leverage a large volume of historical data on JD’s platform to allow JIMI, JD’s automated customer service assistant, to more precisely identify customers’ emotions and express the appropriate sentiment when replying through online chat.

In June, Google invested $550 million in JD as part of a new strategic partnership. In the future, the two companies will explore cooperation opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence (“AI”), augmented reality (“AR”), virtual reality, and unmanned technology.

As of July 31, 2018, JD.com’s joint venture, Dada-JD Daojia, had partnered with over 200 Walmart stores and 500 Yonghui stores to provide a premium online fresh grocery shopping experience with one-hour home delivery service. Dada-JD Daojia is China’s leading on-demand logistics and omnichannel e-commerce platform.

International luxury brand, Balenciaga, launched an e-flagship store on JD’s luxury platform TOPLIFE, complete with 24/7 customer service and JD’s exclusive white glove delivery service, JD Luxury Express. By providing a premium experience on TOPLIFE that complements what luxury brands offer in their own brick-and-mortar stores, JD is enabling Balenciaga and other leading brands to strengthen their omnichannel strategies in China.

In Q2 2018, Japanese lifestyle brand, MUJI, also launched its flagship store on JD, giving JD users access to its full range of high-quality products and a superior shopping experience by leveraging JD’s integrated logistics services.

In addition, the 130-year-old Swiss watch brand, Carl F. Bucherer, made its world e-commerce debut with the launch of its official online direct sales flagship store on JD, reflecting the trust top international brands have in JD as the most reliable online channel to tap into the Chinese market.

JD Logistics is now able to offer delivery times ranging from several minutes to about one hour for selected merchandise in certain areas through optimally allocating merchandise across its distribution network, including front-line metropolitan distribution centers, delivery stations, and partners’ offline stores, based on its analysis of customer demands.

As of June 30, 2018, JD.com operated 521 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of 11.6 million square meters in China. Moreover, JD.com had over 170,000 merchants on its online marketplace, and a total of 173,904 full-time employees as of June 30, 2018.

Study: Chinese online shoppers prefer cross-border online shopping

Amazon’s brand value has risen 42% to US$150.8 billion, retaining top billing as the world’s most valuable retail brand according to a Brand Finance report, while other e-commerce brands are in strong growth, such as Alibaba (up 58% to US$54.9 billion) and JD.com (up 47% to US$19.6 billion) as well as Germany’s Zalando (up 40% to US$3.8 billion).

Brand Value Change 2017-2018

Alibaba is this year’s fastest-growing retail brand, who plans to invest US$15.2 billion towards its global logistics chain expansion according to Brand Finance, an independent branded business valuation and strategy consultancy based in UK.

Jingdong (JD.com) got into the world’s top 10 most valuable retail brands for the first time, driven by its advancements in retail technology and plans to market its developments to third parties around the world, effectively creating a Retail-as-a-Service (RaaS) offering.

Top 10 Retail Brands in the World in 2018

The total value of the top retail brands from China, Alibaba (3), JD.com (7), and Suning (30), accounts for 12.7% of all 50 top brands, following that of the U.S. (66%).

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