JD.com becomes first e-commerce company to open parcel delivery service in China
China's largest retailer, E-commerce giant JD.com, is seeking to capitalise on its country-wide logistics network and capture the loyalty of urban professionals
Initially the rollout of the service is targeting wealthier urban consumers by opening up the service to those living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Consumers will buy delivery services through the company’s app to send items intracity and throughout Mainland China.
The company aims to expand the program to include high-value items like luxury products and high-end consumer electronics. Additionally, JD hopes to offer consumers residential and business deliveries for shipments from nearly any point to any other within Mainland China in the future.
JD is offering same-day delivery between different cities, same-day intracity delivery, standard next-day or two-day delivery and next-day delivery between cities. All packages are dispatched using JD's own network of delivery staff and make full use of JD's logistics network. Depending on the delivery option chosen, packages may be sent by high-speed rail, air, or other means.
The company claims the network, powered by JD's proprietary supply chain management technology, is able to deliver over 90% of orders on the same or next day, and also reaches 99% of China's population.
The service is integrated with social media behemoth WeChat, operated by JD's partner Tencent, to request pickups on a JD Delivery mini program and a JD "delivery team" WeChat account.
"We are very excited to launch our new delivery service," Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics, said last week. "This marks the next step in leveraging the nationwide logistics network that JD has built over the past decade, to expand the range of services available to our users. JD.com is known throughout China for the fastest, most reliable delivery, and we are confident that users will appreciate the convenience of this new service."
The new parcel delivery service is the latest step in JD.com's strategy to open its technology and infrastructure up to other shippers, businesses and industries — offering what is known as "Retail as a Service," or RaaS.
In a recent survey, 74% of respondents expressed a desire for high-quality, same day, intracity delivery service.