JD.com plans to take on Amazon? Sellers: A new round of internal competition is coming

JD.com accelerates its overseas market layout!

The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce has attracted a number of domestic top e-commerce sellers to expand into overseas e-commerce markets, and JD.com is no exception. It is understood that in addition to vigorously developing its own independent mall, JD.com is also quietly acquiring Amazon stores ...

JD.com looking to acquire Amazon stores

Recently, an industry insider revealed that JD.com is looking for excellent Amazon stores, which it will acquire in the future and may sell products manufactured by JD.com on Amazon.

According to sellers, JD.com had already started looking for Amazon stores to acquire before it launched JD Sourcing, a "one-stop product selection platform" for Shopify sellers; the main categories for this acquisition are 3C, outdoor, beauty, and home categories with a long life cycle, and the products of these stores must rank high in the sub-categories.

From the perspective of the development of the cross-border e-commerce market, it is no accident that JD.com entered the market. In 2020, affected by the epidemic, the cross-border e-commerce market ushered in a highlight moment, attracting many people from inside and outside the industry to share a piece of the pie. All the houses in Shenzhen Bay No. 1 were bought by Amazon.

In fact, the news that JD.com wanted to enter the Amazon market was first revealed in July this year . At that time, a seller broke the news that JD.com was planning to enter the Amazon market. On its official recruitment website, it can be seen that it was actively recruiting for Amazon operations, procurement, product development and cross-border e-commerce positions , and the job location was also in Guangzhou, a gathering place for cross-border e-commerce.

Now, industry insiders have revealed that JD.com is going to acquire Amazon stores and will gradually put its own brand, namely Jingzao, on the shelves in the future. It is not difficult to see JD.com's layout for its future and overseas markets.

"JD.com has adjusted its organizational structure and separated JD.com Jingzao, which is now at the same level as JD.com Retail," a seller revealed. JD.com's layout in overseas markets is enough to show how much it values ​​overseas markets.

From another perspective, JD.com has turned its attention to Amazon. If successful, it will certainly use its established logistics advantages to reduce its logistics costs. Coupled with its strong supply chain advantages, under the influence of multiple factors, the selling price of JD.com's own products on Amazon is likely to affect the sellers who have already settled in. Whether it will cause a price war remains to be verified.

Some sellers are worried that JD.com’s entry into Amazon may affect operations and sales. Some sellers said: “Will there be another wave of price wars in the future? Will the platform usher in a new round of internal competition?”

However, some sellers also said that some senior sellers are also strong, especially those top e-commerce sellers, who have deep accumulation of funds and brand influence. It is not easy for JD.com to gain an advantage in the competition simply by price war.

JD.com accelerates its overseas expansion

In fact, JD.com has made quite a few moves overseas in recent years. It is understood that JD.com has made great efforts in overseas layout in recent years. It has not only landed on e-commerce platforms such as Walmart overseas, but also launched e-commerce and product selection platforms independently or in joint ventures, established overseas warehouses and logistics systems, and geographically covered Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and other regions.

According to public information, in recent years, JD.com has invested in Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia and become the largest shareholder of Vietnamese e-commerce platform Tiki; cooperated with Thai retail group Central Croup to establish an e-commerce joint venture company JD Central; launched JD Sourcing, a product selection platform for Shopify sellers; and launched the e-commerce platform Joybuy.es in Spain; cooperated with logistics companies to build overseas warehouses and international transportation routes...

It can be seen that although JD.com’s overseas business is not as well-known as AliExpress launched by its old rival Alibaba, JD.com’s overseas layout is not small.

Judging from the speed of development, the potential of JD.com's overseas business cannot be underestimated. Relevant data shows that JD.com's global cross-border business sales in 2020 increased significantly year-on-year, reaching 251%.

However, compared with Alibaba's direct entry through AliExpress, JD.com's overseas expansion is much more conservative, and it mostly chooses to cooperate with local retailers or logistics companies.

Not long ago, JOYBUY, a cross-border e-commerce export platform under JD.com , announced that in order to help more Chinese companies expand their cross-border business overseas, JOYBUY will be upgraded to a cross-border B2B transaction and service platform.

JD Retail CEO Xin Lijun revealed that JD will continue to increase its overseas investment and seek to develop international customers. In the next few years, JD will increase investment in countries that are in line with JD's strategy, including warehousing, logistics and supply chain.

Although there are many layouts, at present, JD.com still has many gaps in its overseas layout. If it wants to catch up with Alibaba overseas, or even grow into a cross-border giant like Amazon, JD.com still has a long way to go in its overseas layout.

Amazon, JD.com’s shortcut to going global?

At present, JD.com still has some gaps compared with Alibaba, both in terms of the scale of overseas investment and coverage. However, JD.com’s traditional advantage - logistics - should not be underestimated.

In May this year , JD Logistics went public. The financial report shows that in the first half of 2021, JD Logistics' total revenue reached 48.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.7%, of which external customer revenue was 26.5 billion yuan, accounting for 54.7% of the total revenue, a year-on-year increase of 109.6% .

Taking Southeast Asia, where JD.com has invested heavily, as an example, JD.com's Indonesian site covers 483 local cities and 6,500 counties and districts, with 85% of orders delivered within one day. In Thailand, more than 95% of orders in Bangkok can be delivered on the same day, and 85% of orders across the country can be delivered the next day.

However, in the entire Southeast Asia region, Tokopedia and Tiki invested by JD.com cannot be compared with Lazada in terms of popularity or size. This is the case in Southeast Asia, where JD.com focuses on layout, and in Europe and North America, where JD.com has less investment, the disadvantage is even more obvious.

In reality, JD.com's overseas market layout has not been smooth sailing. Due to its late entry, JD.com's overseas business is at a disadvantage in most cases in the competition with Alibaba. JD.com's proud domestic logistics system has also caused concerns among many industry insiders. After all, going overseas involves not only the first and last mile logistics, but also warehousing technology and local transportation.

Nowadays, JD.com's acquisition of Amazon stores may be an attempt for the future - relying on Amazon, Walmart and other leading platforms to develop cross-border business. Although this path has an obvious ceiling, it can reduce a lot of initial investment. For JD.com's overseas business, which has a shallow foundation, it is indeed a "shortcut".

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