China is the world's largest e-commerce market, having record a 40% growth in 2016 compared to the previous year. And some analysts say its size is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2020. JD.com is the second largest e-commerce firm in China, trailing the number one giant Alibaba. The company's online direct sales have grown fivefold in the past four years.
It is currently working to expand further, both in China and abroad, by developing faster and better delivery systems. NHK World's Daisuke Azuma spoke with CEO Richard Liu during his visit to Tokyo on his plans for the company's future.
"JD.com will be the top e-commerce firm in China within four years," says Liu. "We will definitely have more than a 50% share in the market within the same time frame. We believe that the most important thing about e-commerce sites is credibility. Consumers will choose a site that they can trust."
Liu says one of his key strategies is to tie up with Japan's top delivery firm Yamato Transport. He's now aiming to develop a system that can deliver chilled and frozen products swiftly, something few rivals are able to offer.
"We want to build a refrigerated delivery network within three years that will cover 500 cities and can serve 80 percent of the Chinese population," he says. "We're also looking overseas. Yamato has a great network in the Southeast Asian region, and I think we have great potential to team up there."
In 2015, JD.com opened a webpage made solely for Japanese companies to sell their products to Chinese consumers. This helped boost the company's sales significantly.
Liu says his company conducts rigorous screening to knock off counterfeit products and provide only genuine ones.
"Only 120,000 retailers have been allowed to sell their products on our sites in the past decade," he says. "But these selected retailers provide genuine products that we can fully guarantee. We are very selective about what we sell on our site."
Liu is also eyeing the entire Asian region. He's targeting a growing number of middle-class consumers.
"It's been two years since we've extended our coverage to Indonesia," he notes. "This fall, we will be going into Thailand. We will develop the biggest e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by building a center for logistics, networks, and information. We want to create a market that consumers can trust, just as we did in China."
"Our chief rival is ourself," says Liu. "We need to create, surmount, and grow in order to satisfy our customers and our business partners. That is our challenge."
Comments
Post a Comment