JD-Shopify strategic partnership heralds era of 'commerce everywhere'

JD, a well-known Chinese online marketplace, has inked a strategic partnership with Shopify, which provides digital infrastructure for merchants, startups and firms to start, run and grow their business online. This is expected to give independent brands in the United States a simple and trusted way to access consumers in China.

The partnership will simultaneously enable Shopify merchants worldwide to access JD's supplier network.

The partnership will link Shopify's millions of merchants worldwide with JD's 550 million active customers in China who use the platform to find authentic, high-quality products, JD said in a statement.

With this collaboration, JD will open an accelerated channel for brands on Shopify to list products through JD Worldwide, the company's cross-border e-commerce marketplace.

Compared to the 12 months typically required for international brands to begin selling in China, JD's streamlined channel allows Shopify brands to get started in three to four weeks.

Intelligent translation and smart price conversion services will be provided. In addition, JD's global supply chain network will provide end-to-end fulfillment service from the US to China, leveraging the company's China-US cargo flights, US warehouses and more than 1,300 warehouses and over 200,000 delivery personnel in China.

The partners will also collaborate to simplify access and compliance for Chinese brands and merchants looking to reach consumers in overseas markets. JD will support quality Chinese brands to set up their direct-to-consumer or DTC channels through Shopify, and enable Shopify merchants worldwide to access JD's supplier network through the JD sourcing platform.

"Bringing together two world-class commerce platforms－Shopify and JD－is a major step in solving cross-border commerce for merchants," said Aaron Brown, vice-president of Shopify. "The future of commerce is commerce everywhere, and that starts by removing barriers to entry to one of the most important e-commerce markets in the world."

"We believe that the partnership will unlock the huge potential of the Chinese market for brands outside of China. At the same time, it will increase cross-border commerce by leveraging our global supply chain ability, simplifying what has traditionally been a very complicated process," said Daniel Tan, president of JD Worldwide.

Founded in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify is a leading provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, offering trusted tools to start, grow, market and manage a retail business of any size.

The move is also part of a larger strategic partnership between Shopify and JD that aims to help solve cross-border commerce challenges across product sourcing, selling, and logistics for merchants in the US and China.

Pan Helin, executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said Shopify provides an operating environment for e-commerce and JD could build its own e-commerce channels in foreign countries quickly by leveraging Shopify's services.

Meanwhile, Shopify provides a suite of e-commerce solutions and each online merchant at Shopify is independent, said Pan, adding its cooperation with JD will introduce overseas independent e-commerce brands into the Chinese market and will effectively enhance Shopify's popularity and sales revenue in the world's largest e-commerce market.

JD has been expanding its global cross-border logistics business in recent years. To date, the company's global supply chain network has covered more than 220 countries and regions, with its international logistics arm operating around 80 bonded and overseas warehouses, as well as cargo flight routes linking China with the US, United Kingdom and Thailand.

Together with various shipping services by air, railway, sea and trucks as well as other cross-border services, overseas orders can be delivered from door-to-door as fast as 48 hours.

Last month, JD opened two autonomous shops named "ochama" in Leiden and Rotterdam in the Netherlands as part of its efforts to further expand its presence overseas and strengthen supply chain infrastructure.

That also marked the first time JD opened brick-and-mortar stores in Europe, featuring a new shopping model that merges online ordering and pickup shops where parcels are fully arranged by robots, without any human assistance. The automated warehouse is part of the pickup shop, where people can witness a fleet of robots, including automated ground vehicles and robotic arms responsible for picking, sorting and transferring the merchandise.

Lu Zhenwang, CEO of Wanqing Consultancy in Shanghai, said the omni-channel model and cutting-edge technologies would help JD enhance logistics efficiency, lower delivery costs and gain an edge in the fiercely competitive marketplace.

In addition, JD has stepped up its efforts to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. It opened its first overseas e-space store, a mega retail experience store chain in Indonesia last year, and formed its joint venture with Thai conglomerate Central Group to enter Thailand in 2017.

In 2018, it made a strategic investment in Tiki.vn, Vietnam's leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform.