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Tag: china ecommerce

  • Accor and Alibaba form strategic partnership

    Accor and Alibaba form strategic partnership

    International hospitality group Accor and e-commerce giant Alibaba have entered a strategic partnership to develop a series of digital applications and loyalty programs to improve the consumer and traveler experience over the next five years.

    The announcement was made at a ceremony in Beijing during this year’s China International

    Import Expo. Accor was among the delegation of French companies accompanying President Emmanuel Macron on a state visit to China.

    The strategic collaboration will leverage Alibaba’s nearly 700 million consumers across its China retail marketplaces to enable more Chinese travelers to access Accor’s consumer offerings. It will allow for seamless integration of Accor’s customer journeys within Alibaba’s ecosystem. Alibaba’s travel arm Fliggy will allow consumers to book hotels, access catering services, book entertainment and take advantage of other lifestyle services. Payments can be made using Alipay, a digital payment service operated by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.

    Accor will also offer Chinese consumers a hassle-free hotel experience through its “Haoke” program – geared towards Chinese travelers. Haoke, which means “Welcome” in Chinese, is a certification program that ensures Accor’s hotels are ready to welcome Chinese guests by incorporating Chinese-language, Chinese dishes on menus, Chinese-speaking staff, and other services and payment systems that meet the needs of Chinese travelers.

    The collaboration between Accor and Alibaba will be instrumental to the roll-out of Accor’s soon-to-be-launched lifestyle loyalty program, ALL – Accor Live Limitless. Alibaba will make the program’s services and benefits available to its massive consumer base, using its ecosystem, consumer insights and digital marketing capabilities, accelerating the roll-out of ALL in China and around the world.

    “We are excited to enter into this strategic global partnership with Alibaba, a leading global technology company in the world,” said Accor’s chairman & CEO Sebastien Bazin. “China’s importance to the world’s tourism industry and this key collaboration with Alibaba will symbolically strengthen economic ties between China and France, while giving Chinese travelers access to exciting events and benefits through ALL – Accor Live Limitless.”

    “Over the past 20 years, Alibaba has formed two flywheels with one focused on consumers and the other on enterprises, said Alibaba Group executive chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang. “Our consumer-facing business facilitates and stimulates consumption, of which travel consumption is an important segment. Through the Alibaba business operating system, we enable tourism industry partners such as Accor to fully digitize their business operations, from sales to marketing, brand building to member management and service Innovations.”

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  • JD.com expands logistics services to include parcel delivery

    JD.com expands logistics services to include parcel delivery

    Chinese e-commerce company JD is opening its logistics network up to consumers to send parcels around the country, marking the first entry by an e-commerce company into the parcel delivery business. The new JD parcel delivery service announced enables users of the company’s app in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to send items intra-city and throughout Mainland China, using the same fast and reliable delivery service JD offers with online purchases. The company, which will expand the program to include high-value items like luxury products and high-end consumer electronics, as well as more diverse options based on delivery timing, aims to eventually make residential and business deliveries for shippers from anywhere to anywhere within Mainland China in the future.

    JD is the only large-scale e-commerce company in the world to operate a nationwide in-house logistics network, down to the last mile. The company says its network, powered by its proprietary supply chain management technology, is able to deliver more than 90 per cent of orders same- or next-day, and reaches 99 per cent of China’s population.

    The new JD parcel delivery service includes a range of competitively priced options, including same-day delivery between different cities; same-day intra-city delivery; standard next-day or two-day delivery and next-day delivery between cities.

    “Depending on the delivery option chosen, packages may be sent by high-speed rail or air,” the company said in a statement. “Individual shippers can use the same JD app they use for shopping to schedule a pickup by one of JD’s full-time logistics staff, and have a parcel delivered thousands of miles away at the speed they choose. They will even be able to select JD’s luxury ‘white glove’ delivery service if they want to make the delivery extra special.”

    Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics says the JD parcel delivery service marks the next step in leveraging the nationwide logistics network that JD has built over the past decade, to expand the range of services offered to its customers.

    “JD is known throughout China for the fastest and most reliable delivery, and we are confident that users will appreciate the convenience of this new service.”

    The program has already begun user trials with multiple ways for customers to request pickups. In addition to the JD app, shippers can request pickups on a JD Delivery mini program in WeChat, China’s largest social network operated by JD’s partner Tencent, and a JD “Delivery Team” WeChat account.

    JD unveiled the parcel delivery service at its 2018 Global Smart Supply Chain Summit held in Beijing today. Other initiatives announced at the summit – part of JD’s Global Smart Supply Chain Network Strategy – include JD’s smart warehouse management system initiative, an expansion of the company’s green initiatives, and the formation of a new energy union with 20 industry partners.

  • Dada-JD Daojia, Carrefour to collaborate online

    Dada-JD Daojia, Carrefour to collaborate online

    Chinese online grocery and delivery firm Dada-JD Daojia is partnering with French hypermarket chain Carrefour. The collaboration, which involves listing Carrefour China stores on the Dada-JD platform, has already resulted in a 720 per cent increase in the chain’s online sales compared with the month previous. Some 4000 Carrefour products are available to be traded on the platform.

    So far, 158 Carrefour stores are listed on Dada-JD, with plans being to have 200 listed by the end of the year.

    Dada-JD Daojia offers two distinct services, the “Dada” on-demand logistics platform (which covers 400 major Chinese cities) and the “JD Daojia” e-commerce platform that has more than 50 million users. It has collaborated with Walmart since 2016 as well as other chain supermarkets.

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  • Alibaba’s Robust Ecosystem Supercharges 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

    Alibaba’s Robust Ecosystem Supercharges 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

    Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) today officially kicked off the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in China’s capital, promising this year’s mega-event will be the largest-ever in terms of scale and reach.

    Businesses within the Alibaba ecosystem will jointly offer hundreds of millions of consumers an enriching experience that supports their pursuit of high-quality products, entertainment and fast, reliable services. The Festival will also demonstrate the enthusiasm of consumers and brands embracing Alibaba’s New Retail strategy – the convergence of online and offline retail through technology.

    “This year marks the 10th anniversary of 11.11. On the back of China’s explosive digital transformation, the Festival’s astounding growth over the past decade has powered the steady growth of quality consumption sought by Chinese shoppers. The evolution also showcases the development of the Alibaba ecosystem over time expanding well beyond e-commerce,” said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang.

    Zhang conceived 11.11 as a concept a decade ago, turning “Single’s Day” on the Chinese calendar into the world’s largest annual shopping event. The first 11.11 in 2009 brought in US$7.8 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). Total GMV generated in 2017 was US$25.3 billion. Over the past decade, China’s number of Internet users has risen to 802 million and 98% of them are mobile1. Alibaba has captured the hearts and minds of these Chinese consumers and expects to keep leading the way in retail innovation.

    “Over the last two years, we have pioneered the concept of New Retail to accelerate the digital transformation of the offline. We are excited by the impressive results achieved to date and will continue to be the driving force innovating for merchants and customers in the coming decades. We aim to become both the number-one business partner for brands and the number-one shopping destination for consumers,” Zhang added.

    This year, 500,000 items will be available for pre-order on Tmall from October 20. Customers can enjoy additional promotional coupons on Mobile Taobao and Mobile Tmall. Specifically, the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival will have the following features made possible by New Retail and interactive initiatives:

    • Brand Innovation Tmall will continue to give brands access to new digital capabilities – 180,000 brands from China and around the world will participate in this year’s celebration. 200,000 smart stores in China across the apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, beauty products, automobile and home décor industries will help boost traffic to offline and online shopping destinations. Tmall Global provides 3,700 categories of imported goods from 75 countries and regions on its platform.
    • International Consumers Tmall World, AliExpress and Lazada will bring the event to hundreds of millions of overseas users, making 11.11 a truly global event. Lazada will host its first 11.11 Shopping Festival across six countries in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, offering more engaged consumer experience and the biggest discounts of the year from LazMall and Lazada marketplace.
    • Participation of Local Services Ele.me’s on-demand platform will provide delivery services for select Starbucks stores across 11 Chinese cities, including full-service coverage in Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, 150,000 merchant partners of Koubei will offer half-price discounts on catering, beauty and hair salons and karaoke bars.
    • New Opportunities for Small Merchants 200,000 mom-and-pop stores powered by Alibaba’s Ling Shou Tong (which translates as “retail integrated”) will provide online sales promotions, along with augmented reality-based red packets that offer discounts at 3,000 “Tmall Corner Stores.” Rural Taobao will also bring coupons to its services in 800 counties across 29 provinces in China.
    • Dining and Supermarket Hema supermarket will designate 11.11 signature stores featuring a number of promotions. RT-Mart will complete the makeover of its nearly 400 stores, fully equipping them with New Retail capabilities.
    • Star-studded Entertainment Tmall Collection’s “See Now, Buy Now” Fashion Show will be broadcast live on ten platforms including Taobao, Youku, Weibo and Toutiao on October 20, starting at 6pm in China. This will provide millions of customers the opportunity to buy their favorite items on the spot and vote for their favorite looks to create a trend report. In addition, the signature countdown Gala will be held on November 10 in Shanghai’s Mercedes Benz Arena, featuring renowned stars.
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