Business Delegation to Beijing - JD.com

We’ve all heard the expression “like a kid in a candy shop” but JD.COM made us feel like kids in a toy shop. One toy came to mind, “Buzz Lightyear” because it very quickly became clear that JD.com was going to infinity and beyond. This was my second visit to the company’s headquarters and so my fellow students asked me if JD.COM was like China’s Amazon. I told them it wasn’t like comparing apples and oranges but more like comparing empires. As of today, JD.COM is worth 37 billion RMB. They sell countless product but are best known for electronics and priding itself with a zero-tolerance policy for fake products. According to JD.com their average growth for the past 12 years is an astonishing 150%. We were privileged enough to meet with one of the company’s VPS, Mrs. Gloria Lee who answered our countless questions with great patience and detail. When I listened to Mrs. Lee, it quickly became evident why JD.com was so successful, they were customer centric and they were content with today’s success but constantly looking towards the future. The words customer centric were never uttered but stood behind everything Mrs. Lee said whether it was the company’s zero tolerance for fakes or their extensive futuristic drones department that allowed them to deliver goods to areas of China’s without proper roads. Mrs. Lee said that in the company’s previous moto was to try to better their customers lives and make them easier. We saw this in their free return policies which included the deliveryman arriving at your door to price up the product. Another example was developing VR technology to allow people to “try on” clothes at home. A notable example of focusing on their customers is when the last iPhone was released, the products were delivered to their purchasers within 10 minutes in China’s major cities. Improving the lives of customers and making them easier isn’t limited to those who purchased products but also included employees. Mrs. Lee proudly informed us that all employees are treated like customers by being paid above market average salaries and enjoying extensive benefits. Most interesting of all was employees of all levels, from CFO to deliveryman receive the same gifts for the holidays. We were told that the company’s new motto was technology centric, so their employees would always look forward. Mrs. Lee herself was seemed like a glimpse of the future herself. It was not just the technologies she described like the drones division or AI they were integrating in their products but being a female VP in such large company. It was exciting as some young woman to see a woman in such a prominent position and to hear how she saw the future of retail. One way JD.com were facing the challenges of the future today, is by launching JD luxury express. This is a service that is going to revolutionize luxury brands who have recently have been failing and struggling to grasp ecommerce. JD.com customers can now order designer product with the same authenticity guarantee they enjoyed in the past but have it delivered directly to them by men in a suit and gloves. JD.com sees the current struggles of luxury brands and the market trends that will only grow stronger in the future. They then created solutions for them today making it oblivious how they’ve generated such tremendous success. By the end of our tour of JD’s headquarters I couldn’t help but think that maybe infinity and beyond might not be able to contain them.