JD.com launches 'Made by JD' brand with Li & Fung's support

Supply chain solutions for consumer brands and retailers Li & Fung said that as part of a strategic investment made by JD.com in 2020, it will now partner JD.com to provide end-to-end digital supply chain management services for JD.com’s private brand initiatives. Together, they are creating a multi-category collection that includes homeware under the brands “Made by JD” and “Best Home”, and developing a pet product brand called “Jingmeng” (Cute Pet) to capture China’s burgeoning pet care market.

Building on JD.com’s investment and strategic digital supply chain partnership with Li & Fung, focusing on private brands, the joint venture’s newest initiative will leverage the emerging C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) business model that is rapidly gaining momentum in Mainland China. C2M enables manufacturers to dramatically shorten the time from design to consumer from the industry average of 40 weeks to as little as two weeks, delivering high-quality, trend-responsive, products to the consumer. Products are tested in multiple SKUs of small quantities through e-commerce channels, providing more accurate data analysis of end-consumer preferences so that iterations can be made quickly and inventory can be adjusted in real-time.

“JD.com can leverage Li & Fung’s 3D product design expertise and supply chain know-how to create and produce these new private label brands,” said Wilson Zhu, newly-appointed head of C2M initiatives at Li & Fung. “By continuing to leverage the respective strengths of both companies we will deliver precisely what consumers are looking for – within their budget and at a much faster speed – through better forecasting, smarter production and maximum supply chain efficiency.”

Wang Xiaosong, senior vice president of JD.com and head of JD.com’s private brands division said, “Li & Fung’s industry-leading 3D product design capabilities and wide-ranging product category expertise will greatly enhance our ability to create private-label brands that online consumers welcome and trust. The brand development process will also be informed by insights from our big data analysis.”

Last year, JD.com’s data showed that there has been an increased interest in air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines during the 618 Grand Promotion.  Chinese consumers’ spending habits have changed significantly. The company said according to industry data in Q1 2020, online home appliance sales accounted for 55.8% of the total home appliance retail sales, surpassing the 50% benchmark for the first time.

At the same time, JD.com’s home appliances accounted for 29.1% of total sales nationwide, making it the top home appliance retailer online or offline in China. “To some degree, the pandemic has made customers care more about their health,” said Kening Wu, head of the air conditioner sales department at JD.com.

JD.com has also leveraged big data to better meet customers’ needs. By analysing comments, the company is offering air conditioners with different designs. 

“These types of C2M products are currently in the works. You always need to think one step ahead to strengthen your position in the industry,” Wu commented.