Blockchain underpins Singles’ Day success for JD.com

Transaction volume on JD.com reached a record RMB 159.8 billion (approximately $23 billion) from 1st to 11th November, during its Singles’ Day shopping festival.

“There is a noticeable shift in China toward quality over price, which we see in the growing numbers of consumers who are willing to pay more for branded and imported goods,” says Lei Xu, CMO of JD.com and CEO of JD Mall.

“By establishing trust with consumers and brands, thanks to our zero-tolerance policy toward fakes and our innovations in areas such as blockchain traceability for product safety, we are in a unique position to meet that demand.”

“After more than a decade of building out technology and infrastructure for our own retail business, we will spend the next decade extending our capabilities to enable and empower both online and offline retail innovators,” adds Dr. Jianwen Liao, Chief Strategy Officer.

“We see the future of retail as one without boundaries, and we are working to bring consumers true boundaryless retail, where they can buy whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want it.”

Blockchain initiatives

Last month, we reported that JD had launched a blockchain research lab with the Ying Wu College of Computing at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISCAS).

This will “focus on solving efficiency and stability challenges that are the most significant bottlenecks restricting the wider application of blockchain, and explore new applications of the technology. This will include multi-year collaborative research efforts into fundamental consensus protocols, privacy protection and security in decentralised applications, among other areas.”

The lab will be led by Dr. Jian Pei, President of JD Big Data and Smart Supply Chain, Dr. Qiang Tang, Assistant Professor in the Ying Wu College of Computing at NJIT, and Dr. Zhenfeng Zhang, Vice Chief Engineer at ISCAS.

“JD is a pioneer in the utilisation of blockchain technology, and we are dedicated to exploring its potential by investing in the growth of the blockchain ecosystem through key strategic and research partnerships,” said Dr. Pei. “Our partnership with NJIT and ISCAS will leverage our respective strengths and resources to drive the continued development of this cutting-edge technology and its wider deployment across many industries.”

In August, JD launched the JD Blockchain Open Platform. In addition, it has partnered with Walmart, IBM, and Tsinghua University to introduce the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance.