where they are offloaded by village “coordinators” who
make final deliveries by whatever means of transport is
available. However, the company is actively testing a fleet of
much larger, heavier drones, with a capacity of up to 2,000
pounds, that will carry shipments between warehouses, or
from farms to warehouses. Josh Gartner,
a New York-based JD spokesman, said the
company plans to make the larger drones
a common sight over China’s landscape.
JD has approximately 7,000 delivery
70,000. About 92 percent of JD’s deliver-
according to Satish Jindel, a transport
consultant who spent 10 days last November in China
observing the company’s operations. Virtually all of JD’s
deliveries are free to the end customer, the exception being
inexpensive purchases, where JD may tack on a delivery fee.
For a small number of deliveries—generally those going
from manufacturer to customer, bypassing JD’s fulfillment
a joint venture last May under which UPS picks up parcels
in China on behalf of SF Express and ships them to the U.S.
through the U.S. carrier’s network. Over time, UPS plans
to leverage SF Express’s network to expand its own Chinese
presence, especially among small to mid-sized businesses.
JD has 13,000 employees at its Beijing
headquarters. Of those, 1,000 are data
scientists and other advanced analysts
helping JD better understand customers’
spending habits and merchants’ needs.
“THE KIND OF COMPANY AMAZON
WANTS TO BE”
Through their ownership in JD, Tencent
and Walmart are collaborating with the
company in a multiyear strategy to knock
Alibaba off its perch as China’s leading
e-tailer. For its part, Alibaba, which today owns no inventory and does not manage fulfillment, is taking a serious look
at JD’s model in an effort to extend its own capabilities into
JD’s niches, Jindel said.
Though JD does not now pose a direct threat to Amazon
on U.S. shores, its influence on the Seattle-based goliath is
still felt. According to Jindel, in JD, Amazon sees the kind
of company it eventually wants to be.
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More Than an Integrator
Booth B1637
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SATISH JINDEL POSES NEXT TO A JD.COM
DRONE.
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