Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has revealed its plans to open retail grocery stores. A spokesperson for the company announced on Monday that they intend to achieve this by merging their 7Fresh supermarket unit with other business lines, such as their group-buying arm Pinpin.
Confirming reports in local media, the spokesperson informed Reuters that apart from establishing physical stores, the newly formed division will also venture into exploring innovative retail models.
According to the spokesperson, Yan Xiaobing, formerly in charge of JD.com’s international division within the online e-commerce platform, will be entrusted with leading the new business division. The spokesperson further stated that Yan Xiaobing will report directly to Xu Ran, the CEO of JD.com.
This latest development comes after JD.com unveiled an ambitious blueprint earlier this month, outlining its plans to create seven enterprises valued at over 100 billion yuan ($13.83 billion) each.
Amidst a rapidly evolving competitive landscape, the company finds itself navigating a challenging environment. Chinese consumers now have a plethora of platforms to choose from, including JD’s main competitor, Alibaba Group, as well as PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and ByteDance’s Douyin, which is often referred to as the Chinese counterpart of TikTok.
In response to Alibaba’s launch of Freshippo, a high-end physical grocery store, JD.com introduced 7Fresh in 2017. Recently, Alibaba announced its intention to initiate the IPO process for Freshippo as part of the company’s restructuring plans.
As reported by Reuters in March, JD.com took the step of spinning off its logistics unit into a separate entity back in 2017. Furthermore, the company has intentions to spin off its property and industrial units, with plans to list them on the Hong Kong stock exchange in deals valued at $1 billion each.
