Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba has long dominated China’s Rmb2.8tn ($451bn) online retail market. However, there are signs that its smaller competitor, JD.com, is closing the gap.
According to data from FT Confidential Research, a Financial Times research service, the popularity of JD.com has soared in recent months to a record high. Nearly 45 per cent of respondents in China Confidential’s first quarter 2015 survey of almost 2,000 online shoppers said they regularly shopped on JD.com. As recently as the first quarter of 2013, just 30 per cent of shoppers surveyed said they regularly shopped there.
Although Alibaba remains the clear market leader, both of its consumer ecommerce sites — Taobao and Tmall — declined in popularity in the latest quarter, while JD.com was up sharply.
JD.com’s fast-growing popularity is largely due to its rapid expansion of logistics in smaller cities and its strategic alliance with Chinese internet group Tencent, in place since mid-2014.
While consumers living in first-tier and wealthy eastern coastal cities were early adopters of ecommerce, their counterparts in smaller cities and inland provinces arguably have a greater demand for internet shopping because they have a less-advanced bricks and mortar alternative. How far and how fast ecommerce companies can deliver goods to consumers in smaller cities correlates directly to their popularity.
JD.com has invested heavily in expanding into smaller cities in recent years, greatly increasing its popularity. By the end of the first quarter of 2015, JD.com had 3,539 delivery and pick-up stations in 1,961 cities and counties nationwide, up from 3,210 in 1,862 cities and counties at the end of 2014 and 2,523 stations in 1,780 cities and counties in the second quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, JD.com’s partnership with Tencent has given the retailer access to the latter’s massive userbase — Tencent’s WeChat and QQ mobile apps alone have about 1bn users.
JD.com’s promotional activities on WeChat and QQ, such as distributing virtual hongbao — red envelope gifts — during lunar new year, have increased its popularity among price-sensitive, mass-market consumers who previously looked for bargains on Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer site Taobao.
The quality of delivery services also matters. JD.com has invested heavily in its own logistics network, which, although costly, has enabled it to maintain strict oversight and achieve quick, accurate delivery. The delivery quality has supported JD.com’s popularity among China’s increasingly demanding consumers.
By contrast, merchants on Alibaba overwhelmingly rely on third-party logistics companies to serve a vast number of geographically dispersed buyers. This has left these merchants unable to match JD.com’s delivery speed or service quality, denting the popularity of Alibaba’s two websites.
In China Confidential’s survey, 36.3 per cent of respondents said Alibaba’s business-to-consumer site Tmall was one of the two ecommerce sites they most regularly used, down 0.7 percentage points quarter on quarter. Furthermore, although Alibaba’s Taobao remained the most popular ecommerce site, its popularity fell for the second successive quarter: 50.6 per cent of respondents said they most regularly used Taobao — down 4.2 percentage points year on year and 1.5 percentage points quarter on quarter.
The declining popularity of Taobao lowered the combined percentage of survey respondents that regularly used Alibaba’s two consumer ecommerce sites to 87 per cent, down from an all-time high of 90 per cent in mid-2014.
Almost all other online retail sites, including Dangdang and Amazon China, have seen declines in popularity over the past year as the two market leaders, both buoyed by bumper US initial public offerings last year, invest heavily to extend their dominance.
Although Alibaba remains the clear market leader and continues to invest heavily, China Confidential expects JD.com to gain further ground, helped by the company’s ongoing investment in logistics and its growing consumer base.
However, continued heavy investment and the high cost of its self-operated model mean the company remains unlikely to post a profit in the near term.
JD.com’s net loss widened to Rmb710.2m in the first quarter, up from Rmb454.3m in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Its investment-led approach is enabling JD.com to slowly close the gap on Alibaba, reflected in rising popularity and relative share price outperformance over the past year. But it remains to be seen how long investors will be prepared to wait for the asset-heavy online retailer to post a profit.
在範圍達2.8萬億國民幣(合4510億美元)的中國在線零售市場上，阿裏巴巴(Alibaba)歷久占領著主導位置。但是，今朝有跡象註解，範圍比它小的競爭敵手——京東(JD.com)正在漸漸縮小與它的差距。
英國《金融時報》旗下研討辦事“投資參考”(FT Confidential Research)的數據表現，京東的人氣在近幾個月升至汗青新高。《中國投資參考》2015年第一季度對近2000名網購者的查詢拜訪表現，靠近45%的受訪者表現，他們常常在京東購物。在2013年第一季度的查詢拜訪中，表現常常在京東購物的受訪者還只有30%。
只管阿裏巴巴還是義無反顧的市場領先者，其旗下兩家花費電商網站——淘寶網(Taobao)和天貓(Tmall)——的人氣在本年第一季度都有所降低，京東的人氣則大幅上升。
京東人氣躥升，主如果由於其在中小都會敏捷擴建物流系統，並臨時2014年年中以來跟中國互聯網團體騰訊(Tencent)結成為了計謀同盟。
只管一線都會和東部沿海充裕都會的花費者很早就接收了電子商務，但中小都會和要地本地省分的花費者對網上購物有著更大的需求，由於他們地點之處實體店不敷蓬勃。電商企業在中小都會的發貨速率有多快、籠罩規模有多遠，直接幹系到本身在網購者中央的受迎接水平。
比年來，京東已投下巨資向中小都會擴大，使其人氣大為晉升。到2015年第一季度末，京東在天下1961個縣市具有3539個配送站和自提點;2014歲尾在1862個縣市有3210個配送站和自提點;2014年第二季度在1780個縣市有2523個配送站和自提點。
另外一方面，京東與騰訊樹立互助以後，可以打仗後者的宏大的用戶基本——僅微信(Wechat)和QQ這兩款挪動運用便具有約10億用戶。
春節時代京東在微信和QQ上的匆匆銷運動(好比發電子紅包)，深受對價錢敏感的民眾市場花費者的愛好，這些花費者曩昔平日在阿裏巴巴的C2C網站淘寶網上物色廉價貨。
送貨辦事的質量也很主要。京東也投巨資扶植本身的物流收集，只管價值不菲，但這讓京東得以堅持嚴厲治理，實現快速精準的送貨。送貨質量進步了京東在愈來愈抉剔的花費者傍邊的受迎接水平。
比較之下，阿裏巴巴平台的商戶重要依附第三方物流公司，為天南海北的買家送貨。是以，這些商戶的發貨速率和辦事質量比不上京東，下降了阿裏巴巴旗下兩個網站的人氣。
在《中國投資參考》的查詢拜訪中，36%的受訪者表現，阿裏巴巴的B2C平台天貓是他們應用至多的兩個電商網站之一，比前一季度低了0.7%。別的，只管阿裏巴巴旗下的淘寶網還是最受迎接的電商網站，但其人氣持續第2個季度湧現降低：50.6%的受訪者表現，他們最常用的是淘寶網，比客歲同期降低4.2個百分點，比前一季度降低1.5個百分點。
淘寶人氣降低，使得常用阿裏巴巴旗下兩家花費電商網站的受訪者的百分比之和降至87%，低於2014年年中創下的最高值90%。
包含鐺鐺網(Dangdang)和亞馬遜中國(Amazon China)，險些全部其他在線零售網站的人氣在曩昔一年裏都有所降低。這是由於，得益於客歲在美初次公然刊行(IPO)融得的巨資，阿裏巴巴和京東這兩家市場領軍公司都應用大筆投資牢固主導位置。
只管阿裏巴巴還是不言而喻的市場領先者，並在加大投資力度，但《中國投資參考》估計，在連續加大物流投資和用戶基本擴展的贊助下，京東有望牟取更多地皮。
但是，連續的巨額投資和高本錢的自營模式，象征著京東在近期仍不大大概實現紅利。
本年第一季度，京東的凈吃虧額從2014年第4季度的4.543億元國民幣擴展到了7.102億元國民幣。
在投資驅動模式下，京東得以逐步縮小與阿裏巴巴的差距，這一點從曩昔一年裏其人氣賡續上升和股價的相對於表示可以看出來。然則，投資者預備花多長期期待這家“重資產型”在線零售商實現紅利，則需拭目以待。
市場價：HK$ 110
