Liu Qiangdong's ambitions are becoming a reality

Author | Wang Xiaojuan

Editor | Huang Yu

In recent days, JD.com and its founder Liu Qiangdong have become high-frequency hot search terms on the internet.

First, Liu Qiangdong made a long-awaited high-intensity output, followed by JD.com entering the OTA hotel and travel sector with the bait of "up to 3 years of 0 commission."

Behind such high-profile and frequent actions is the phased success of JD.com’s food delivery service, which has brought enormous traffic to JD.com and given Liu Qiangdong greater confidence to challenge and change the competitive landscape of Chinese e-commerce.

Less than four months after officially entering the food delivery market, JD.com’s daily order volume has already surpassed 25 million orders, with over 1.5 million quality dining establishments onboarded and more than 120,000 full-time delivery riders recruited.

In addition to food delivery, JD.com’s other instant retail business, JD Qixian, has also seen good growth. Data shows that JD Qixian's online orders have increased by over 150% year-on-year, and sales of JD Qixian's private label products have increased by 340% year-on-year. The explosion of instant retail has also become one of the biggest highlights in JD.com’s 618 battle report.

This traffic has already fed back into JD.com’s main site, creating a synergistic effect with the main site.

On the night of June 18, JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing was brightly lit, waiting for the battle report. In the early hours of the next day, JD.com released the latest data: as of June 18, 23:59, the number of users placing orders during JD.com’s 618 in 2025 increased by over 100% year-on-year, with the overall order volume of JD.com’s retail online business, offline formats, and food delivery exceeding 2.2 billion orders. The transaction volume of JD.com’s live commerce increased by 285% year-on-year. During the 618 period, the DAU of the JD.com APP reached a historical high.

In addition to instant retail being a growth driver for JD.com’s 618 this year, JD.com also disclosed multiple dimensions of its 618 achievements during the media open day on June 18, showcasing several obvious consumer characteristics.

First, during this 618, the AI wave has driven high attention to AI-related products, while domestic products have received more favor from consumers. Under the dual drive of "technology + traditional culture," over 70% of the top 100 brands in terms of popularity during JD.com’s 618 were Chinese brands, with searches for "AI elements" and "intangible cultural heritage elements" increasing by over 120% and 270% year-on-year, respectively.

Secondly, the consumption vitality in sinking markets is robust, with order volume in rural county areas increasing by over 130% year-on-year and the number of users increasing by over 140% year-on-year. Among them, Nanchang’s Nanchang County and Heze’s Chengwu County became the districts with the strongest consumption power and the highest growth in consumption power during JD.com’s 618. Additionally, as of now, JD.com’s group buying stores have landed in Hefei, Beijing, and Suqian, with total coverage of users increasing 34 times year-on-year.

Moreover, consumption in life services has seen significant growth, with JD.com’s self-operated housekeeping service, which was launched with a "pay after use" model, achieving over 100 million in transaction volume, and orders for self-operated home appliance cleaning and laundry services increasing by 211% and over 10 times year-on-year, respectively.

Behind these consumption characteristics is the result of JD.com’s various businesses forming systematic capabilities and jointly supporting each other.

In terms of AI, throughout JD.com’s 618 period, from foundational large models to various end-to-end AI products, the application of AI technology provided solid support for JD.com’s 618.

JD.com stated that the number of large model calls during this year’s 618 increased by 130% compared to last year’s JD.com 11.11, with over 14,000 intelligent agents and digital employees working at JD.com Over 1 million JD.com merchants are using JD Xiaozhi to serve customers, and 17,000 JD.com merchants are using JD.com's digital human live streaming for sales.

In addition, JD Joy Inside has integrated AI interaction capabilities into numerous robots and toys such as Yuan Luobo, Zhongqing, and Yun Shenchu, becoming a major attraction for consumers purchasing hardware products. The JD Retail XR Innovation Team has also applied innovative 3D content products such as "JD Liying - Naked Eye 3D Advertising," the 3D smart home matching tool "Liying - Meijia," and "Liying - 3D Live Streaming" across multiple categories or scenarios for the first time.

Although the duration of the 618 shopping festival is not short, it still faces a significant test of logistics capabilities due to the influx of massive orders in a short period.

A relevant person in charge of JD Logistics stated that during this year's 618, JD Logistics' "Early Delivery" utilized big data intelligent analysis to pre-position products in warehousing centers in nationwide sinking areas, ensuring that many new and hot-selling products are delivered promptly while reducing logistics costs by about 20%.

Additionally, the 618 shopping festival coincides with the hot consumption of national subsidies and the peak season for air conditioning. JD Logistics, leveraging its integrated supply chain solution for large home appliances and furniture, has reserved over 100,000 professional home appliance and furniture delivery engineers, achieving 100% coverage of national districts and counties through its innovative "Delivery, Installation, Disassembly, and Collection" integrated end delivery service.

Thanks to the support from logistics, during the 618 period, JD Logistics' large home appliance "Delivery and Installation Integration" orders increased by over 300% year-on-year.

This time, JD has also extended the battlefield of 618 to offline, with tens of thousands of JD self-operated or managed stores, as well as millions of offline partner stores connected to JD's supply chain, joining JD 618.

During this year's 618, JD MALL launched operations at stores including Beijing South Third Ring, Beijing Shuangjing, Shenzhen First Store, Wuhan Guanggu, and Taiyuan Changfeng Street, with the Beijing Shuangjing store attracting over 100,000 visitors in the first two days of its opening.

On June 18, JD's first physical restaurant infrastructure brand "Qixian Meishi MALL" officially opened in Harbin, also entering JD Takeout, becoming the first food mall in the country to achieve 100% live streaming from the kitchen.

Beyond the battle report, Liu Qiangdong's strong return also signifies the beginning of a new cycle for JD after five years of decline.

On June 17, he "self-criticized," stating, "The last five years can be said to be JD's lost five years, a downhill five years. It can be said without mercy that there was no innovation, no growth, and no progress during these five years, which should be considered the least distinctive and least valuable five years in my entrepreneurial history."

At the same time, he also introduced that JD's high-intensity "entrepreneurship" has begun again, stating, "In the future, there will be an innovative business launched every year, and currently, there are already six innovative businesses in progress, including stablecoins."

In Liu Qiangdong's view, the reason for entering the hotel and restaurant industry is that behind hotels and restaurants is also a supply chain. The front end involves consumers staying in hotels and ordering food, while the vast supply chain behind it is actually very chaotic and costly. "JD has established a new channel division for hotels and restaurants. The first step is convenience stores, the second is restaurants, and the third is hotel and travel, all of which are to lay the groundwork for the supply chain behind." This may also mean that JD.com will aggressively enter more fields surrounding the supply chain, and the Chinese internet industry will usher in a new change