JD.com Supermarket sets a new flag

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Huang Yu

The retail industry is undergoing profound changes, with companies seeking growth paths amid uncertainty.

In contrast to the trend, some players are providing different answers. As the largest supermarket in China, JD Supermarket has delivered impressive results, achieving double-digit growth in multiple indicators in the first half of the year. Among them, the number of shopping users increased by 18% year-on-year, order volume rose by 20% year-on-year, and transaction value grew by 15% year-on-year.

Eddie Wu, Vice President of JD Group and President of JD Retail's Supermarket Business Group, expressed, "For me, the most gratifying part of this report card is not necessarily the three words 'double-digit'; what makes me happiest is that user growth is faster than GMV growth. I believe that such growth rate is a long-term sustainable development rate."

On this basis, JD Supermarket has even further goals. On the occasion of JD Supermarket's 11th anniversary, Niu Yinghua announced an ambitious plan: in the next three years, the user base of JD Supermarket is to grow from 300 million to 500 million.

Of course, this plan is not just a slogan but needs to be built on a series of hard strengths.

Currently, the Chinese retail industry is undergoing a profound adjustment. The market is severely plagued by product homogeneity and escalating price wars, with many brands relying on continuous promotions to maintain sales, resulting in thinner profits. Coupled with rising costs and challenges in promoting new products, brands urgently need to break through growth bottlenecks.

On the other hand, as consumers become increasingly rational and their demands more diverse, merely relying on low prices is no longer sufficient to attract users continuously. Brands must reconstruct the relationship between people, goods, and places at a deeper level, which means accurately capturing consumption trends, enhancing supply chain efficiency, and launching products and services that better fit scenarios and emotional connections.

In response to industry changes, Niu Yinghua introduced that JD Supermarket will focus on five aspects: products, brands, categories, channels, and efficiency to achieve growth in the next three years and share future growth with brand partners.

Specifically, at the product level, JD Supermarket is laying out around three core capabilities: "user insight, hard product strength, and explosive new product capability."

Niu Yinghua summarized that this requires JD and brands to "anticipate industry development trends half a step ahead of others, find the distinguishing points and selling points in between, and at the same time, produce quality products that can be accepted by consumers while leaving profits."

In a successful case of supporting products, Niu Yinghua mentioned JD's collaboration with Qingdao Beer. JD discovered that during the Spring Festival, the demand for beer gift boxes often surges. Therefore, before last year's New Year goods festival, JD collaborated with Qingdao Beer to exclusively customize the "Nine Roads of Wealth" Qingdao Beer gift box, with each package designed with creative images of the God of Wealth recognized by local people in various regions. After its launch, it became the best-selling product in the New Year goods festival supermarket new gift box category.

In terms of brand building, JD Supermarket promotes cross-category linkage and external user acquisition by gaining insights into the consumption needs of various types of users, continuously expanding consumption scenarios; at the same time, it strengthens marketing during major promotional events, the use of repurchase tools, and refined user operations to continuously enhance brand recognition Niu Yinghua believes that "the fast-moving consumer goods business is nothing but three words: 'penetration rate.' JD.com Supermarket has 300 million actual purchasing users, and there is huge growth potential for brands here."

Some representative examples include, with the support of JD.com, in the first half of 2025, the number of trading users for Vinda paper products increased by 5 million, and new users for Yili dairy products grew by over 4 million. Brands like Canban, Maifudi, and Jishanchuan also achieved double-digit user growth.

When a brand achieves significant growth on JD.com Supermarket, it also drives the success of the entire category. Niu Yinghua introduced that JD.com Supermarket currently has 11 major first-level categories, with 120 business boost units.

Among these categories, taking coffee as an example, JD.com Supermarket has participated in global top coffee bean auctions, entering high-potential tracks, collaborating with brands to create premium coffee events, and working with JD.com’s auction business to enhance user awareness of premium coffee.

After years of accumulation, JD.com Supermarket has established differentiated advantages in categories such as alcoholic beverages, maternal and infant products, and fresh produce, winning consumer trust. Niu Yinghua shared a case where a mother returned and exchanged 14 packs of diapers at once. She believes that it is precisely JD.com's size exchange policy that makes many mothers more willing to safely stock up.

In addition to the above capabilities, as a retail platform, the channel is JD.com Supermarket's competitive edge. In this regard, Niu Yinghua emphasized the business of warehouses and stores in 26 provinces and regions, which, relying on localized operations, helps national brands land accurately while also assisting regional brands in going national.

Moreover, these products will also be available to 8 million government and enterprise clients, as well as offline channels like JD.com Convenience Stores, JD.com Discount Stores, Qixian, Maternal and Infant Pavilions, and Wine World. Niu Yinghua also mentioned, "We will soon invest heavily to continuously explore the European market, which is also a great way for Chinese local brands to sell products to Europe."

The efficient operation supporting the above chain is most tested by the company's operational efficiency and organizational capability. Niu Yinghua introduced, "In July this year, we recruited 600 people on campus, planning to use proprietary standardized training for these newcomers. Basic operations can be trained in six months, and they can become skilled in a year. By increasing the number of procurement and sales personnel, we aim to refine our operations."

In terms of technology, leveraging JD.com's investment of hundreds of billions in R&D resources, a super operation and AI inspection system has been built to enhance operational intelligence; and through direct sourcing, BBCC collaboration, and precise promotion, the supply chain has been optimized to achieve a more direct and efficient direct supply model.

Niu Yinghua believes that in the current challenging business environment, JD.com Supermarket will continue to be user-centered, ensuring that every new product from partners and co-created new products can succeed on the JD.com platform through leading supply chain capabilities, digital technology, and an open ecosystem.

Indeed, growing the user base from 300 million to 500 million is no easy task; the new flag has been raised, and now it depends on JD.com's execution capability