Breaking through the trust fog in health product consumption, JD Health's growth by riding the trend

This year, Zhang Tao, 37, decided to embark on a scientific health - preservation journey with his parents and wife. With a background in biology, after researching a great deal of information, he decided to start with basic supplements like calcium, multivitamins, and glucosamine.

Previously, although his family members also recognized the need for health supplements, the social media platforms were flooded with various advertisements and even false information. It was difficult for them to accurately determine what to supplement and which brand's products to buy. So, the whole family agreed that Zhang Tao would be in charge of purchasing, and they would remind each other to take the supplements every day.

As a JD PLUS member, Zhang Tao compared the ingredient lists and component contents of multivitamins and glucosamine from different brands. Eventually, he settled on two high - cost - performance health supplements and made regular repurchases on JD Health.

With the rising health awareness among the Chinese people, the Chinese nutritional health supplement market is expanding rapidly. It is estimated that by 2025, the market size will exceed 400 billion yuan. Meanwhile, the proportion of online channels has increased rapidly from less than 30% in 2019 to nearly 60% currently, surpassing traditional channels such as direct sales and supermarkets to become the dominant force.

Similar to the pharmaceutical industry, there is a significant information asymmetry in the health supplement industry. Many consumers, like Zhang Tao's parents, don't know what to buy and how to buy. Amid the rapid expansion of the industry, the chaotic marketing campaigns, ever - emerging new products and ingredients, and the alluring slogans like "anti - aging and cell repair" in live - streaming rooms have instead deepened the "trust fog" in the industry, hindering consumers' health - related consumption decisions.

In the fierce competition for traffic, quality and trust are particularly precious.

On December 3rd, at the JD Health Nutritional Supplements Brand Growth Conference, the disclosed data showed that in 2025, the annual repurchase rate of JD Health's nutritional supplement category far exceeded the industry average, and its market share reached a new high. The year - on - year growth rate in the third quarter of this year was three times that of the whole year of 2024.

Behind this series of growth data, the number of brands with three - consecutive - year sales growth in JD Health's nutritional supplement category exceeded 7,000. The number of new users increased by 30% year - on - year, and the sales of new products increased by 40% year - on - year. In the nutritional supplement category, the professional trust foundation built by JD Health for users and brand merchants is being transformed into more sustainable and predictable growth.

How to Make Users Dare to Buy and Know How to Buy

When choosing health supplements for himself and his family, Zhang Tao came across several new ingredients such as ergothioneine and γ - aminobutyric acid. He silently noted them down, planning to read relevant scientific research articles carefully when he had time before making a decision.

"In recent years, more and more users have carefully identified their symptoms. When choosing nutritional supplements, they also study the dosage forms, formulations, and contents," observed a relevant person in charge of JD Health's nutritional supplement business. According to industry research results, when users buy health supplements, their requirements for the science and professionalism of ingredients, efficacy, and formulations are higher than the product price.

Of course, consumers like Zhang Tao with a biology background are still in the minority. How to enable users to easily choose suitable health products has become the long - term goal of JD Health.

As early as 2021, JD Health began to form a team of dietitians and build industry standards for nutritional supplements. Now, with the support of large AI models, this approach is being upgraded to an "evidence - based nutrition system" centered on scientific evidence.

Although nutrition science may seem to have a low threshold, its complexity is actually no less than that of medicine. Especially in this field, the service needs to be highly personalized, and information updates rapidly. Even senior dietitians find it difficult to keep up with numerous new ingredients and dosage forms in a timely manner. This is where AI has an advantage.

When initially testing the "AI Dietitian", the JD Health team was worried that the service would lack warmth. However, in fact, "AI's knowledge scope and the quality of its responses far exceed the average level of (human dietitians)." In addition, with its memory function, the AI Dietitian can select suitable products for individuals from a vast commodity database based on users' health records and provide precise nutrition advice.

"I used to be very hesitant when buying calcium tablets for the elderly at home. I wanted to supplement calcium but was also worried about the risk of vascular calcification... The dietitian explained in detail the key points of preventing vascular sclerosis during calcium supplementation and recommended liquid calcium containing vitamin K2... Now I feel at ease giving it to the elderly."

In JD's comment section, there are numerous interactive evaluations related to the AI Dietitian. Currently, about 95% of professional consulting services in this category are handled by the AI Dietitian, serving over 20 million users annually. In addition to improving user experience and consultation conversion rates, the capabilities of the AI Dietitian will also expand from the public domain to the private domain.

In the past, public - domain e - commerce platforms tried various ways to extend their service capabilities to private - domain communities, but this often required high human - resource operation costs. With the promotion of the AI Dietitian, it can guide users to the WeChat private domain at the end of a single - point consultation. Through proactive one - on - one services, long - term health management becomes possible, increasing user stickiness and repurchase rates.

Service is the guide, while products are the foundation. In the nutritional supplement industry, users still care most about product efficacy. To filter out the chaos of riding on ingredient hotspots and false efficacy concepts, JD Health is establishing an evidence - based nutrition system by referring to the method of verifying the effectiveness of drugs to re - define the "measurement" for evaluating health supplements.

"We've observed that on one hand, users are paying more and more attention to the human efficacy of health supplements. On the other hand, many manufacturers conduct clinical trials to verify the efficacy of ingredient raw materials during the R & D stage," introduced a relevant person in charge of JD Health's nutritional supplement business. However, a pain point in the industry is that the effectiveness of raw material ingredients does not mean a reasonable formulation, nor can it guarantee the efficacy of the final product.

Therefore, JD Health is trying to refer to the technical guidelines issued by the Chinese Nutrition Society at the beginning of this year to evaluate whether a specific product has real and credible scientific evidence at every stage from raw materials, formulation to the finished product. Products with scientific evidence that meet the standards of "good ingredients, good manufacturing, and good absorption" will receive more support.

For C - end users, this "evidence - based nutrition system" is a scientific tool for easy selection and worry - free purchase. For B - end brand merchants, it means that JD Health is more willing to cooperate with "long - term players" who truly invest in R & D and focus on product quality.

To provide users with a better experience, JD Health has also launched services such as "return if ineffective in 28 days", "worry - free for allergies", and "return if you don't like it" for health supplement categories. Although these guarantees may seem to increase costs, "they actually build a positive interaction cycle", allowing high - quality merchants and products to stand out.

In terms of its more advantageous supply - chain capabilities, JD Health solves the pain points such as slow logistics of cross - border health supplements through direct delivery from bonded warehouses. For example, the direct - mail cycle of "Hong Kong instant bird's nest" used to be as long as six or seven days. Now, when shipped from JD's self - operated bonded warehouse, Hong Kong bird's nest can reach consumers in Chongqing on the same day at the earliest, greatly reducing logistics costs and return rates.

Growth: From Traffic Harvesting to In - depth User Cultivation

Nowadays, intelligent consumption is becoming a trend. With the evidence - based nutrition system, in the minds of users, JD Health will not only be an "online shelf" for displaying products but also a category measurement with scientific basis and verifiable efficacy.

Trust is also the key to promoting the growth of brand merchants.

In today's era of expensive traffic, health supplement merchants generally face the anxiety of "cost - effectiveness": a single round of traffic investment and price promotions can bring short - term sales growth. However, if they cannot retain users and build brand loyalty, it will be difficult to ensure profits and long - term growth.

Looking at the logic of various platforms horizontally, "JD Health has always centered on users. We hope that every investment can ultimately be converted into brand users and platform users, so that continuous purchases can be made without constantly paying for traffic," introduced the aforementioned relevant person in charge.

In 2025, JD Health exclusively sponsored the seventh season of "Flowers and Teens". This cross - circle variety show marketing not only gained over 10 billion views across the Internet but also significantly enhanced the "female power" in JD's nutritional supplement category, with the number of new customers in high - correlation categories for women in health supplements and tonics increasing by over 80%.

Women are not only the main force in self - pleasing consumption but also the "gatekeepers" of many family's health.

In the past, maternal and infant nutrition has always been an advantageous category for JD Health. Many pregnant women buy nutritional supplements here. Based on the trust established by JD in the maternal and infant field, mothers naturally extend their purchasing habits here, from buying for themselves to buying nutritional supplements for infants, children, and teenagers.

However, when browsing social media, consumers are easily affected by health anxiety. But when it comes to placing an order and taking the products, they become very cautious. The coexistence of impulse and rationality means that although brands have invested a large amount of advertising on content platforms such as live - streaming rooms, it may not directly lead to sales.

This means that when users come to the JD platform after being influenced by off - site marketing, with personalized and precise marketing, there is a high possibility of significantly increasing sales conversion.

To better connect the off - site to on - site process, this year, JD Health's nutritional supplement team cooperated with major brand customers on the "Doubling Plan Pro". This is no longer just about improving advertising efficiency. From potential customers to loyal users, JD has added in - depth operation measures throughout the entire process to continuously improve conversion. Ultimately, it helps brands to accurately reach the interested audience in the exposure and marketing stages multiple times, achieving more efficient secondary marketing returns for brands.

While actively expanding new customer groups, JD Health has also maintained its high - quality user base. As the "ballast stone" for brand business, JD PLUS members contribute more than half of the annual sales in the nutritional supplement category.

It can be said that once a brand gains the trust of users in terms of professionalism and quality on JD, it is easier to gain high - loyalty customers. For brand merchants, this is the stability for magnifying user value and surviving consumption cycles.

Improving Cost - Effectiveness: Symbiotic Relationship between Brands and Platform

For a long time, in the health supplement industry, brand merchants have been willing to invest in marketing, but they are all eager to improve cost - effectiveness. In fact, the marketing consensus of well - known domestic and foreign brands such as Swisse and BY - HEALTH has shifted from "grabbing traffic" to "grabbing users", especially focusing on the long - life - cycle value of users.

This profound industry transformation aligns with JD Health's long - term concept. At the growth conference on December 3rd, JD Health officially launched the "S100 Project" for its nutritional supplement business. This is the strategic core of its co - creation of value with brand merchants and a natural two - way interaction.

The S100 Project includes 100 leading and highly potential domestic and foreign brands in the nutritional supplement field. These brands have strong product capabilities, supply - chain capabilities, and are willing to continuously co - build brand power.

For the selected brand merchants, JD Health will provide unprecedented resource support. Firstly, more than 80% of the marketing expenses and resources next year will be specifically allocated to them. At the same time, a green channel for new product launches will be established to support brands in "making a big splash as soon as a new product is launched". A series of incentive policies will also be introduced.

In the past few years, the cooperation between JD Health and nutritional supplement brands has evolved from a simple purchase - supply relationship to more upstream production links such as reverse customization based on data insights and consumption trends.

Take deep - sea fish oil as an example. In a highly competitive market for basic fish oil products, the JD Health team found through data analysis that high - purity and high - absorption - rate deep - sea fish oil, which is more popular among users, is still an untapped market. Therefore, they suggested that GNC develop a high - end fish oil product to fill the market gap.

On the day of its official launch on JD Health, this 97% high - purity EPA fish oil received over 50 million views and achieved a turnover of over one million yuan, driving a several - fold year - on - year increase in the store's sales.

A similar success story is the new - generation Super Gold Probiotics from Biostime. The JD Health team intervened during the cold - start period of the new product, feeding back user concerns such as children's palatability and efficacy speed to the brand to help optimize key information dissemination. The probiotic achieved sales of over four million yuan in its first month on JD.

In addition to in - depth cooperation on new products, JD Health also has rich experience in promoting existing products and exclusive sales of differentiated products. A typical example is the animal - and - plant dual - protein powder jointly developed with BY - HEALTH.

With its large - scale online self - operated business, marketing, and price - control systems, JD Health drove the online annual sales of this classic product to a record high in 2025. The brand then launched a new version of the product targeting the offline market. JD's exclusive sales helped the brand achieve a smooth product iteration and stabilize the overall price system.

This win - win result proves that the value JD Health can provide to brand merchants has gone beyond the online channel, evolving into a deep - level partnership covering the entire chain, including product definition, pricing strategy, and marketing promotion.

On the supply side, technology - driven consumption upgrading is in full swing. Brand merchants are also actively optimizing the dosage forms and formulations of nutritional supplements to improve product bioavailability. Previously expensive health - supplement raw materials, such as ergothioneine and ginsenosides, are also becoming more accessible to users as biotechnology advances and costs decrease.

In 2026, JD Health's nutritional supplement business will invest 1.6 billion yuan in marketing resources to jointly build a large - scale brand presence with brands. Especially in the four major fields of infant and adolescent development, bone and joint care, anti - inflammation and anti - aging, and nourishing qi and blood, the platform will support the promotion of products with new ingredients and dosage forms, as well as cross - category promotion with channels such as fresh food and fashion, further increasing the stickiness of the elderly and female user groups.

From the service upgrade of the AI Dietitian to the establishment of the evidence - based scientific nutrition system; from the integration of multi - channel and full - chain user operations to the in - depth co - construction of