Liu Qiangdong ventures into the automotive industry, and JD.com secures a deal with BYD.

Official Announcement! JD Secures a Deal with BYD

When one area slows down, another picks up. While JD's food delivery business is stabilizing at a slower pace, the company has not slowed down in other aspects.

On July 22nd, the official WeChat account of JD Auto caught the market's attention with a significant piece of news:

JD announced that on July 21st, JD Auto officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement with BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd., and since then, has become its e - commerce cooperation platform in the after - sales service field.

Moreover, JD Auto specifically emphasized that this cooperation marks BYD's first collaboration with a leading e - commerce platform in the after - sales service field.

Image source: JD Auto Care Express

It must be admitted that only after looking at the details of this so - called "full - link integration" cooperation can we truly understand the value of this "first - time cooperation".

According to JD Auto, the two parties will jointly build BYD's official flagship store on JD, expand online service capabilities, and establish a one - stop after - sales service system including original factory maintenance, tires, auto parts, and automotive accessories.

In addition, BYD's "Jingcheng Yijia" service network will also open independent stores on JD, targeting all brand users instead of just BYD car owners.

Specifically, the "Jingcheng Yijia Auto Maintenance Official Flagship Store" will launch service products such as fuel maintenance, quick paint repair, and car washing. Owners of all brands can place orders on JD to experience these services.

JD will be responsible for providing traffic, marketing, and digital capabilities to help BYD improve efficiency and customer experience.

In the view of E - commerce World, this cooperation not only reduces users' time and communication costs but also takes BYD's after - sales service ecosystem to a new level of digitalization and modularization.

For car owners, this is an upgrade of experience; for BYD, this is an expansion of channels; and from JD's perspective, this is also a strategic move.

Obviously, this cooperation is a win - win situation for all parties involved.

The Cooperation between JD and BYD Is Not Sudden

Actually, the collaboration between JD and BYD this time can be regarded as a "rekindling of an old relationship".

As early as March 2023, the two parties reached a strategic cooperation covering multiple areas such as vehicle sales, corporate services, marketing innovation, and user operation.

Image source: JD Logistics Newsletter

Looking even further back, since 2021, JD Logistics has been serving BYD's supply chain, providing transportation support for multiple aspects including batteries, pre - production parts, and after - sales accessories.

In short, this cooperation is a natural outcome rather than a sudden event.

From an industry perspective, the strategic significance behind this cooperation becomes even clearer.

In the view of E - commerce World, with the rapid popularization of new energy vehicles, the competition among car manufacturers is no longer limited to vehicle sales but has shifted more towards after - sales service and service experience.

Especially in the current market environment where price wars are intensifying, how to improve user satisfaction and build brand loyalty through after - sales service has become a crucial factor for car manufacturers to retain customers.

This is exactly where JD excels. JD's e - commerce genes and logistics network endow it with the natural ability to build an online + offline service network.

From user acquisition, service reservation, and order delivery to the fulfillment and feedback loop of offline stores, JD has a complete set of replicable digital solutions.

JD's brand in the automotive aftermarket, "JD Auto Care", has currently opened more than 2,500 stores across the country, covering more than 200 cities, gradually building a complete service network.

Image source: JD Auto Care Express

More importantly, for JD, the automotive industry is not a new topic but a "future battlefield" that has been continuously focused on.

As early as 2015, Liu Qiangdong participated in the early - stage investment of NIO, making him one of the earliest Internet tycoons to bet on new energy vehicles.

In 2017, JD started to enter the automotive aftermarket, and in 2018, it launched a vehicle trading platform, predicting that "future vehicle sales can be completed on e - commerce platforms, and 4S stores will gradually disappear".

At that time, he also gave an analogy: "Just like when the motherboard of a computer breaks, you replace the motherboard; when the graphics card breaks, you replace the graphics card; when the hard drive breaks, you replace the hard drive. Everything is component - based, standardized, and modular."

So far, like many of JD's ambitious plans that have been implemented, this is not an empty promise but a gradually realized strategy.

Liu Qiangdong's "Automobile - Making" Has Other Purposes

It is worth noting that if the cooperation with BYD is a deep - going advancement for JD in the automotive aftermarket, then another piece of news at the beginning of this month verifies Liu Qiangdong's forward - looking layout in the "automotive" field from the side.

On July 2nd, the "JD Logistics Newsletter" officially announced an important piece of news:

At the 17th International Transportation Technology and Equipment Exhibition, JD Logistics officially launched its self - developed unmanned light - truck product, the JD Logistics VAN.

Image source: JD Logistics Newsletter

You know, this seemingly "low - key" logistics vehicle is actually a crucial step for JD in the fields of autonomous driving and intelligent logistics.

According to the introduction, this JD Logistics VAN is equipped with ten core technologies, including high - precision positioning, multi - sensor fusion, interactive prediction, and intelligent networking, and has L4 - level autonomous driving capabilities.

It can travel up to 160 kilometers on a single charge, with a maximum speed of 60 km/h, a maximum load of 1000 kg, and a huge cargo space of 24 cubic meters, making it the unmanned light - truck with the largest cargo capacity in the industry at present.

In the view of E - commerce World, this is not just the prototype of "automobile - making" but also a "scenario implementation".

Different from the passenger - vehicle track that new players are flocking to, the goal of JD's light - truck is very clear:

To serve its own logistics system, optimize the efficiency of medium - and short - distance distribution, reduce labor and time costs, and achieve an unmanned transportation closed - loop from the warehouse to the station and from the station to the customer's door.

It should be noted that as early as May, it was reported that a subsidiary of JD applied to register multiple trademarks related to "Joyrobotaxi", which triggered speculation from the outside world that JD "might enter the vehicle - manufacturing industry".

Image source: Yufei Vision

Now, the launch of the Logistics VAN settles the matter: JD will not manufacture traditional passenger vehicles but will create exclusive vehicle models around its retail business, logistics network, and intelligent system.

Ultimately, this kind of "automobile - making" is an enhancement of the capabilities to serve the e - commerce, logistics, and supply - chain systems, rather than starting from scratch to become another "Li Auto" or "NIO".

The Automobile Is Not the End but an Extension

Now, what Liu Qiangdong is planning is no longer a simple "e - commerce vehicle - selling" platform but an automotive ecosystem that covers the entire cycle of "buy - match - maintain - use - replace".

More importantly, behind this ecosystem lies JD's most competitive underlying capabilities - the supply chain and logistics.

BYD is the vanguard in the "after - sales service" segment of this layout; the Logistics VAN is a physical - level experiment of the "technical system".

In the future, we may see more car manufacturers, auto - parts companies, and repair platforms integrate with the JD ecosystem, ultimately forming a dual - circulation system of "automotive aftermarket + intelligent logistics" centered around JD.

Looking back at the past decade, from investing in NIO to betting on the automotive aftermarket and then to manufacturing its own logistics vehicles, Liu Qiangdong has taken each step calmly and methodically.

It must be admitted that where JD will go next and how large JD's chessboard is are still unknown.

But one thing is certain: for JD, the battle in the automotive industry is far from over.

This article is from the WeChat official account "E - commerce World", author: Qing Qing. Republished by 36Kr with permission.