JD expands into social etail

1 min readUpdated May 26, 2025Oct 4, 201911:13 PM

Chinese internet services giant JD has launched a social e-commerce platform named Jingxi, providing discounts on team purchases to target users in small to medium-sized cities in China.

The business model, which invites buyers to share deals with friends to score significant discounts, emulates those of rivals Pinduoduo and Juhuansuan.

“We’re going to diversify and enrich our WeChat ecosystem and provide a new model to attract lower-tier cities, especially female users and low-income users,” said JD Retail CEO Lei Xu about the new Jingxi platform.

“We’ll continue to enhance our user experiences and also gain more potential customers from third to six-tier cities,” added JD.com chairman and CEO Richard Liu.

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What this means

JD's launch of Jingxi is a shrewd, if belated, move to capture the rapidly growing value-conscious consumer segment in China's lower-tier cities. By emulating the successful social commerce models of Pinduoduo and Juhuansuan, JD aims to use its robust supply chain and WeChat integration to attract new users, particularly female and low-income demographics. This strategy puts direct pressure on its existing rivals, who have already proven the viability of this model. The primary risk lies in whether JD can maintain its quality perception while aggressively pursuing price-sensitive buyers. This is a logical expansion, contrasting with its previously reported regulatory hurdles in European investments. Monitor its reported user growth figures for Jingxi over the next quarter.

Maria Santos

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