Walmart and JD.com plan shopping festival in August

Walmart and JD.com are set to launch a new online shopping festival for August 8, in an onmi-channel alliance that will see the two retail juggernauts link their supply chains and other operations.

As the fight for the online Chinese consumer intensifies, the festival will help the US retailer “reach the 99 per cent of the country’s population that JD.com’s delivery network covers, bringing high-quality Wal-Mart products to more Chinese customers nationwide,” said an announcement.

Helping the sale garner promotional traction, coupons have already been made available across 400 Walmart stores in China, allowing shoppers huge discounts during the upcoming online sale.

“Our ability to tap into JD.com’s advantages across logistics, big data, technology and customer service gives Wal-Mart a huge advantage in reaching China’s rapidly expanding consumer class,” Ben Hassing, senior vice president of Wal-Mart China e-commerce and technology, told WWD.

“We look forward to further bringing together our strengths in digital and physical retail to take the customer experience in China to the next level.”

The date, August 8, was chosen for its symbolic numerical links, the double 8. The number eight is considered a lucky number in the country.

The two companies also confirmed plans to integrate supply chains, “to significantly improve delivery efficiency for customers, optimize delivery routes for JD.com and increase Wal-Mart’s inventory turnover rate.”

The change allows customers to place orders online with JD.com, where then the system will find out if a JD.com warehouse or Walmart store is closer to the delivery address. From here, the order will dispatch a JD.com courier accordingly.

The trial project will launch initially in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Wuhan.