Updated 11:44 am 21 March 2018: The post has been updated to correct a factual mistake. JD is partnering with commercial chain store Better Life rather not BBK the electronic device maker. They both have the same Chinese name in 步步高.
JD is expanding its presence in the O2O field through a new partnership with Better Life, the commercial chain company that’s principally engaged in wholesale and retail business.
JD’s new cooperation deal means that users will be able to purchase directly from Better Life’s offline stores via JD Daojia, the O2O arm of JD. Items ordered on JD Daojia will be dispatched directly from Better Life’s 200+ brick-and-mortar stores scattered in cities like Changsha, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Chongqing. In addition, the partnership will extend to warehouse, membership system and promotion activities. The first batch of partnership stores will be launched in April.
This deal is part of a partnership between Better Life, Tencent, and JD (in which Tencent has a stake). The three parties signed a strategic partnership at the end of February this year.
JD Daojia started as a one-hour delivery service amid China’s O2O boom and now partners with over 100,000 local merchants and provides on-demand grocery, fresh products, snacks, flowers, baking, and pharmacy shopping in over 30 cities, with more than 50 million registered customers and 20 million monthly active users.
Founded in 1995, Better Life is principally engaged in retailing, e-commerce, real estate, fintech, and logistics. As of present Better Life have over 590 physical stores in southern part of China with a annual revenue of RMB 37 billion in 2017.