Chinese e-commerce giant JD is moving to stimulate small and medium enterprises nationally by providing supply chain and service support for the employment of more than 5 million people.

The firm is accumulating around 50 billion goods as a part of its “Spark” economic support plan designed to benefit SMEs, stall owners and shopkeepers. 

The plan is focused on three areas: ensuring supply, assisting operations and promoting employment. The firm will also provide each small shop with US$14,000 in interest-free credit to make purchases.

“JD has already comprehensively accumulated rich experience in supporting the ‘stall economy’ and the ‘small shop economy’,” said JD Retail CEO Lei Xu. “The impact of the epidemic will accelerate the digital transformation of the real economy, and stalls and small shops are no exception. JD has both the ability and the responsibility to use digitisation to support and make the economy of small stalls and shops more dynamic, helping to further invigorate the overall economy and stabilise employment.”

JD is now set to work with nearly 10,000 brand manufacturers and more than 4000 joint warehouses to provide offline retailers with access to low-cost, high-quality supplies. The firm will also help offline retailers to expand their online operations.

In poor regions, JD will provide flexible employment, work-from-home and farm-to-table opportunities including positions such as logistics order collection, warehouse management, inventory management and packaging. It will also establish start-up projects and provide support in the fields of catering retail, regional logistics agencies and freight transportation.

Data collected by the company shows that, right before its 6.18 promotional event this year, the transaction volume of JD New Markets in Beijing, as well as Hubei and Anhui provinces increased more than fivefold. The number of orders placed on the JD Convenience Store Go mini program was more than 10 times the previous daily average.