elling products online to customers who were eager to avoid public spaces. A year later, Liu closed his bricks-and-mortar store and moved the business fully online. This is also when the company began to build out a proprietary logistics network, a prescient decision that has propelled much of JD’s success over the years.  The company began offering general merchandise in 2008, transforming JD from an electronics retailer to a full-fledged e-commerce platform, and launched an online marketplace platform in 2010. In 2014, it formed a strategic partnership with Tencent, giving JD exclusive access to the tech giant’s WeChat and Mobile QQ platforms, and became China’s first major e-commerce company to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange. In 2016, JD.com formed a strategic alliance with Walmart, taking control of the latter’s online grocery business, Yihaodian, and giving Walmart a 5 per cent stake in JD. Today, JD is said to be the biggest retailer, online or otherwise, in China, and according to the strategic roadmap presented by CEO Sandy Xu at the company’s recent anniversary celebrations, it is just the beginning. JD.com CEO Sandy Xu The vision Dubbed 35711 Vision, the roadmap outlines how JD.com can continue to grow and have societal impact over the next two decades. The company’s goals include establishing three enterprises that generate over RMB 1 trillion in revenue and RMB 70 billion in net profits, having five enterprises that rank on the Fortune Global 500 list, and bringing seven publicly listed companies to obtain a market value of RMB 100 billion.  JD.com also aims to contribute RMB 100 billion in taxes and create over 1 million jobs. The company will strive to deliver over RMB 3 trillion in benefits to front-line employees, increasing the income of 100 million farmers. Xu emphasised three key areas of focus over the coming years: the development of lower-tier markets, advancements in technology and services, and the expansion of international business. Projects like the recent 10 billion yuan discount program and Spring Dawn Initiative have already attracted numerous new vendors. In the first quarter alone, the number of new merchants on JD’s platform soared by 240 per cent compared to the same period last year. JD.com’s global aspirations revolve around leveraging its robust supply chain infrastructure to enhance its international business operations. Notably, the company’s B2C retail brand, Ochama, offers an innovative retail model in Europe, integrating omnichannel shopping, intelligent supply chain management, automated warehousing, and efficient delivery services.  Through partnerships, Ochama has established an extensive network of more than 400 pickup points in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, and home delivery services cover more than 100 cities in Europe. A nuanced perspective Xiaofeng Wang, a principal analyst at Forrester, described the roadmap as “courageous”, given how forward-looking it is. “It’s a 20-year plan, which is likely to cover multiple economic cycles. Therefore, from a long-term perspective, the current economic downturn won’t affect much in terms of achieving these goals,” she told Inside Retail. But to achieve its goal of building multiple successful enterprises, JD will have to become more than an e-commerce company, she said. As of now, it already operates across logistics, health, cloud and technology, but there is room to grow here. “The current e-commerce penetration and maturity is lower in lower-tier cities, and correspondingly has more room for growth. Logistics has been a bottleneck in e-commerce development, but it’s also JD’s strength. Therefore, it’s the right growth strategy,” she added. The cloud Charlie Dai, VP and research director at Forrester, believes that JD Cloud will be key to the company’s growth and success going forward. “JD Cloud differentiates itself with industry knowledge of product development, planning, procurement, manufacturing, and logistics, aiming to form an intelligent digital supply chain to connect industrial firms and consumers,” he told Inside Retail. He went on to say that JD Cloud is effectively powering the company to expand its market footprint in e-commerce and build a digital ecosystem across industries such as internet, retail, financial services, manufacturing, energy, and transportation. Challenges abound When it comes to expansion overseas, Wang noted that it has been challenging for Chinese e-commerce firms to expand overseas, unless they are made for overseas buyers from the beginning, such as Shein and AliExpress, or work with local partners, such as Lazada. “JD’s first overseas expansion attempt JD.ID [the company’s offering in Indonesia] didn’t end so well due to intensive competition in the local market. It’s still early days for Ochama, but it may end up differently as JD has found local partners like Blokker,” she added. She believes JD.com should continue to differentiate its strengths in logistics and stick to its social and environmental commitments. Deep localisation will be the key to success in overseas expansion, in her opinion. “Their carbon neutrality pledge is somewhat similar to Amazon and Alibaba, but JD’s timeline is slightly longer,” she noted. Alibaba Group has committed to achieve carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, and has set a 50 per cent carbon intensity reduction target for Scope 3 by 2030 using 2020 levels as baseline. Amazon has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Lastly, Wang believes that JD.com’s vision to create a million jobs will benefit from its push into logistics and delivery, which is where she is seeing increased demand right now.