With the National Two Sessions of 2024 just around the corner, Cao Peng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chairman of the Technical Committee of JD.com, has submitted multiple proposals covering hot topics such as "Promoting Employment in Private Enterprises," "Driving Deep Integration of Domestic R&D Technology and Industrial Development," "Expanding New Consumption Scenarios," and "Taking Multiple Measures to Boost Confidence and Expand Consumption."
Consumption is a crucial component of the national economy. The Central Economic Work Conference has emphasized the priority of revitalizing and expanding consumption. As China's economy transitions to a stage of high-quality development, further expanding the scale and optimizing the structure of consumption is crucial for stabilizing the economy and achieving high-quality growth. Cao Peng suggests focusing on "expanding consumption" and increasing support, including boosting special support for consumer vouchers, appliance trade-ins, and promoting green appliance consumption.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, China's appliance market has transitioned from a period of simple "incremental growth" to an era where both incremental and stock growth are emphasized. By 2023, the installed base of major appliance categories such as refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners exceeded 3 billion units. Some appliances have been in use for over a decade or even 20 years, indicating significant potential for upgrades and replacements. During the State Council's executive meeting on March 1st, the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-in of Used Consumer Goods" was reviewed and approved. The meeting pointed out that promoting a new round of large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of used consumer goods is a significant decision made by the Party Central Committee in view of the overall situation of China's high-quality development.
Under the guidance of relevant national policies, the enthusiasm for replacing household appliances is expected to increase, bringing new market opportunities to the entire appliance industry and placing higher demands on the service capabilities of appliance sales channels. As early as 2016, JD.com launched trade-in services for appliance categories, serving as a bridge and link between brand manufacturers and consumers. Leveraging its supply chain advantages, JD.com has collaborated with upstream and downstream partners to build a recycling network, improving the entire industry chain loop from upfront old product valuation and new product subsidies to midstream old product collection and delivery of new products, and finally to backend old product disposal. As of now, JD.com's trade-in service covers over 200 sub-categories and reaches over 95% of cities/towns across the country.
The cost of upgrading has always been a key factor hindering consumers from replacing household appliances. JD.com has taken multiple measures to optimize the trade-in experience comprehensively, reduce the cost of upgrading, and increase the willingness to upgrade. Among them, JD.com collaborates with appliance brands to provide subsidies for consumers through the "trade-in for subsidies" approach, increasing the price of old machine recycling and reducing the cost of new machines. Additionally, by offering a fixed-price model for old machine collection without door-to-door fees, dismantling fees, or cleaning and transportation fees, and with no restrictions on the category, brand, age, or condition of the old machine, JD.com reduces consumers' concerns about old machine recycling. Furthermore, JD.com has introduced integrated delivery and installation services for appliance categories such as refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines, as well as home categories such as toilets and electronic locks, streamlining the delivery and installation process and saving consumers time when upgrading. Consumers can search for "trade-in" on JD.com and not only choose products such as appliances, mobile phones, and computers but also select furniture, home furnishings, and building materials such as mattresses, sofas, cookware, smart toilets, clothes drying racks, and bath heaters for trade-in, with free delivery of new products and collection of old ones all in one step.
To address the challenges and frustrations consumers face when upgrading household appliances, JD.com has been highly praised for its "trade-in for new" service. According to JD.com's data, in 2023 alone, they recycled over 15 million household appliances through this program. In 2024, igniting consumer enthusiasm and boosting economic vitality has become a hot topic. JD.com is committed to continuously improving and optimizing its trade-in service, providing strong support for a new wave of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins.
