JD suddenly launched founder Liu Qiangdong's AI digital persona for live streaming sales, with the first batch of products focusing on household appliances. This move reflects JD's anxiety and pressure as the leader in the retail industry, transitioning from defense to offense. Essentially, it's a proactive measure to avoid being overshadowed by competitors, forcing them to actively engage in the battle for market share and partnerships.
Wen Jian || Writing
Founder Liu Qiangdong's AI digital persona makes an appearance in JD's live streaming sessions, promoting household appliances and other categories.
This development isn't viewed lightly within the household appliance sector. Firstly, live streaming sales aim to capture multiple channels aggressively. Secondly, Liu Qiangdong brings his own traffic and sparks industry-wide discussions with his AI persona. Thirdly, this isn't merely a marketing stunt but a crucial channel for JD's household appliance sales going forward; Liu Qiangdong's live streaming has become an IP asset.
For all brands and retailers in the household appliance industry, it's imperative to recognize JD's proactive and sustained market offensive from the household appliance sector, signaling the beginning of a fierce competition.
Liu Qiangdong's live streaming sales represent a new move by JD's internal dynamics
It's crucial to understand that JD isn't merely hyping up founder-led live streaming sales to boost his popularity.
Instead, they leverage founder Liu Qiangdong's social influence and industry relevance to bolster JD's live streaming sales, accelerating the retail distribution speed of key categories like household appliances. This further ignites the team's competitiveness and determination in the market, preventing them from losing direction and morale amidst the "boiling frog" effect.
The industrial logic behind this is straightforward. In the household appliance industry alone, JD, as the leading retail player, swiftly seized the top position after defeating Suning and witnessing Gome's retail downfall, facing Alibaba's Tmall as a formidable opponent shifting its focus away from household appliance retail.
Looking back, the glory days of Suning and Gome faded within just over a decade. For JD, the leading force in new retail, maintaining its leading position and competitive edge in the industry has been a significant challenge since 2023.
The current landscape of JD's household appliance distribution may seem calm but is actually tumultuous.
On one hand, the fragmentation of household appliance retail channels is unstoppable. JD, as a retailer, despite its omnichannel presence, is seen as a common enemy by the entire industry, facing competition from various rivals such as live streaming sales, community-driven sales, and brand flagship stores.
On the other hand, the household appliance retail market has been undergoing a cycle of "new vs. old" over the past two years. With a shrinking incremental market space and the need for time to absorb existing market capacity, amid the backdrop of oversupply, manufacturers can only resort to cutthroat competition.
Thus, whether it's JD Household Appliances, regional leaders like Chongqing Business Group and Wuhan Industry & Trade, or new retail platforms like Pinduoduo and Douyin e-commerce, as well as those engaged in live streaming e-commerce, community e-commerce, flagship stores, etc., all household appliance retailers face the same pressure and challenges.
Firstly, the mature household appliance industry is experiencing multiple pressures such as slowed development, market reshuffling, and fierce competition among manufacturers, posing significant growth and development challenges to major players. Secondly, in a fully open market competition, facing an increasingly saturated market and competitive landscape, it's challenging for any enterprise or merchant to stand out without actively participating or even initiating new rounds of competition.
Ultimately, JD Household Appliances, after becoming the industry's retail leader, has been forced to embark on a proactive offensive and seize market share.
With online and offline tactics in tandem, JD Household Appliances will fight fiercely this year
If in 2023, JD Household Appliances aimed its first market retaliation against Pinduoduo on online platforms, capitalizing on their low-price advantage; this year, just before the mid-year 618 shopping festival, JD struck back against live streaming e-commerce platforms like Douyin by leveraging founder Liu Qiangdong's live streaming sales, marking a shift from defense to offense.
Facing industry changes and channel competition, the household appliance sector observes that JD Household Appliances has been breaking new ground over the past two years, both to pressure its own team and to respond to the volatile market and competition.
Firstly, accelerating the integration of household appliances with home furnishings, internally promoting the integration of categories like household appliances and furnishings through scenario-based marketing, and accelerating the establishment of integrated online and offline stores to counter the downward trend in single-product demand and thinning profit margins.
Secondly, intensifying active competition across different online and offline channels. While JD Household Appliances already holds a leading position in the industry, with founder Liu Qiangdong's return, they've shifted from a defensive position as leaders to an offensive one as challengers. From daringly offering low prices and ramping up wholesale business to increasing customizations with manufacturers, they've initiated active competition within household appliance retail and wholesale.
Before the 618 shopping festival this year, JD introduced founder Liu Qiangdong's AI digital persona for live streaming sales, focusing on household appliances in the first round of sales. This move wasn't surprising to the household appliance industry; it's seen as an extension and divergence of JD Household Appliances' market strategy.
Following last year's aggressive moves on JD's platform to compete with Pinduoduo by offering low prices and pushing offline franchisees to transform by opening up ultra-low-priced goods, and increasing the procurement capability to force upstream household appliance brands into customizations and special deals, this year, JD's further expansion of online sales capacity through live streaming sales is seen as a response to the encroachment by live streaming e-commerce and community e-commerce.
This will undoubtedly bring new competition and reshuffling to the household appliance industry, household appliance companies, and retailers in the market in 2024. The household appliance sector believes that JD Household Appliances' competition in the frontline market will only intensify rather than decrease, indicating an inevitable fierce battle. Specifically: Firstly, JD's intensified focus on live streaming sales channels in the household appliances sector will compel all appliance brands to heavily invest in product and promotional resources to compete with other live-streaming platforms, exacerbating the internal competition in live-streaming sales.
Secondly, JD will further enhance the competitiveness of its special offer mechanisms on its online store to fend off attacks from competitors like Pinduoduo, and even cope with the chaotic battles on platforms such as JD and Jingxi.
Thirdly, JD will continue to increase its reverse customization efforts with brand appliance companies to secure more low-cost goods and promotional resources, gradually encroaching upon the commercial space and market resources of Alibaba's Tmall and Suning.
For appliance companies and sellers, the most significant internal pressure and challenge in the market competition this year undoubtedly stem from JD's successive waves of "omnichannel price warfare."
Copyright Notice: Original article from the household appliances sector, strictly prohibited from reprinting without authorization.
Disclaimer: Personal original content, for reference only.
