JD and Kuaishou Likely to Team up for 618

May 27, 2020, 11:21am2020/05/27 11:24:13 Bonnie Zhang

The 618 shopping festival is right around the corner, e-commerce giants such as JD.com and Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />’s Taobao and Tmall are ready to boost online sales even further, likely with the help of live streaming platforms. It’s reported that JD has formed a strategic partnership with Kuaishou on e-commerce livestreaming.

With JD and Kuaishou teaming up, viewers on Kuaishou will no longer need to be redirected to a different page to purchase JD products during live shows.

Kuaishou and Taobao have been cooperating for years, now adding JD right before a major shopping event seems like an interesting move for Kuaishou. Some believe Kuaishou’s alliance with JD can help it get less dependent on Taobao’s supply chain.

According to 36Kr<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />, someone close to JD said Kuaishou needs a reliable supply chain to develop its e-commerce business while JD wants to attract more customers and expand its influence. With male users accounting for over 60% of total users on Kuaishou, there is a large demand for small home appliances. This is where JD and its 3C product supply chain can come in.

Kuaishou has tapped in e-commerce several times in recent years. Besides JD and Taobao, it had a brief partnership with Pinduoduo<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> during the 618 event in 2019. Kuaishou influencers teamed up with Pinduoduo<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> retailers to livestream on the Pinduoduo<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> app. However, due to the overlap of users of the two apps, Kuaishou was concerned that users that landed on Pinduoduo<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> would never come back.

It seems Kuaishou has learned a few lessons from its partnership experience with Taobao and Pinduouo. This time around, the fact that viewers don’t need to go to a JD page to make a purchase definitely puts Kuaishou at ease about losing users.

JD Retail CEO Xu Lei has made it clear that seizing emerging markets is one of the three major goals this year. Q1 financial report shows that it has attracted 25 million new active users, with more than 60% coming from 3-6 tier cities.

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