JD lays out big Singles Day plans

Chinese e-commerce giant JD said it will launch 100 million new products and C2M (customer-to-manufacturer) commodities within the next three years, and offer discounts and coupons worth more than 100 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) during this year's Singles Day shopping gala.

JD plans to access more than 500 million consumers in lower-tier cities, sell about 1.2 billion products at a lower price and 200 million C2M products during this year's shopping bonanza on Nov 11.

Moreover, the online retailer will help promote the digitalization of 15,000 offline stores, and aims to shorten delivery time in towns and counties.

E-commerce is a major driver of China's retail economy, accounting for almost one-fifth of the country's total retail sales in 2018 according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

JD continued to break records in online sales during this year's June 18 shopping festival from June 1 to 18, the second-largest after Singles Day.

It reported sales for the 18-day period hit a staggering 201.5 billion yuan, compared with 159.2 billion yuan in 2018, while Alibaba Group reached a new high with 213.5 billion yuan in sales from last year's Singles Day.