JD launches a delivery app to tap into O2O market

JD Inc, China's largest online direct sales company, officially launched an app on Monday to offer delivery services for nearby businesses, a move to tap into the country's rapidly growing online-to-offline business.

The app, named Paidaojia, allows users to make online orders from nearby merchants, whether convenience stores or restaurants, and enjoy door-to-door delivery service from JD. As long as users make orders from stores within a radius of 3 kilometers, JD guarantees to deliver within 2 hours.

Liu Qiangdong, chief executive officer of JD, said the app is a strategic online-to-offline product for his Beijing-based e-commerce firm. With the strong logistics and delivery system of JD, Paidaojia aims to build itself into a local life and service platform, said Liu in a statement on Monday.

JD has already carried out a small-scale test operation of the app in Beijing and Shanghai. The app is expected to cover residential communities within the fourth ring road of Beijing by the end of March and gradually expand to populous cities, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of this year.