The annual 618 promotion war has sounded its horn. This festival, created by online e-commerce platforms, has gradually evolved from pure online to a promotional festival involving all commercial entities, both online and offline.

In the past, 618 was mostly a C-end "price reduction" promotion, with B-end business rarely heard. But in the past two days, it's clearly visible in the author's social feed that some regional B2B platforms transformed from distributors have also joined in, targeting small B-end store owners, leveraging the 618 promotional momentum to launch wave after wave of promotional campaigns.

This inevitably draws the author's attention to FMCG B2B platforms, and among them, the most notable is JD's FMCG B2B business, the New Channel division, under the 618 initiator JD.com. Besides the regular promotions for traditional mom-and-pop stores, offering benefits like a 10,000-yuan free order lottery and prizes such as phones, TVs, and refrigerators, they also selected quality platform merchants like Moutai, Wuliangye, Ferrero, Abbott, Adidas, and Pechoin to carry out "100-store joint promotions," providing stores with a more diverse product selection. This year's New Channel 618 also released an important signal: JD APP's C-end traffic will be introduced to mom-and-pop stores.

▲ JD's Zhangguibao "Crazy 618" kicks off early

According to New Channel, during this 618 promotion, JD APP and JD's New Channel's JD Convenience GO mini-program have achieved complete traffic integration, further strengthening New Channel's B2B2C full-chain service capability. Offline stores gain access to JD's massive traffic entrance, while consumers can enjoy a "buy now, get now, use now" shopping experience.

Why emphasize this? Because in the author's view, this is not just about improving store efficiency and consumer experience; in fact, it hides a deeper business logic.

Traffic is key, sell-through is fundamental

Before interpreting, let's look at a case: during 618, a consumer in a certain area bought a bottle of iced black tea. The traditional path was: the consumer orders on JD APP, and the product is delivered the next day after multiple logistics and courier transfers.

Now, through the "Survival of the Fittest" project, when consumers purchase on JD, the system uses intelligent algorithms to select the most cost-effective and efficient solution among various fulfillment methods such as JD Daojia, JD Daojia, brand stores, KA supermarkets, and community service stores.

According to JD, from current practical results, through the above optimization, operating costs have been reduced by an average of over 50%, and consumers receive goods in an average of just 2 hours, with the fastest in half an hour. Currently, JD Convenience GO has opened same-city express delivery within a 5-kilometer radius. For example, pilot stores in Jining, Shandong, under the "Survival of the Fittest" project, can complete order fulfillment within 1 hour.

In short, retail stores that have activated the JD Convenience GO mini-program can not only stock up through JD Zhangguibao but also rely on JD APP's traffic to sell goods. The store's traffic is not just traditional location-based natural traffic but also includes online JD traffic.

For JD New Channel, this increases both the platform's stickiness with stores and the stores' revenue. Looking at all B2B platforms, most can only provide one-stop stocking needs for stores but cannot guarantee increased per-store output and revenue. JD New Channel, however, can combine with JD's main site to both stock and sell.

This brings us to understand what Zheng Hongyan, VP of JD Group and head of JD Retail Group's New Channel division, expressed earlier: In 2019, New Channel is committed to building a more open and intelligent B2B2C platform.

Traffic comes from JD APP and the JD Convenience GO mini-program, helping stores broaden their sell-through channels. And sell-through has always been the biggest headache for every brand and channel.

Solving brand owners' sell-through pain points

If previously, JD New Channel's B2B2C platform was a goal or experiment, then this 618 marks the starting point of full-scale practical implementation. The complete B2B2C service chain is now smoother, and the platform's integration capabilities are increasingly refined.

What does this mean for brand owners? The full-chain integration connects traditional channels, achieving intensive distribution and sell-through of goods. Intensive distribution is the main line for every B2B platform, but achieving sell-through is no easy task.

Before 2013, brand owners had it good, relying on demographic dividends and market depth to grow sales. But as the market gradually saturated, after 2013, goods were distributed, but they didn't sell as fast as before. Market competition entered a battle for existing stock.

Behind the battle for existing stock, every brand owner is considering how to sell goods to consumers. So distribution is no longer the key difficulty; sell-through has become the core proposition.

It's understood that JD New Channel was the first in the B2B industry to implement "thousand stores, thousand faces." Based on JD's AI algorithm system, it accurately matches each retail terminal user's store tags and each SKU's product tags to a personalized APP interface, helping stores quickly find the most suitable and profitable products. Since implementing "thousand stores, thousand faces," the order conversion rate on JD Zhangguibao has increased by 10%.

Brand owners can use the "Walker Sell-through Platform" to effectively display and arrange products in stores and receive feedback immediately, then adjust based on the feedback.

The logic behind this is to adjust store displays based on consumer preferences, increasing the likelihood of sales after consumers visit the store. But this only reaches and influences consumer purchase behavior after they arrive, solving only half the problem; this sell-through method is still somewhat passive.

Not only must they reach consumers after they arrive, but they must also attract consumers to "come to the store." The JD Convenience GO mini-program not only provides consumers with physical goods but also a variety of life services, making Convenience GO an indispensable "tool" in consumers' lives, naturally attracting them to "come to the store."

With consumers comes traffic, and with traffic, JD New Channel can help brand owners do more "proactive" sell-through.

Selling good products and selling more is the ultimate goal

The diversification, personalization, and segmentation of consumer demand are undeniable facts. Facing these changes, the more daunting task for brand owners is to explore new consumption scenarios and gain insights into new consumer needs. If they can't understand the ever-changing consumer, they can't effectively innovate. Strictly speaking, past product launches were more like blind men touching an elephant.

When consumers change in real-time, scenarios become increasingly blurred, and the boundaries of goods become increasingly blurred, brand owners cannot rely on a single dimension to do insights, R&D, marketing, and sales on their own. Brand owners need to collaborate with external parties, with professional division of labor, not doing everything themselves.

JD New Channel's logic is to build retail infrastructure, helping brand owners connect the entire chain from 2B to 2C. On the 2B side, JD New Channel has connected over a million offline small stores, with joint warehouses covering 30 provinces and nearly 300 cities, achieving efficient supply chain matching. On the 2C side, through JD Convenience Stores and the JD Convenience GO mini-program, it achieves direct connection with consumers, not only providing quality products but also various convenient life services.

It's understood that during this 618, consumers can receive discount coupons through the JD Convenience GO mini-program and enjoy 618 promotional benefits at stores.

▲ JD Convenience Stores nationwide are decorated with 618 promotional materials

Whether connecting B-end or C-end, it's a massive project, and JD New Channel is leveraging the group's strength to build a BC-integrated supply chain and demand chain system. Ultimately, the goal is to help brand owners sell good products and sell more.

Connecting B-end only provides supply chain services to brand owners, optimizing existing stock; connecting C-end provides sell-through services and demand forecasting, finding incremental entrances and precise matching.

JD's "Boundaryless Retail" is not just about physical space and online-offline integration, but also about boundaryless cooperation between the platform and various brand owners. Operating and serving consumers is no longer just the brand owner's job or the platform's job, but breaking boundaries to jointly serve consumers deeply.

As an important carrier of "Boundaryless Retail," JD New Channel is striving to become a full-chain service platform for B2B2C, and is also building a comprehensive supply chain system from trunk lines to arteries, and from arteries to capillaries, working with brand owners to jointly expand increments and refine existing stock!

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