Well-Known E-Commerce Giant Expands into Rural Shijiazhuang, Breaking Through the Last Mile of Delivery
"Expanding Territory"
The rural market is becoming another major battleground for e-commerce. With the nationwide first "JD Help Service Store" opening in Zhaoxian County, this competitive trend is expected to accelerate. Rural consumers, in turn, will enjoy a higher-quality shopping experience.
Channel Expansion Accelerates
On November 20, e-commerce giant JD.com opened China's first "JD Help Service Store" in Zhaoxian County. From then on, consumers in rural areas of Shijiazhuang will be the first to experience JD.com's "last mile" service.
The "JD Help Service Store" has been open for a week now. How is business going? On the morning of November 27, the reporter visited the store in Zhaoxian County town. From dozens of meters away, the large "JD Help Service Store" logo on the red billboard was clearly visible. Products on display lined both sides of the store, mainly popular large home appliances such as air conditioners, washing machines, and refrigerators, while several laptops were placed in the center.
Store manager Jin Xinlong introduced that the displayed goods are not for direct sale; the main purpose is to let consumers experience on-site whether the products are "good quality at a good price." "After consumers come to the store to inspect the actual product, staff place orders on their behalf, and the prices are all contracted direct-supply prices."
When asked why Zhaoxian County was chosen as the location, the JD.com warehousing manager said, "The internet infrastructure here is solid, and people are enthusiastic about online shopping." He stated that the opening of the "JD Help Service Store" will allow more rural consumers in Shijiazhuang to enjoy a quality shopping experience with "fast delivery and installation." In the next 3 years, "JD Help Service Stores" will also be rolled out across districts and counties nationwide, reaching over a thousand, striving to eliminate price discrimination against rural areas for home appliances and achieve uniform pricing nationwide.
Emphasis on After-Sales Service
Although the store has not been open long, consumers occasionally stop by to look around and shop. Jin Xinlong said that the vast majority of local residents currently approve of this model, with the service store selling an average of more than 40 home appliances per day, and sales revenue is quite considerable.
What benefits can the "JD Help Service Store" bring to consumers? A villager provided the answer. After placing an order for a refrigerator he had "long wanted," he said that rural residents dare not shop online, mainly out of fear of buying counterfeit or inferior products, and that defending their rights is also difficult. "Whether something is good or not, you can touch it and see it in the store. After experiencing it on-site, you feel more at ease."
In fact, the "JD Help Service Store" focuses more on logistics delivery and after-sales service quality. Jin Xinlong said that the delivery, installation, and repair of home appliances are what consumers care about most. The "JD Help Service Store" does not make money through home appliance sales, but rather focuses on delivery and after-sales service, with helping consumers solve related problems as its "main task."
Competition: "Each Shows Their Own Strengths"
In addition to JD.com's accelerated expansion in Shijiazhuang, the local Guoda 365 Company also launched e-commerce operations in rural areas long ago. In October of this year, Guoda 365 Company established a rural e-commerce demonstration base in Zhengding County, piloting the promotion of 100 "Hao Xiangqin 365" e-commerce service platforms.
The reporter observed that these commercial giants' expansion into the rural market can be described as "each showing their own strengths," as they compete on differentiation based on their respective advantages.
JD.com's rural e-commerce product categories are mainly large home appliances. Because consumption needs in rural areas differ greatly from those in cities, rural consumers place more emphasis on "practicality," and there is a lack of affordable, high-quality home appliance brands. The "JD Help Service Store" is targeting exactly this market opportunity.
The "Hao Xiangqin 365" service platform of Guoda 365 Company, meanwhile, offers a richer range of functions. Liang Shaokun from the company's management department introduced that this type of convenience store not only provides multiple categories of fast-moving consumer goods, enables small-amount withdrawals and savings card applications, but also offers social services such as rural reading rooms and labor and employment referrals. "We absorb young college graduates into employment at the service platform to the greatest extent, solving the employment difficulties of college graduates, and also helping rural residents experience a different kind of consumption."