JD lowers 618 campaign prices amid market pressure · TechNode

Chinese online retailer JD said it will run a one-day 2 yuan ($0.28) campaign on millions of items with free shipping at this year’s 618 event, which begins on Friday, as cheapness remains a major theme in the country’s e-commerce markets and priorities take care of consumers.

Why is it important: The market pressures facing JD have now intensified as Pinduoduo, which operates on low prices and user-friendly after-sales service, continues to eat away at what was once China’s second-largest e-commerce company by market capitalization.

• Rarely seen in public, the company’s founder, Richard Liu, recently returned to the headlines for his sloppy comments about the company. As JD rushes to its top 618 event, Liu’s comments about the company’s tendency to fire underperforming employees who don’t work hard have raised concerns about the company’s ability to sustain growth.

Details: On Tuesday, the company held a press conference for the 618 mid-year shopping festival, where JD promoted providing customers with “extreme savings and a cheaper shopping experience.”

• While JD and Taobao try to provide more cash grants to buyers, Pinduoduo more easily leverages its low-price advantage by getting sellers to lower prices, and those who do so get higher rankings in search results during the shopping festival. The price war that has permeated the industry over the past two years appears to be a bottomless pit for e-commerce participants.
• During the press event, JD invited several sales and sourcing employees, the group responsible for finding products that meet users’ interests, to bargain at minimal cost with suppliers and ultimately promote the products to buyers to make their work available to the public. JD has often put its sales and procurement staff on public display after a live broadcast by some of them on the recent Singles’ Day proved an initial success for the company, which had previously rarely participated in live trading.
• JD said in its latest official post on WeChat that the rich goods, affordable prices and careful service of the 618 festival are the result of the “tireless efforts” of this group of employees, just a day after the company announced the gradual annual fixed salary for procurement staff to a 20-month salary .

Context: sandy what happened in previous years when JD self-service devices stored core ingredients in their ecosystem.

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