In 2015, the retail giant Walmart acquired its own online marketplace in China. In June, the company announced it was going to partner with JD.com, China’s 2nd largest e-commerce company.
Walmart Changed Its Plans
After selling its online marketplace Yihaodian to JD.com, Walmart is going keep the Yihaodian direct sales business and become a retailer inside Yihaodian. The company will also bring its Sam’s Club membership service to JD.com. Walmart’s physical stores will be listed on O2O JV Dada, JD.com’s delivery platform.
Walmart’s stake in JD was going to make up 5%. This accounts for nearly 25% of e-commerce sales in China as compared to about 55% for Alibaba.
As Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart has mentioned, they are excited about the deal and the opportunities created for customers in China and for their company. He further added both companies have the same values in bettering the lives of customers. Also, JD.com will help Walmart offer compelling new experiences to reach more customers.
Partnership Between Walmart and JD.com
JD.com is behind Alibaba by gross merchandise volume. China’s 2nd largest e-commerce player is backed by Tencent. The latter is China’s main social networking company that owns the popular messaging platform WeChat.
Chinese consumers don’t too much trust domestic retailers to deliver quality products. Being a trusted brand across the globe, Walmart is going to address that need for JD.com. Merchants interested in opening a reliable and low-cost e-commerce merchant account should consider turning to emerchantbroker.com. EMB is voted the #1 high risk payment processor in the US and boasts an A+ rating with the BBB.
According to the financial documents recently disclosed by Walmart, the company has almost doubled its stake in JC.com. Walmart’s 5% stake in JD made up almost $1.5 billion. Today, it counts for 9% in JD. McMillon notes Walmart needs to succeed in China. He expects 25% of global retail growth will come from China in the upcoming 5 years.
According to Jo Warner, Walmart spokesperson, the increased investment in JD has been part of their plan, as they continue to be a passive investor. They believe this strategic alliance will help them grow e-commerce much faster in China.