US retail giant Walmart launches flagship online store on JD.com
Company has 433 total retail sites on the mainland and has handpicked some 1,700 of the most-purchased items, to offer on its new flagship online store
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is looking to provide same- and next-day deliveries to more than 600 million mainland Chinese consumers, with the opening of its own flagship online store on JD.com on Thursday.
That launch comes nearly a year after Walmart and JD.com, China’s biggest online retail service provider by revenue, formed a strategic alliance and more than a month since Walmart’s British supermarket chain Asda opened a store on the same platform.
“Walmart is committed to providing the most trusted retail experience to consumers in China,” Ben Hassing, the senior vice-president of e-commerce at Walmart China, said in a joint announcement on Thursday.
The New York-listed company, which has 433 total bricks-and-mortar retail sites on the mainland as of October last year, said it examined the shopping habits of Chinese customers and then handpicked more than 1,700 of the most-purchased items to offer on Walmart’s flagship online store.
It assured mainland customers they would be buying only authentic, quality goods – with categories including food, consumables, general merchandise, toys and apparel – since all items are sourced through the same supply chain system that Walmart China’s network of stores use.
