JD.com joins video platform Kuaishou in live streaming sales deal in time for China’s midyear shopping festival

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com will partner with short video platform Kuaishou to boost its presence in live streaming as a growing number of traditional merchants move sales online following the countrywide lockdowns imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

The partnership comes ahead of China’s annual midyear 618 shopping festival and could give Beijing-based JD.com and Kuaishou a significant boost in sales from live-streaming to help them compete with e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba, which saw gross merchandise volume (GMV) generated from live-streaming soar 100 per cent year on year in the first quarter.

“The retail industry is facing challenges and opportunities from the increasingly diverse consumer demands and consumption scenarios,” Xu Lei, chief executive of JD Retail, said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that JD Retail was “the leading retail supply chain in China”.

“Through the partnership, the two parties will provide consumers with a high-quality shopping experience,” he said.

Kuaishou, backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent, is a short video social platform that competes with Bytedance’s Douyin. Although JD.com has its own live streaming platform, Kuaishou’s 300 million daily active users are expected to give the e-commerce specialist a strong boost.

“This cooperation … is also in line with the goal of Kuaishou’s e-commerce business to expand [into the market for] branded and high-quality products,” Kuaishou said in a statement on Wednesday.