Publications
Publications
- April 2018 (Revised November 2019)
- HBS Case Collection
JD: Envisioning the Future of Retail (A)
By: Feng Zhu and Shirley Sun
Abstract
JD, China’s second largest e-commerce company by gross merchandise volume (GMV) after Alibaba, had expanded rapidly from 2012 to 2016. When the company celebrated its 13th birthday in 2017, Richard Liu, its founder, deliberated on the company’s growth strategies. The landscape of China’s e-commerce market had changed drastically in recent years. The growth in the e-commerce market had declined significantly. Furthermore, the advancement of AI and big data was turning shopping into a boundaryless experience—consumers could purchase products tailored to their preferences anywhere and anytime. Finally, JD’s rival, Alibaba, had made rapid moves to improve its logistics capabilities and expanded aggressively in the offline market. Liu must decide how JD should compete and how to expand the company’s offline strategy.
Keywords
Citation
Zhu, Feng, and Shirley Sun. "JD: Envisioning the Future of Retail (A)." Harvard Business School Case 618-051, April 2018. (Revised November 2019.)