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before the "double 11", jd.com and alibaba chose to invest heavily in the hong kong market first.

on september 30, jd.com announced that it would further expand its presence in the hong kong market, with an initial investment of rmb 1.5 billion, with no cap in the long term. the investment will mainly be used for commodity price subsidies, logistics subsidies and service optimization.

"daily economic news" reporter learned that jd.com has also launched self-operated free door-to-door shipping service for users in hong kong with orders over 299 yuan (free shipping of 10kg), covering all self-operated products such as 3c, home appliances and furniture, clothing and beauty, etc., in line with with free shipping, you can enjoy free door-to-door delivery, with the fastest delivery service being the next day.

not long after the news of “tearing down the wall” was released, old rival alibaba was also making frequent plans in the hong kong market. just a few days ago, alibaba announced that taobao would invest 1 billion yuan to turn hong kong into a free shipping area. in august this year, taobao launched a pilot program of free shipping on clothing in hong kong.

jd.com and alibaba have continued to invest heavily in hong kong business in recent years. the reason is simple: compared with the mainland e-commerce market, which has slowed down, the growth rate of the hong kong e-commerce market is at a high level. data from the census and statistics department of the hong kong sar government show that in 2022, e-commerce sales accounted for nearly 10% of the total sales of hong kong’s retail industry, a year-on-year increase of 21%.

the attractive growth is naturally irresistible. more importantly, for leading e-commerce platforms, whether e-commerce or logistics, if they want to do good international business in the future, the hong kong market is the "window" that must be opened.

e-commerce "enters the port", express logistics takes the lead

jd.com’s current investment of 1.5 billion yuan in the hong kong market is mainly used for commodity price subsidies, logistics subsidies and service optimization. judging from jd.com’s past layout in the hong kong market, the focus may still be on the establishment of its own express delivery logistics system in hong kong. , as well as the upgrade of corresponding supporting services.

the reporter noticed that the free shipping service launched by jd.com in hong kong does not limit the time period and category. in addition, jd.com has also launched a "free shipping for one piece" section in hong kong, including small home appliances, fmcg daily necessities and other categories of products, as well as some products of jd.com's own brand "made in jingdong", all of which support free shipping for one piece.

this year on "618", jd logistics launched its first supply chain industry base in hong kong. on the basis of the original services, the supply chain industry base can allow self-operated warehouses in hong kong to realize bc warehouses, and further meet the warehousing needs of different customers and products through storage divisions such as normal temperature warehouses and constant temperature warehouses. as of now, the number of warehousing orders at the jd logistics supply chain hong kong industrial base has increased by more than 10 times year-on-year.

before double 11 last year, jd express also officially announced that it would upgrade its express delivery business in hong kong and macao to achieve delivery in as fast as four hours, door-to-door delivery and night delivery. "daily economic news" reporters learned from the scene at the time that it had opened multiple express operation centers in kowloon, hong kong island and other hong kong and macao regions, focusing on self-operation in all aspects.

in terms of business model, it is not limited to b2c/b2b integrated warehousing and distribution services. after the upgrade, it can provide hong kong and macao users with intra-city express delivery, mutual shipping between hong kong and macao, and mutual shipping and door-to-door delivery services from hong kong and macao to the mainland. in terms of timeliness, it replicates the standards of mainland jd express.

the growth brought about by these upgrades on the logistics side is also real. jd.com’s consumption data shows that during jd.com’s “618” period this year, jd.com’s sales in hong kong and macau increased by 300% year-on-year.

on september 26, taobao announced that it would invest 1 billion yuan to support the "free shipping to hong kong" campaign. consumers who spend 99 yuan or more on taobao can enjoy free shipping. taobao and tmall are responsible for attracting investment for this project, while alibaba international is responsible for user operations and logistics in hong kong. in august this year, taobao launched a pilot program for free shipping on clothing in hong kong. this free shipping campaign has expanded from clothing categories to all categories, covering more than 1 billion products including 3c digital, home storage, makeup and skin care, etc.

the reporter learned from alibaba that currently 92% of the products on taobao support official direct shipping to hong kong, and the delivery time has been shortened to 3-4 days. in addition, to facilitate consumers to pick up goods, the number of official taobao self-pickup points and self-pickup lockers in hong kong will be increased to 800.

from an industry perspective, express delivery is a standard feature of e-commerce. the shortage of terminal delivery manpower and high labor and land costs have been constraining the development of hong kong's express delivery market, making it even more difficult to match the high growth rate of today's e-commerce. jd.com and alibaba chose to spend a lot of time, energy and cost to build the logistics end, which also revealed the two parties' plans to develop the deep hong kong market.

in hong kong, do "projection" of overseas business

the slowdown in internet growth has become an indisputable fact. traffic dividends have disappeared, user growth has peaked, and business growth has subsequently fallen into trouble. in addition, temu's continued "wild surge" in multiple markets around the world has made it increasingly urgent for companies to accelerate their overseas business deployment and seize more overseas markets.

the "hong kong experience" is very important, and the more successful case may be meituan's keeta. meituan launched its new takeaway brand keeta in hong kong in may last year. the reporter learned from meituan that keeta only spent nearly half a year gradually expanding its service scope, and finally achieved delivery service coverage throughout hong kong.

according to data from market research organization measurable ai, meituan’s hong kong business keeta’s single-volume market share has reached 44%, making it the largest food delivery platform in hong kong. also benefiting from its success in the hong kong market, meituan began to extend its food delivery business to the middle east and other regions.

therefore, expanding and deepening hong kong business has become the first choice for most companies with clear overseas business strategies. the upgrade of taobao's business in hong kong is also closely related to taotian's overall overseas growth.

"daily economic news" reporters previously learned from taotian that taobao's overseas strategy will be comprehensively upgraded to the "taobao tmall overseas growth plan", that is, it was originally only open to "apparel" merchants, and now it is expanded to include opportunities for merchants in all industries. the project is attracted by taobao and tmall, and alibaba international is responsible for overseas logistics and user operations. the platform provides overseas postage subsidies and free shipping directly to overseas consumers.

previously, in mid-july, taobao launched the "global free shipping plan for large apparels" as a pilot in the apparel industry. taobao also announced that it will invest billions of yuan to help merchants develop overseas markets.

the plan to expand the business scale in hong kong, actively expand into emerging markets such as southeast asia, and ultimately implement a longer-term globalization strategy is already a relatively mature "going overseas" model for internet and new consumer companies. however, the global market is still full of countless unknowns and variables. continuing to solidify the hong kong market may be one of the few options at the moment.

(cover picture source: photo by mijing reporter kong zesi)

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