Background
Richard was born in 1973, in Suqian, Jiangsu, China0
Richard was born in 1973, in Suqian, Jiangsu, China0
Born on March 10, 1973, in a rural village in the Jiangsu province town of Suquian, Liu has said that his family had enough to get by and not much more, like many families in rural China at the time. After getting through early schooling, Liu was accepted to the esteemed Renmin University in Beijing – something very rare for someone with his background. In a blog post Liu composed for JD.com in 2017, Liu remembers this time and how the entire village rallied around him to send him to university: “They donated a total of 76 eggs and 500 yuan to send me off for the opportunity that changed my life. I knew then that given the chance, I would help other students do the same.”
Liu graduated from Renmin University with a degree in sociology in 1996 and eventually attended the China Europe International Business School, where he earned his Executive MBA. While Liu was interested in sociology and politics throughout his extended studies, he also had a hobby for computer programming and enjoyed learning about the new technology that was set to dominate the future. Liu has said that most of his classmates wanted to go into government or study abroad, while he had no desire to be a bureaucrat and no money to travel overseas. Instead, he took a leap of faith and set up a small storefront in Beijing.
In 1998, Liu set up shop in Zhongguancun, a tech hub in northwest Beijing. The 4-square-meter brick-and-mortar store, Jingdong, focused on sales of computer accessories and magneto-optical equipment for businesses in the city. Liu quickly earned a reputation in Zhongguancun for having quality products and a unique pricing model; items sold in the store were priced accurately and fairly with no room for bartering, a common practice than in Beijing. This unique sales approach, combined with the rare zero-tolerance for counterfeit items, was a new concept for the area, and Liu’s concept quickly spread to a 12-store chain throughout Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenyang.
In 2003, the SARS virus threatened businesses across the country as the Chinese population stayed indoors to avoid spreading illness. In an effort to keep his store afloat, Liu made a life-changing decision to put his merchandise online. Rebranding the online store as “JD.com,” Liu saw a wave of initial orders and quickly realized that the new platform for retail could potentially be easier for customers and profitable for his concept. In the early days of JD’s online success, Liu hand-delivered packages throughout Beijing and spent his time getting packages through various Chinese post offices to maintain the customer service aspect of his initial concept. As JD grew, customers in China started recognizing the company for the same tenets that Liu set from the beginning; the JD.com brand guaranteed quality. JD.com set a strict zero-tolerance approach to counterfeits to ensure that only the highest quality, genuine products reached its customers. The business model of direct sales and full control of the entire supply chain, combined with a marketplace that limited the number of sellers, ensured that JD maintained strict quality oversight. This, along with a variety of monitoring methods that identified suspicious products and sellers, guaranteed Liu’s dedication to the company values.
Early success allowed Liu to invest in his brand, and his decision to keep JD’s logistics networks in-house may have been the secret to his success. By 2007, Liu was building JD’s logistics and ensuring delivery of its products, creating the model for the “last mile” delivery method now used by Amazon and other retailers around the world, keeping quality assurance over the products and delivery and, in turn, providing a guarantee of quality to customers.
At this time in China, no formal logistics networks existed for delivery throughout the country covering some 3.7 million square miles with a population of over a billion people. Liu saw this opportunity and began expanding the JD empire to cover more ground than ever, building warehouses throughout the country and ensuring same- or next-day delivery in China – a level of speed and service still unmatched globally. By the end of 2014, JD had launched 3,210 delivery and pickup stations in 1,862 Chinese counties, almost two-thirds of all counties in the country. Today, JD.com boasts one of the largest fulfillment infrastructures of any e-commerce company in the world. Currently, JD operates 20 “Asia No. 1” logistics parks, counted among the largest and most automated smart fulfillment centers around the world, leveraging a network of over 550 warehouses covering a cumulative 12 million square meters.
In 2010, JD launched its online marketplace platform, allowing the company to vastly expand the range of product choices for consumers. By 2013, JD recorded $20.7 billion in total sales and established a financial group under the JD umbrella. A year later, JD went public on the New York NASDAQ stock exchange, which led it to become China’s first major e-commerce company in history. The company was included on the Forbe’s Fortune 500 list the next year.
JD believes that technology innovation is the driver of smart logistics and focuses on developing the most efficient logistics systems possible, leveraging big data resources, information systems, and experience in the Chinese market. In addition to building the world’s first fully automated warehouse, Liu’s emphasis on “smart logistics” focuses on innovating the next generation of technology with automated fulfillment capabilities including drones, autonomous delivery vehicles, and automated warehouse technologies. JD’s Smart Supply Chain manages the flow of millions of SKUs through its fulfillment network backed by cutting-edge big data, blockchain, IoT, natural language processing, image and vision recognition, machine learning, and deep learning technologies. The power of AI flows through JD’s supply chain, including newly-released customer-used search and personalization options. JD is also leading the global industry in harnessing AV/AR technology to give customers the interactive experience they get in-store from the safety and comfort of an online marketplace.
● In March 2014, JD formed a strategic partnership with Tencent, giving JD exclusive access to Tencent’s WeChat and Mobile QQ platforms. Tencent purchased a 15 percent stake in JD for $214.7 million in cash. Another 5 percent was added after the company completed its initial public offering. As part of the cooperation agreement, JD.com acquired Tencent’s e-commerce businesses and a minority stake in Yixun.
● In June 2016, JD.com and Walmart announced a strategic alliance to connect in an effort to better serve Chinese customers. As part of the agreement, JD took control of the Yihaodian marketplace that was run by Walmart, while Walmart acquired a 5 percent stake in JD.com. The companies agreed to a number of different areas of cooperation covering the online and O2O areas of businesses in China.
o “We are very happy to announce this landmark agreement between two leading retailers, which we are confident will help bring e-commerce in China to the next level and benefit millions of consumers,” said Liu. “Walmart is synonymous with trusted-quality efficient retailing, and we believe that this tie up will increase both product selection and overall user experience. We look forward to further developing Yihaodian, which has tremendous strength in important regions of eastern and southern China. Yihaodian will continue offering the outstanding user experience its customers have come to expect, which we will further augment by leveraging our unparalleled logistics capabilities and breadth of product categories.
We are also delighted to welcome the Sam’s Club flagship store onto the JD.com platform. Sam’s Club’s unique, high-end product selection meets the demand from China’s increasing affluent consumers for high-quality, imported products and has already proven popular in the Chinese cities where it has stores. JD.com’s reputation for authentic products and superior customer experience make it an outstanding home for these iconic businesses to reach hundreds of millions more customers in China.”
● In 2018, Google announced a $550 million investment in JD.com – a move that both parties called a “strategic partnership.”
o “Google and JD plan to collaborate on a range of strategic initiatives, including joint development of retail solutions in a range of regions around the world, including Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe. By applying JD’s supply chain and logistics expertise and Google’s technology strengths, the two companies aim to explore the creation of next-generation retail infrastructure solutions, with the goal of offering helpful, personalized, and frictionless shopping experiences.”
● For a complete list of JD preferred brands and strategic partners, visit: https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-com-partners/
Liu is married and has two children, b. 2006 and 2016.
