Richard Liu’s brainchild making a difference in e-commerce
by Mashum Mollah Ecommerce 24 September 2019
Richard Liu, the founder, and owner of JD.com was born on March 10, 1973, in Jiangsu province, China. He attended education at the the Renmin University of China after which he graduated with a sociology degree. He then proceeded to pursue his Master of Business Administration degree, which he earned from China Europe International Business School. After graduating, he proceeded to gain basic computer programming skills, especially given that the computing industry was booming at the time in China.
The Start of Richard Liu’s Business
In 1998, Liu opened a 4 square meter brick-and-mortar computer accessories store in Beijing, China. His new business was a major success in the area since he focused on providing customers with high-quality computer accessories. He served his customers with a great emphasis on creating a unique customer experience, something that guaranteed his dominance in the competitive market at the time. Liu learned the art of business through selling real products, at real prices, and to real people. Within a short duration of time, he was able to open 12 other stores around the city of Beijing, Shenyang, and Shanghai in China to serve his expanding market.
His business, however, experienced a major hit in 2003 when the SARS epidemic affected a large portion of China and the larger Asian region. The highly contagious disease proved a major setback to most businesses, especially the brick-and-mortar ones, as people feared to interact with others and governments encouraged people to stay indoors in the bid to contain the disease. His brick-and-mortar shops in Beijing and Shanghai proved a challenge to successfully manage at the time.
The Birth of JD.com
It was during this time that Richard Liu exploited additional alternatives for running his business amidst the epidemic. His brick-and-mortar business was rebranded as JD.com, providing an expanded range of products, and serving a wider market through online platforms. The rebranded business, JD, focused on e-commerce retail logistics, especially given the fact that the internet had already penetrated deep within Asia and China. Liu Quingdong extended his exemplary customer service initiatives and observance of good quality products to his new business.
Within a short span of time, JD had grown to provide smart logistics, serving the vast expanse of the entire Chinese population amounting to over a billion people. He invested in data-driven technologies and logistics systems targeting achieving same-day and next-day delivery to his customers. Armed with this technology, Liu Quingdong was able to expand his business beyond China’s borders, particularly focusing on western markets, including the US and Europe. The business’s operations involved fulfilling international and cross-continent customers’ orders. This required JD to establish logistics centers in designated locations in the markets of interest. This opened the doors for JD to rapidly expand beyond the confines of the Asian market.
One of the World’s Biggest e-Commerce Giants- JD.com
The company has been at the forefront of seeking partnerships with other e-commerce businesses. It has made several acquisitions and mergers and is eying making a deal with the US e-commerce giant, Walmart. Currently, JD is one of the largest e-commerce infrastructures in the global market and has been ranked as the top Asian e-commerce business in size, logistics, and profits. Running a network of over 500 warehouses which cover up to 12 million square meters of area, JD.com is still rapidly expanding.
The Vision of Liu Quingdong is changing the World
Its leader, Liu Quingdong, is focusing on changing the global retail landscape through visionary leadership and partnerships to create a superior brand with a reputation of great e-commerce logistics and emphasis on high-quality customer service. The company has been instrumental in helping Chinese products to penetrate other markets across the globe. With net revenue of over 67.2 billion dollars, JD has earned a great reputation, which it targets upholding in the otherwise competitive market.
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