This article
was originally
published by Seeking
Alpha on June 10, 2014
By Sarfaraz
A. Khan. Research Asst. Ali Ilahi
JD.com, Alibaba’s biggest rival,
recently was listed on Nasdaq. The company’s business model is closer to that
of Amazon than Alibaba. Its strength lies in its fulfillment infrastructure and
mobile. However, JD.com has its fair share of weaknesses.
China's
biggest online direct sales company and the second largest e-commerce company
after Alibaba, Jingdong, commonly known as JD.com, recently debuted on Nasdaq
in a $1.78 billion IPO.
This was the
third largest IPO in the U.S for the year and also the biggest IPO for any
Chinese company trading on Nasdaq.
The Business
The company
also earns less than 3.5% of revenues by providing services to third-party
sellers for the goods it has sold.
Over the
years, JD.com has significantly enhanced its product offerings. The company had
1.5 million stock keeping units by the end of 2011, and increased to over 40
million by March 2014.
During this
period, the company's gross merchandise volume has grown from $5.2 billion in
2011 to $20.7 billion in 2013.
The company
has grown its number of active customer accounts from 12.5 million in 2011 to
35.8 million in 2013.
Like Amazon,
JD.com has been investing heavily in its infrastructure for its long-term
growth. To reduce its reliance on third-party contractors, JD.com has been developing
its own warehousing and logistics infrastructure.
The company
now operates 86 warehouses in 36 cities, has more than 1,600 delivery stations
and 200 pick-up stations in 295 cities in China. According to most recent
count, the company currently has 24,412 ….. read full
article at Seeking
Alpha.
