No one could have imagined that JD.com, which once wanted to replace Alibaba and become China's No. 1 e-commerce platform, was now far behind by Pinduoduo.
As of January 30, JD.com had a market capitalization of $35.81 billion and Pinduoduo had a market capitalization of $166.4 billion. Pinduoduo's market capitalization is already 4.65 times that of JD.com.
Pinduoduo went public in 2018, with a market capitalization of $35.5 billion at the beginning of the listing, which is about the same as JD.com now, and six years later, the market value has risen 4.69 times. On the other hand, JD.com, in the same period of 2018, its market capitalization was $54.7 billion. JD.com's market value has not only not increased in the past 6 years, but has fallen by 1/3.
What has happened in the last six years, and why is this happening?
If you just look at JD.com's performance, you won't feel abnormal. Because JD.com's revenue in 2018 was 462.02 billion yuan, and its net profit was -2.801 billion yuan. In 2022, the revenue has exceeded the trillion mark, reaching 1,046.236 billion yuan, and the net profit is 9.691 billion yuan. It stands to reason that JD.com's performance is growing, why is the market value getting lower and lower?
In fact, the value of Internet enterprises is not only from the perspective of performance. It also depends on the growth rate of performance, the number of users, the number of active users, and the turnover of the platform.
Among them, one of the core indicators is the number of active users. As early as the third quarter of 2018, the number of Pinduoduo users had reached 386 million, while JD.com had only 305 million by the end of 2018. This has laid the foundation for Pinduoduo's market capitalization to surpass JD.com.
By the end of 2022, JD.com had 580.5 million active users, while Pinduoduo reached 881.9 million. The two sides have opened a gap of 300 million active users, and JD.com's market value can no longer catch up with Pinduoduo.
During this period, Jingdong did not sit idly by, and took a variety of methods to deal with Pinduoduo's attack, such as: the launch of Jingxi, 9.9 yuan can be delivered to your home free of charge, the purpose is to fight with Pinduoduo in the low-price market. But unfortunately, JD did not succeed.
Although Liu Qiangdong retired, he did not give up caring about JD.com. Repeatedly emphasized at the executive conference "low price", this is the key to JD's success, but also the key to the current guard, if JD can not achieve a real low price, users will only become fewer and fewer.
Because JD.com's performance in recent years has not been as expected, JD.com has also replaced the company's CEO Xu Lei, and now Xu Ran, the former CFO of the company, is in charge.
Although Xu Ran was a CFO before, he seems to be very good at marketing. During this year's Double 11, Jingdong deliberately sold a product that was the same as Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, and the price was cheaper than Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room. As a result, the brand sued JD.com, pointing out that JD.com had destroyed its own price system. This matter has also successfully appeared on the hot search.
At this time, JD.com's procurement and sales staff posted an article in the circle of friends criticizing Li Jiaqi for engaging in the lowest price protection, and revealed that the brand may face millions in compensation.
Regarding the complaints of Jingdong's procurement and sales personnel, Li Jiaqi said that we have never signed the lowest price agreement with the brand.
In fact, no matter how this matter develops, JD seems to have taken advantage of it. Let people know that the price of JD.com may be cheaper than the price of the big Internet celebrity live broadcast room.
Soon, some netizens found that the faucet in Liu Qiangdong's hometown was not turned off, and sent a short video on the hot search. Jingdong Procurement and Sales responded in the live broadcast room: It's time to change the faucet. Soon, some netizens discovered that Liu Qiangdong's hometown had been replaced with a new faucet.
Just after the outbreak of the Dongfang Selection infighting, it was reported that Jingdong was poaching Dong Yuhui. even sent the person in charge to Dong Yuhui's hometown to dock.
Although Dong Yuhui has returned to Dongfang Selection and has his own studio, JD has been inviting Dong Yuhui in the live broadcast room, and announced that JD has not given up on contacting Dong Yuhui.
Towards the end of the year, an account of Dong Ge bought more than 1,000 Bosideng down jackets and more than 1,000 boxes of New Year's goods on JD.com and sent them to Liu Qiangdong's hometown, and it is obvious that this Dong Ge is Liu Qiangdong. Although the things sent out are not a lot of money for Liu Qiangdong, this is enough to show Liu Qiangdong's sincerity.
Why did Liu Qiangdong just buy something online and not show up in his hometown to be on the hot search?
This shows that JD.com's marketers are working hard to seize any opportunity that can increase exposure for JD.com. If you don't work hard, JD.com's market value may be further and further away from Pinduoduo.
Personally, I think that the marketing methods of JD.com's marketers are relatively sophisticated, but they will give people a feeling that they have been rubbing the heat, for a while it is Li Jiaqi, for a while it is Dong Yuhui, and for a while it is their own boss.
I think JD.com's real way to break the game may be to do online Fat Donglai, Fat Donglai does not give people a very cheap feeling, people are still willing to go there to buy things, why is this?
Because Fat Donglai has achieved the ultimate in service and user experience. JD.com can invite Yu Donglai, the founder of Fat Donglai, to work together to create an online Fat Donglai, or imitate Fat Donglai, starting from the details to create more personalized products. As soon as people mention you, they feel like you're worth so much money, and the quality is there.
LV only does the business of the rich, which does not affect the boss to become the richest man in the world. If it is difficult for Jingdong to achieve an absolute low price, then it might as well be synonymous with quality e-commerce, the product may be a little more expensive, but both the quality and service are impeccable. I look forward to JD.com's second spring!
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In the world of new business, there are no eliminated industries, only enterprises that have been subverted, and now all business competition will focus on "subversion and reconstruction".
A company or a boss is doomed to fail early if it lacks the ability to subvert and restructure.
Remember: without innovation, how can there be imagination, without imagination, how can there be competitiveness, if you want to break through, you must subvert the original business model, reconstruct a new business model!