JD.com announces launch of 'US Mall'

Xinhua, July 21, 2015

China's largest online direct sales company, JD.com, Inc., on Monday announced launch of a "U.S. Mall," where Chinese customers can buy authentic products that are imported from the United States.

At the launch event held here Monday, JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu made a special mention that his company will feature authentic products from Taylor Swift, including a line of clothes that the artist is designing exclusively for JD.com customers.

Other American brands that Chinese customers will find while shopping online at "U.S. Mall," the new channel opened with the company's JD Worldwide cross-border platform, are brands JD.com recently signed partnerships with, including Converse, Samsonite, Ocean Spray and several major apparel labels that are part of the Global Brands Group.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with JD.com, the leading platform for upwardly mobile Chinese consumers seeking quality American brands and products," said Bruce Rockowitz, CEO and Vice Chairman of Global Brands Group Holding Limited. "Online shopping has become an increasingly important trend in the Chinese market. Through our strategic partnership with JD.com, we look forward to making even more leading American brands available through this innovative platform."

"With increasing demand for 'Made in America' products, Chinese consumers are buying American products from JD.com at an exponential rate, with exports from the U.S. into China in 2014 totaling over 123 billion dollars," said Alfred Goh, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Fast Growing Enterprises, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation.

At a Beijing event earlier this year with U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus, JD.com. launched a trial offering of fresh produce including Boston lobsters, California wines and fruits from the U.S., and food products from brands including Ocean Spray, Ghirardelli, Silk, Starbucks, Organic Valley, Mars, Quaker, Dead Guy Ale, Sun-Maid and Pringles, among dozens of others.

The new U.S. Mall will build on the success of the efforts and bring a whole new range of U.S. products to the Chinese market in categories ranging from apparel, cosmetics, electronics, to baby care products, according to Liu.

JD.com's launch event held in New York Monday was attended by several hundred representatives from major U.S. brands. It will also hold another business session for its partners later this week in Los Angeles, California.