E-commerce giant JD.com to expand market in Europe

E-commerce giant JD.com plans to invest at least one billion Euros to set up a logistics network in France before 2019, reports the Financial Times.

CEO Liu Qiangdong said he also plans to set up the company's second research center in the UK in the first half of next year, focusing on AI and big data.

French President Emmanuel Macron poses with JD.com CEO Richard Liu Qiangdong during a meeting with business leaders at start-up incubator Soho3Q in Beijing, China, on January 9, 2018. [Photo: IC]

After meeting with British Prime Minister Teresa May, Liu signed a MoU with the UK government to sell British products worth two billion pounds on JD platforms in China through direct procurement and third-party sales.

The CEO expects the sales of British products on JD.com will surge from more than three billion pounds last year to ten billion pounds in three years.

JD.com aims to realize the majority of its profits from overseas markets in a decade and will challenge Amazon in Europe as early as 2019, added Liu.

Compared to Amazon and its biggest domestic rival – Alibaba - JD.com operates its own delivery network, which it cites as the reason for its fast deliveries, according to the Financial Times.

But in Europe, Liu said he is considering enlisting local partners for last-mile delivery.

JD.com has set up an office in France to expand its local partnership. It plans to open another one in London and a purchasing center in France to deal with goods export from Europe to China.