Shopify and JD.com on Tuesday (Jan. 18) announced that they have created a strategic partnership that they say will make it easier for U.S. merchants to sell to consumers in China.
“Bringing together two world-class commerce platforms — Shopify and JD.com — is a major step in solving cross-border commerce for merchants,” said Aaron Brown, vice president at Shopify, in the company announcement. “The future of commerce is commerce everywhere — and that starts by removing barriers to entry to one of the most important eCommerce markets in the world.”
China’s 1.4 billion people boast the world’s largest eCommerce market, which could be worth $3.3 trillion by 2025, more than five times larger than the U.S. eCommerce sector. More than half (52%) of all retail sales in China in 2021 came through an eCommerce channel.
But regulatory and logistical barriers across the country, along with complexities related to pricing, taxes and translations have made China inaccessible to independent businesses and entrepreneurs.
“A partnership between Shopify and JD.com means that we’re unlocking the world’s largest eCommerce market for merchants by giving them access to one of China’s leading eCommerce marketplaces,” the Shopify announcement said.
“By letting merchants easily list their products on JD’s cross-border eCommerce platform JD Worldwide, this new sales channel opens access to JD’s 550 million active customers in China who are shopping for authentic, high-quality products from brands all over the world,” according to the announcement.
JD’s streamlined channel, JD Marketplace, will allow Shopify merchants in the U.S. to start selling in China in three to four weeks, compared to the typical yearlong wait, with expedited onboarding, logistics that handle end-to-end fulfillment from JD’s U.S. warehouses, smart price conversion and intelligent translation of product names and descriptions
“JD.com is thrilled to partner with Shopify,” said Daniel Tan, president of JD Worldwide, in the joint announcement. “We believe that the partnership will unlock the huge potential of the Chinese market for brands outside of China. At the same time, it will increase cross-border commerce by leveraging our global supply chain abilities, simplifying what has traditionally been a very complicated process.”
Related: China Anti-Monopoly Law Spurs Fines Against Alibaba, JD.com, Others
In November, JD.com was among several Chinese companies fined $78,000 for unreported acquisitions it made that were said to breach the country’s anti-monopoly regulations.
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