JD, Shopify pave way for US brands to reach Chinese consumers easily

Chinese online retailer JD and e-commerce service platform Shopify have inked strategic partnership to give independent brands in the United States a simple, trusted way to access consumers in China, while simultaneously enabling Shopify merchants worldwide to access JD's quality supplier network.

The partnership will link Shopify's millions of merchants worldwide with JD's 550 million active customers in China who use the platform to find authentic, high-quality products, JD said in a statement.

With this collaboration, JD will open an accelerated channel for brands on Shopify to list products through JD Worldwide, the company's cross-border e-commerce marketplace.

Intelligent translation and smart price conversion services will be provided. In addition, JD's global supply chain network will provide end-to-end fulfillment service from the US to China, leveraging the company's China-US cargo flights, US warehouses and more than 1,300 warehouses and over 200,000 delivery personnel in China.

The partners will also collaborate to simplify access and compliance for Chinese brands and merchants looking to reach consumers in overseas markets. JD will support quality Chinese brands to set up their direct-to-consumer or DTC channels through Shopify, and enable Shopify merchants worldwide to access JD's supplier network through the JD sourcing platform.

The move is also part of a larger strategic partnership between Shopify and JD that aims to help solve cross-border commerce challenges across product sourcing, selling, and logistics for merchants in the US and China.