China's JD.com Withdraws from Global Markets... Exits Thailand and Indonesia Businesses

Local E-commerce Platform to Close in March
SCMP: "Unable to Profit Due to Competition from Local Companies"

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Kim Hyunjung] Chinese major e-commerce company JD.com is consecutively discontinuing its overseas businesses. This move is seen as a 'withdrawal' due to the lack of significant results in the overseas markets it had already entered.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 30th, JD.com will cease operations of its joint ventures JD Central in Thailand and JD.ID in Indonesia in March. The e-commerce platforms operated by the two companies will only accept orders until the 15th of next month and are scheduled to close on March 3rd and 31st, respectively.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

JD Central is a joint venture launched in 2018 with Central Group, the largest retail company in Thailand. The company attracted local attention by providing same-day delivery services within Thailand based on JD’s logistics system. Indonesia’s JD.ID, a joint venture with Provident Capital and others, debuted in 2016 and seemed to establish itself in the market by introducing new attempts such as unmanned stores and drone delivery.

SCMP stated, "Over the past few years, e-commerce has been one of the biggest growth drivers in the digital economies of this region (Thailand, Indonesia). However, amid fierce competition with global leaders such as Singapore-based Shopee and Alibaba Holdings’ Lazada, as well as local companies, JD has found it difficult to find a foothold for profitability."

According to data from e-commerce information provider iPrice, JD.ID and JD Central have not shown an advantage over local competitors in the market. As of the second quarter of last year, JD.ID ranked 10th in the Indonesian industry. It was also reported that most of the market is dominated by local companies Tokopedia and Shopee.

However, JD.com is not completely exiting overseas business. It is still increasing supply chain investments through its subsidiaries JD Logistics in Malaysia and Poland, and last year entered the e-commerce market by partnering with Poland’s largest discount supermarket chain Biedronka. JD Logistics is also working on building two logistics warehouses and solutions in Vietnam.

SCMP reported, "JD is considering leaving the market to refocus on domestic growth after its expansion in the Southeast Asian market," adding, "In past similar reports, JD issued a statement saying it would 'continue to focus resources on global supply chain solutions and cooperate with regional partners,' but it did not respond to requests for comment on this business suspension."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.