Behind JD Auto's borderless service strategy: truly turning the pain points of 200 million car owners into market sweet spots

According to statistics, China's car ownership has exceeded 200 million and is still maintaining a rapid growth momentum.

But for more than 200 million car owners across China, when their cars encounter problems and need repairs, they are worried about the price if they go to a 4S store for repairs, fearing they will be "ripped off". They are also worried about the quality if they go to a roadside repair shop, fearing they will be "cheated". This is often a problem that often causes them trouble.

The prosperity of the automobile sales market and the imperfect development of the automobile aftermarket are the main contradictions facing the entire Chinese automobile industry environment.

Some people summarize the root cause of this contradiction as the inherent information barriers in the industry and the chaotic and scattered operations of the participants, which restrict the service quality and efficiency. However, with the official launch of the automotive borderless service strategy on November 1, JD.com, the leader in online e-commerce in the eyes of consumers, is set to become the game changer in resolving the contradictions in the development of the automotive industry.

Based on deep insights from user data, car maintenance and repair can also be done accurately

Cars can be said to be the most mechanically complex commodities that ordinary consumers can buy. This means that in the automotive aftermarket and automotive supplies industry, how to solve the huge inventory problem required by dozens of car brands and hundreds of car models under a large number of complex product categories will become the primary difficulty in promoting the rational development of the entire industry.

Especially for auto repair shops that lack financial reserves, facing the diverse needs of customers, on the one hand, they often need to spend a lot of time looking for spare parts from upstream suppliers; on the other hand, even if they find suitable parts, there are still difficulties in ordering and slow delivery.

The high cost of accessories, time-consuming services and poor user experience not only make it difficult for a large number of auto repair shops in the automotive industry to cultivate a stable customer base, but it also becomes an objective reason for some 4S stores to charge high prices.

In response to this, JD.com launched a borderless retail solution in collaboration with Tencent in October, unifying consumers' social behavior characteristics and shopping data to form an efficient, accurate and secure big database. Based on deep insights into database information, auto repair shops can obtain precise users with potential needs for car maintenance and repair within a regional scope and reach them directly.

With the help of the modular combination of JD's capabilities, after obtaining predictive guidance, auto repair shops can open up a complete channel in JD's automotive service chain, from the upstream B2B platform to find suppliers as quickly as possible, to the shortest supply chain for product procurement, to obtain the most price-competitive original products, and finally to complete efficient delivery through JD's logistics system.

Covering 30,000 stores nationwide, the automotive aftermarket is ushering in intelligent Internet upgrades

In fact, as early as 2012, JD.com entered the field of automotive supplies and has now cooperated with more than 5,000 brands. In the process of creating a one-stop shopping experience of "goods + services", JD.com has also selected and cooperated with a large number of auto repair shops across the country, combining its own industrial chain and big data advantages with offline user scenarios.

It is understood that since the beginning of this year, JD Auto Supplies has reached strategic cooperation with many well-known automotive supplies brands such as Continental, 3M, Karcher, Bosch, and Fengfan. While enriching the product categories, it also cooperated with the brand's offline service network to continue to enhance its offline service capabilities.

In addition, the "Car Manager" system launched by JD.com's auto supplies in 2014 has accumulated a vehicle model library containing more than 28,000 models, a vehicle model maintenance cycle library, and a maintenance usage library, which can complete the relevant matching of nearly 100,000 spare parts.

This means that consumers only need to enter their vehicle model information to automatically match and recommend applicable related products, and automatically match items that require maintenance based on driving time and mileage.

Tang Yishen, head of JD.com's automotive products business, said that after entering the B2B market, JD.com can completely connect the flow of goods and information based on the existing car manager system. Brands, dealers and repair shops will all usher in Internet-based operations. In the future, consumers can create a "medical record" for their cars, which stores have carried out what kind of maintenance services, product brands and batches, etc. can all be traced, realizing a high degree of integration of online data and offline services.

So far, JD Auto Products has reached cooperation with more than 30,000 stores across the country. These auto repair service stores will first leverage JD's capabilities in big data, supply chain, logistics, membership and marketing through JD Auto's borderless service strategy, so that traditional auto repair shops can be upgraded to new smart garages with intelligent distribution and intelligent operation, truly turning the pain points of 200 million car owners into a market sweet spot that benefits both merchants and consumers.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.