JD.com and Intel set to introduce ‘smart’ in-store solutions

JD.com and Intel have announced today a joint lab that will put to work Internet of Things (IoT)  to develop ‘smart’ in-store solutions.

JD.com and Intel are working together to introduce vending machines, advertising solutions for physical retail space as part of JD.com’s ‘Retail as Service,’ strategy which aims to improve global commerce.

JD.com already rolled out a suite of technological-enabled updates including smart shelving, smart price tags and checkout solutions to speed up bricks-and-mortar operations. This includes a successful binding of Intel’s RRI edge computing and OpenVINO computer vision architecture with JD’s computer vision algorithms to study customer footfall and physical-store purchasing habits to help merchants deliver personalised customer service.

“This lab will combine our collective strengths to develop cutting-edge solutions to bring the precision of online shopping to offline players.We look forward to expanding our cooperation with Intel to deliver a best-in-class, personalized shopping experience wherever consumers shop.
-Zhi Weng, vice president of JD.com and head of JD Big Data Platform

As China’s most influential retailer and a leader in data-driven offline retail innovation, JD is an important partner for us to continue to develop a wide range of use cases for our latest technology developments.We are happy to take our partnership to the next level.”
-Wei Chen, vice president of Intel & General Manager of Intel IOTG China

Will JD.com become bigger than Amazon?

JD.com have been making headlines with their introduction of innovation in a bid to mirror fresh food production strategy adopted by Amazon. We’ve seen Amazon launching their fresh food initiative via AmazonFresh which shoppers can get delivered on the same day. Etsy’s food offering is somewhat limited which allows shoppers to buy non-fresh food such as confectionary, teas, pet food and treats.  Meanwhile, eBay boasts a wide range of food products with almost half a million listings offered by merchants. Overall, JD.com’s plans to introduce fresh food production chain to JD’s 7FRESH supermarkets give their strategy a strong differentiating edge. But will the initiative become bigger than AmazonFresh as JD.com promise that their fresh food will deliver higher nutritional value as opposed to crops that have been cultivated in the field?