JD.com has just opened two robotic stores in the Netherlands. The move marks the Chinese e-commerce giant’s very first implementation in Europe, where it hopes to expand its activities.
Orders are made via an app
Located in the cities of Rotterdam and Leiden, the two establishments are called Ochama. To make purchases, food, beauty products or even household furniture, customers must go to the Ochama application and choose what they need. Then, they just have to go to the store where they have to scan a barcode, the product will be brought to them by a conveyor belt, specifies the media. CNBC.
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Indeed, Ochama is a fully robotic store: they are autonomous vehicles and robotic arms that take care of the preparation and sorting of orders. These can also be delivered directly to customers. JD.com already wants to open two other similar stores in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
” We want to make it simple for our members Says Ochama COO Mark den Butter in a video. ” Our stores are easy to access, have good parking lots and offer a very wide variety of food and non-food products. No more driving through a city and going from store to store for different products He continues.
In this video, it is possible to see how the products are delivered in a robotic way:
E-commerce and logistics
By launching on the Old Continent, JD.com demonstrates its desire to develop in markets other than that of China. As a reminder, the company is number 2 in e-commerce in the Middle Kingdom behind Alibaba, and is in very good financial health. For the second quarter of 2021 for example, the company recorded sales of 33.3 billion euros, 26% more than the same period of the previous year, despite restrictions put in place by Beijing. .
The Ochama store concentrates the two specialties of JD.com. In addition to e-commerce, the company indeed operates a branch entirely dedicated to logistics in China, which it is also considering listing on the stock market.
JD.com wants to conquer other markets
If for the moment, the firm achieves almost all of its turnover in China, it is gradually starting to leave its native country. It operates, for example, an e-commerce site called Joybuy.com for its international clients, and has an e-commerce joint venture in Thailand. Finally, it is also the main shareholder of the Vietnamese shopping platform Tiki.
With its Ochama stores, JD.com could well come to overshadow Amazon, the American giant reigning supreme in the European market. The establishments are indeed reminiscent of the Amazon Go stores, now present in the United States as well as in the United Kingdom with the name Amazon Fresh.
It remains to be seen whether Ochama meets the expected success in the Netherlands, which will probably play a role in their installation (or not) in other European countries. To stand out, Mark den Butter does not go dead hand and ensures that Ochama is ” the first store in Europe that can deliver excellent cheese as well as a new vacuum cleaner “.