JD Logistics (2618.HK) announced on Wednesday the launch of JoyExpress in Saudi Arabia, marking the first time the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (9618.HK) will operate its own consumer-focused express delivery service abroad.
Known for its self-built warehousing and delivery network in China, JD Logistics operates over 3,600 warehouses in its home country. JoyExpress extends this self-operated model overseas, and will offer delivery services as fast as the same-day in Saudi Arabia, according to JD Logistics.
The expansion may mark the first step in JD.com's renewed international push for growth, according to the company's founder and chairman Richard Liu.
Growth at home has been harder to come by for e-commerce giants, as consumer confidence hit by China's protracted property crisis and wage growth concerns add to deflationary pressures.
Liu held a sharing session in Beijing on Tuesday in which he emphasized the importance of the global market for JD.com's future growth and a likely acceleration of the pace of its overseas forays in the near future.
"We have been working in Europe for three years, and the logistics infrastructure there is now basically in place. However, it's still not enough," he said, according to local media reports.
Liu described the past five years as "lost" for JD.com and emphasized the need for the company to compete with Chinese food delivery giant Meituan in new areas, ranging from food delivery to travel booking.
JD launched JD Takeaway, a direct competitor to Meituan, earlier this year and Meituan has also expanded to Saudi Arabia in recent years.
"It's really regrettable that in the past five years, JD.com hasn't introduced anything new. These past five years can be described as a period of decline for us," he said.
Liu also revealed JD.com's plans to apply for stablecoin licenses in major currency countries globally. The goal is to facilitate foreign exchange between global enterprises, reducing the cost of cross-border payments by 90% and increasing efficiency to within 10 seconds.
Last year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that JINGDONG Coinlink Technology Hong Kong, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JD Technology, has joined its stablecoin issuer sandbox, which is a framework set up by the HKMA to convey regulatory expectations to institutions that are interested in issuing stablecoins in Hong Kong.
