JD's Opening Two Robotic Retail Store Considering A Threat to Amazon
- Chaileedo Press
- Jan 11, 2022
- 2 min read
JD opened two offline retail stores using robots to prepare and deliver packages.
On January 10, 2022, JD announced the opening of ochama, a new model of "super warehouse store" in the Netherlands. Two ochama warehouse stores in Rotterdam and Leiden were officially opened on that day and two other new stores in Amsterdam and Utrecht will also be opened soon. These two stores are the first independent retail brand business in Europe outside of Southeast Asia and ochama has become the first Dutch retailer to offer a full range of online shopping including fresh produce.
As a "super warehouse store", ochama on the one hand takes the lead in becoming a local online "department store" with product categories covering food and fresh food, household appliances, beauty, mother and baby care, fashion, household items and so on. The store offers a large number of selected brand products. On the other hand, ochama placed its automated stocking warehouse in front of the store. Its robotic arms, AGV automatic handling robots and bin transfer systems can be seen in the stores. All online shopping orders are stored, sorted and transferred by robots in the store so that customers can personally experience the futuristic feeling of automatic shipping technology. In addition, customers can also experience selected products in the store display area and receive humanized after-sales service from store staff.
The name "ochama" means "omnichannel amazing". Ochama creates the world's first retail model that integrates omnichannel shopping, intelligent supply chain, automated warehouse picking, offline stores and home delivery services to achieve a one-stop, worry-free and fast shopping experience.
"We want to bring an unprecedented shopping experience to European consumers," said Lei Ling, head of the ochama project from JD's international business. "With JD's years of accumulated retail, logistics and supply chain experience, the new robotic warehouse store will bring high-quality products, more attractive prices and more convenient services to local Dutch consumers."
The Netherlands is one of the most urbanized countries in Europe with World Bank data showing that more than 92% of the Dutch population will be concentrated in urban areas and characterized by the development of polycentric cities by 2020. Therefore, ochama chose the way of "one store in one city" to debut in the Netherlands.
Some analysts believe that the entry of JD into the European market means that it will pose a threat to Amazon. It is understood that Amazon has already opened "Amazon Go" stores without cashiers in the U.S. and U.K. markets.
In recent years, JD has taken its international steps. It not only operates an overseas online shopping site but also owns an e-commerce joint venture in Thailand and is the largest shareholder in the Vietnamese shopping platform Tiki.
JD is a Chinese self-owned e-commerce company with JD Mall, JD Finance, Paipai, JD Smart, O2O and overseas business. JD is ranked 59th in the Fortune 500 in 2021 and has a market capitalization of $108.108 billion as of Jan 10, 2022, 16:00:00.
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