Walmart, the leading supermarket chain in the US, and JD.com, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, have announced the formation of a strategic alliance “to better serve consumers across China through a powerful combination of e-commerce and retail”.
The agreement between the companies includes a wide range of business initiatives, covering both online and offline retail. For Walmart, the alliance greatly expands its opportunity in China e-commerce and provides its stores and Sam’s Clubs with potential traffic from JD.com’s significant base of online customers and vast same-day delivery network to serve its customers, the firm said.
As part of the agreement, Walmart will receive 144,952,250 newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares, amounting to approximately 5 percent of total shares outstanding.
Commenting on the move, Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon said: “We’re excited about teaming up with such a strong leader in JD.com, and the potential that this new relationship creates for customers in China, as well as for our businesses. We thank the Yihaodian associates for creating a strong brand and business that has helped lead to this opportunity with JD.com. JD.com shares similar values in making the lives of customers better. It also has a very complementary business and is an ideal partner that will help us offer compelling new experiences that can reach significantly more customers. We also look forward to offering customers a tremendous number of quality imported products not previously widely available in China through Walmart and Sam’s Club”.
Source: Walmart