China’s biggest online chain, JD.com is entering the Dutch home delivery market, offering 150,000 products, including food items sourced locally, the Telegraaf reported on Tuesday.
Its online store, called Joybuy, will be selling food, electronics, and clothing using its own delivery service. It will be in direct competition with online retailers such as Bol and Amazon, and supermarkets with an online service like Albert Heijn and Jumbo, and Picnic.
The food segment at Joybuy will be largely made up of discount products G’Woon, the house brand of purchasing consortium Superunie. Joybuy buys the G’woon products from Boon supermarkets, which is a Superunie member.
Retail banker Dirk Mulder said the move will not disadvantage the other supermarkets in the Superunie alliance. “In the short term, the competition will be limited, for instance, because JD does not sell fresh produce,’ he told the paper.
“JD also wants to make home delivery more financially accessible. Thuisbezorgen is seen as expensive. And home delivery of house brands will inflate volume so they can become cheaper, which is also good for the other supermarkets that sell the brand,” he said.
According to China and retail expert John Lin, electronics outlets have most to fear from the new player.
“JD is very strong on electronics. They can even force Apple to increase their profit margin because they are selling so many Apple products in China,” he told the paper. Chinese brand refrigerators and washing machines will also be in direct competition with European brands, he said.
Joybuy is different from other Chinese retailers in that it has its own warehouses for quick delivery, while other online shops deliver straight from China, retail expert Patrick Petersen told the paper.
Unlike fast fashion webshops Temu and Shein, Joybuy has also adopted the quality label Thuismerk Waarborg, which governs customer complaints.
