Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) will face the combined might of its rivals in this shopping season. Alibaba’s main e-commerce rival, JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), is joining hands with Tencent and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) to gain an upper hand over Alibaba. JD.com and Tencent recently announced JD-Tencent Marketing Solution which will integrate the consumer behavior on Tencent’s social platform with the online and offline shopping data from JD. This partnership provides brands with a strong alternative to Alibaba due to higher engagement of Tencent and the last-mile logistic capability of JD.

Alibaba: Closer Partnerships Among Rivals Pose Long-Term Risk - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) | Seeking Alpha

Alibaba’s clout in different segments has been growing at a rapid pace in the last few quarters. This has brought Alibaba’s rivals closer and they are now putting forward a united front. Tencent has 21.25% stake in JD.com which is bigger than the 16.2% stake of CEO Liu Qiangdong. Wal-Mart has also increased its stake in JD in the last year. Wal-Mart had 5.9% stake in JD in Jun 2016, which increased to 10.8% in October 2016 and 12.1% in February 2017.

Alibaba: Closer Partnerships Among Rivals Pose Long-Term Risk - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) | Seeking Alpha

JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), China's second largest business-to-consumer e-commerce marketplace after Alibaba's (NYSE:BABA) Tmall, recently enlisted the help of Tencent (NASDAQOTH:TCEHY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) as Singles Day (Nov. 11) -- China's equivalent of Black Friday -- rapidly approaches. JD will merge its customers' shopping history with data on Tencent's WeChat messaging platform, which has 963 million MAUs (monthly active users) worldwide. JD will use that data to make suggestions for customer purchases, while helping vendors promote their goods. JD will also grant customers online discounts at brick-and-mortar stores when they use Tencent's mobile payment app, WeChat Pay. Tencent is JD.com's largest shareholder with a 20% stake in the company.

JD.com, Tencent, and Wal-Mart Join Forces Against Alibaba

JD competes against Alibaba's Tmall, its B2C equivalent of Amazon, and not Taobao, its customer-to-customer (C2C) equivalent of eBay. JD controls about 33% of China's B2C industry, according to eMarketer, compared to Tmall's 51%. Much of JD's growth comes at the expense of smaller competitors like Vipshop and Suning. But JD also benefited from ongoing problems with counterfeit goods at Alibaba's marketplaces, as government studies found that JD sold a much lower percentage of knockoff products than Tmall and Taobao.

JD.com, Tencent, and Wal-Mart Join Forces Against Alibaba

JD also isn't shy about experimenting with new technologies, like autonomous trucks and drones, facial recognition technology for payments, and artificial intelligence. It's sharing some data with Baidu, the largest search engine provider in China, to refine its shopping recommendations, and it partnered with Toutiao -- one of the fastest growing news aggregator apps in China -- to add links to JD.com. JD has its own logistics subsidiary, JD Logistics, which directly competes against other leading logistics players like Alibaba-backed Best. It's expanding that business with other partnerships, including a refrigerated logistics chain partnership with Japan's Yamato Holdings and a plant manufacturing partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings.

JD.com, Tencent, and Wal-Mart Join Forces Against Alibaba

Tencent owns a sizable stake in JD and its rivalry with Alibaba will only increase in the next few quarters. The increase in data sharing and targeted marketing between JD and Tencent can be a very strong alternative to Alibaba. JD.com’s Chief Marketing Officer Lei Xu recently mentioned that the cooperation with Tencent in the last few years has resulted in one quarter first time users coming from Tencent’s WeChat and MobileQ.

Alibaba: Closer Partnerships Among Rivals Pose Long-Term Risk - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) | Seeking Alpha

According to eMarketer, JD controls 33% of B2C industry in China whereas Alibaba’s Tmall has 51% share in the recent quarter. JD has been able to increase its share from 17.7% in 2014 at the expense of smaller players and a shift of customer preference from C2C (majority controlled by Alibaba’s Taobao) to B2C as brand awareness increases in urban centers.

Alibaba: Closer Partnerships Among Rivals Pose Long-Term Risk - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) | Seeking Alpha

Shares of China's largest standalone luxury e-tailer, Secoo, plunged 15% on Wednesday, after much larger rival JD.com revealed it was launching its own new luxury goods platform, Toplife. Secoo currently has 15.1 million registered members and a 25% market share in China's upscale e-commerce market.

Why Chinese Luxury E-Tailer Secoo Just Tumbled | Investopedia

China’s second-largest e-commerce platform, JD, released a statement on its official Weibo account on July 12, accusing Alibaba’s Tmall site, in not so many words, of being an unfair and monopolistic market player. The statement, which was made jointly with the online flash sales site Vipshop, claimed that “some e-commerce sites” have forced many brands and merchants to leave their sites to sign exclusive deals. While Alibaba is not named specifically in the post, there’s no other platform that is as dominant as JD in that space. The inference, as many commenters, and a reply by Tmall, affirmed, was loud and clear.

JD Goes to War with Alibaba, Calls It 'Monopolistic' | Jing Daily

A cross-border e-commerce expert, who has previously helped luxury brands set up vendor stores on Tmall and JD, told Jing Daily that this trend is likely to grow, and that the competition between JD and Alibaba has grown fiercely owing in part to the unfair behavior of the latter. “Brands quitting on JD [are] likely pressured into a forced choice by Tmall,” he said. “If those brands don’t shut down their JD store, they would not likely enjoy the benefits along with opening an e-store on Tmall.”

Alibaba Denies It Pressured 44 Apparel Brands to Quit JD | Jing Daily

JD.com, Alibaba’s largest rival in the Chinese e-commerce market, has invested nearly $400 million into Farfetch, a fast-growing online marketplace for luxury fashion boutiques. Alongside the $397 million investment, JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu is joining Farfetch’s board. Exact terms of the deal could not be learned, but a source said Farfetch’s new valuation is a significant step up from its earlier $1.5 billion figure. For Western apparel and fashion brands, the rise of the Chinese luxury shopper has made China an increasingly crucial market. London-based Farfetch already has operations in the country, but the deal is meant to expand them. JD.com will drive web traffic to the Farfetch site and offer logistics help to its brands and boutiques, among other services.

The Amazon of China invested $400 million into one of the most valuable fashion startups - Recode

The most recent examples of such strategy came this past week, first with the announcement of a tactical new partnership with Walmart – a deal that will see the US giant swap its Yihaodian platform for a 5 percent stake in JD.com, worth about US$1.5 billion by the firm's latest market value. The move will allow Walmart to continue to run its Chinese versions of Sam’s Club apps and websites, and become a retailer inside Yihaodian – a grocery site particularly popular among wealthier women in the south-east regions of the country – rather than operate its own online store entirely, offering the American company some respite after it struggled to adapt to China’s cutthroat retail sphere. More interestingly, it will give JD.com – stronger in China’s north-east – the opportunity to expand its reach for household and electronics items, and have wider access to a broader range of US goods.

With New Partnerships And Fashion Strategies, JD.com Pushes Hard Against Alibaba's Reign in China

JD.com Inc. has launched a real estate purchasing platform, becoming the latest Chinese e-commerce giant to make a foray into the property market with the backing of their retail expertise and vast pool of consumer spending data. More than 2,000 housing projects provided by 85 property developers and 35 agencies have been listed on the platform, JD.com announced in a statement. All of the homes, located in 20 cities, are new. In future, the platform will cover residential, commercial and other types of properties, said Xin Lijun, president of JD.com’s apparel and home furnishings unit, in the Tuesday statement. The company also hopes to leverage its “sea of spending pattern data” and its internet technology to customize real estate products to better meet consumer needs, the statement said. It added that specialized teams will be formed with developers and agencies so the platform can offer properties for various purposes such as investment and tourism.

JD.com’s New Platform Lays Foundation of Real Estate Business - Caixin Global

From the BBC:

Singles Day is held every year on 11 November. The day is also referred to as Double Eleven because of its date.

Originally claimed as a celebration for China's young singletons, Alibaba turned it into a shopping bonanza in 2009.

While Alibaba is undeniably the driving force behind the event, other retailers have also started to piggyback off the idea, including extending it to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In August Alibaba reported strong earnings, posting a 56% rise in quarterly revenue.

Analysts say that Asia in general and China in particular are at the centre of the global shift towards e-commerce.

But today, as Alibaba and top rival JD.com Inc. (JD - Get Report) bask in the glow of very strong third-quarter and Singles Day numbers, such worries are looking antiquated. Just as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN - Get Report) has been able to accelerate its U.S. growth this year thanks to both the local e-commerce market's growth and share gains made possible by its superior scale and resources, China's e-commerce giants are seeing the good times roll on. For Singles Day (Nov. 11, by far China's biggest online shopping day), Alibaba reported its gross merchandise volume (GMV) for transactions settled via the Alipay payments platform grew 39% annually to $25.3 billion. That's above the 32% growth registered during last year's Singles Day, as well as the 22% GMV growth Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall marketplaces saw in fiscal 2017 (it ended in March). JD, which didn't disclose Singles Day numbers in prior years, reports its GMV for the Nov. 1-11 period grew more than 50% to $19.1 billion. That's a little better than the 46% GMV growth JD saw in 2016. JD's shares rose 3.5% on Nov. 13 to $41.34, following both the release of its Singles Day event data and a better-than-feared Q3 report.

The company's sales rose 39% annually in Q3 to $12.61 billion, slightly topping a $12.59 billion consensus. GMV rose 44% to $32.9 billion. Those growth rates, it's worth noting, represent a slowdown from the 44% revenue growth and 53% GMV growth JD saw in Q2. And growth might slow a little more this quarter: JD is guiding for 35% to 39% Q4 sales growth. But from the looks of things, the culprit here isn't slowing demand growth, but tougher competition from Alibaba, whose Tmall marketplace (it caters to larger merchants) has stepped up its efforts to grow sales within verticals such as electronics and apparel. On its earnings call, JD said it recently lost over 100 merchants from its marketplace due to attempts by a rival (clearly Alibaba) to force merchants to choose between its platform and JD's.

Alibaba and JD.com's Latest Numbers Show E-Commerce in China Is Thriving - TheStreet

JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), China's second largest business-to-consumer e-commerce marketplace after Alibaba's (NYSE:BABA) Tmall, recently enlisted the help of Tencent (NASDAQOTH:TCEHY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) as Singles Day (Nov. 11) -- China's equivalent of Black Friday -- rapidly approaches. JD will merge its customers' shopping history with data on Tencent's WeChat messaging platform, which has 963 million MAUs (monthly active users) worldwide. JD will use that data to make suggestions for customer purchases, while helping vendors promote their goods. JD will also grant customers online discounts at brick-and-mortar stores when they use Tencent's mobile payment app, WeChat Pay. Tencent is JD.com's largest shareholder with a 20% stake in the company.

JD.com, Tencent, and Wal-Mart Join Forces Against Alibaba -- The Motley Fool

Walmart (NYSE: WMT), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), IBM (NYSE: IBM), and Tsinghua University National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technologies announced today they will work together in a Blockchain Food Safety Alliance that will kick off with a collaboration designed to enhance food tracking, traceability and safety in China, to achieve greater transparency across the food supply chain. The four companies will work together to create a standards-based method of collecting data about the origin, safety and authenticity of food, using blockchain technology to provide real-time traceability throughout the supply chain.

Wal-Mart (WMT), JD.Com (JD) and IBM (IBM) in Collaboration with Tsinghua University Announce Launch of Blockchain Food Safety Alliance in China

But Amazon’s rival JD.com, the second biggest online retailer in China after Alibaba, has already beaten it to the punch. JD announced that, in partnership with Hong Kong real estate developer China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd, it plans to open hundreds of unmanned convenience stores with technology reportedly more advanced than Amazon’s. Its trial shops have already been tested by the 10,000 employees at its Beijing headquarters. JD’s shops will use RFIDs and cameras with facial recognition and image recognition technology on the store ceilings to track each customer’s movement and product selection. As the store learns from a customer’s preferences over time, it will also begin to show personalized advertisements. The same tracking technology will also help store owners restock inventory more efficiently.

JD.com will open hundreds of unmanned convenience stores — Quartz

Net cash used in operating activities from continuing operations was RMB3.8 billion during the quarter, largely due to an RMB5.3 billion decrease in advance from customers for their marketplace purchases and payable to merchants related to a complex settlement process change that the company has been conducting since the second half of last year to settle the marketplace transactions directly through third party payment companies, as required by the regulators. The operating cash flow was also impacted by the timing of supplier payments as accounts payable decreased as of March 31, 2018 from the prior year-end. Such timing difference may vary from time to time.

JD.com Announces First Quarter 2018 Results       | Seeking Alpha

This could provide a nice little pop..

China’s securities regulator on Friday published draft rules on the issuance of China Depositary Receipts, or CDRs, paving the way for domestic flotation of offshore-listed tech giants and the launch of a cross-broader link of exchanges in Shanghai and London. The rules on CDRs, modeled after American depositary receipts (ADRs), came days after the Hong Kong stock exchange adopted new rules to broaden its listing regime, intensifying a battle for listing resources. Both Beijing and Hong Kong are targeting the likes of Baidu, Alibaba Group and JD.com by allowing them to list at home via secondary listings. The rules “lay the foundation for innovative companies to return to the domestic capital markets via the issuance of CDRs,” the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on its website.

China details CDR rules to woo overseas-listed companies | Reuters

At present, Chinese investors can't invest in the likes of BABA, BZUN, JD. Imagine if only the Chinese could invest in Amazon, while not being familiar with their platform. This is basically the situation for the likes of JD, but in reverse.

The first article is a good overview of JD.com's business

Launched in the second quarter of 2016, JD Cloud is still in its infancy stage. Recognizing the importance of cloud computing, JD.com is leveraging on its technological capabilities and experience gained over the years to offer the service to external parties. The cloud computing services JD.com provides include computing, data storage, network management, cloud solutions, retail cloud, logistics cloud, e-commerce cloud, sales cloud and operation cloud. Different offerings target different stakeholders within its ecosystem. It currently has data centers located in northern, southern and eastern China as well as Hong Kong. JD.com’s cloud computing technology was recently put to the test when it managed the entire operation of JD.com Mall’s 2017 6.18 Festival, for which transaction value reached ¥120 billion.

Deep Dive: JD.com—A Differentiated E-Commerce Platform - Coresight Research

A leading e-commerce player in China, JD.com Inc, has launched a cloud platform as it gears up for competition in the sector, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. JD's cloud platform will start offering basic cloud and data cloud services to third-party institutions this month. It will help enterprises with data collection, screening, analysis, model building and transactions, according to JD Vice President He Gang. The cloud platform will mainly target clients like government institutions and enterprises in traditional sectors, He said. With the cloud computing industry just getting started, there is a huge development potential for the sector. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's cloud computing market was worth about 7 billion yuan ($1.08 billion) in 2014, up 47.5 percent year-on-year.

JD.com moves into cloud services - Global Times

JD Finance, the financial subsidiary of China's second biggest e-commerce player JD.com Inc, launched an enterprise-level cloud services platform on Monday, by leveraging its big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to better serve financial institutions. The cloud platform offers intelligent risk control, intelligent investment advisory, intelligent payment and transaction by virtue of face recognition technology, graph calculation and other AI technologies to enhance the work efficiency for financial institutions, said JD Finance... "We define JD Finance as a partner, but not a subverter to the financial institutions. We help banks improve their efficiencies in credit authorization by more than 10 times and reduce the costs by 70 percent, and by virtue of our AI technologies, the ratio of bad loans and capital loss rate is nearly 50 percent lower than the industry average," said Liu Qiangdong, founder and CEO of JD.com.

JD Finance launches its own cloud services platform - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn