JD Worldwide, the cross-border online shopping platform of JD.com, reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Japanese daily commodity and cosmetics group Kao.
Kao's official flagship store owned by JD Worldwide will be formally launched in early May 2016 and all the products will be directly supplied by Kao Group. Full financial terms of the deal were not released.
Kao Group was founded in Japan in 1887 and it owns many products that top the market share in the Japanese market. Its well-known brands include Merries, Laurier, Attack, and Biore. JD and Kao China started cooperating in 2014 and the two parties established a direct supply partnership covering various categories, including maternal services, child products, personal care and cleaning products. Of those products, Kao's Merries-branded diapers are popular among Chinese consumers.
JD Worldwide said that after the launch of Kao flagship store, they will first start from the Merries-branded products to realize direct supply links from Japan. The flagship store will adopt the bonded stocking model and support JD's own distribution to offer safe and high-quality products to Chinese consumers.