Chinese e-commerce platform operator JD.com on Friday introduced a gifting feature on its mobile app, joining a rival Alibaba Group Holding in countering the competitive pressure of the social media giant Tencent Holdingswhich launched a similar feature last month.
When browsing a selection of eligible merchandise, users of the JD.com app will see a button labeled “Gifting IT.” Once clicked, users follow a few simple steps to pay for the item and ship it directly to the recipient.
The addition of this feature comes ahead of the Lunar New Year later this month. It follows Tencent’s discreet presentation new feature in December, which allows WeChat users to buy and send gifts through the super app.
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The move has fueled discussions about WeChat’s growing potential as Tencent’s latest weapon in China’s fiercely competitive e-commerce market.
Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace followed suit earlier this month with revamping its existing gifting serviceenabling users to shop for others. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Lunar New Year Bazaar in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo alt=Lunar New Year Bazaar in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo>
JD.com’s new gifting feature highlights growing competition in China’s e-commerce sector amid sluggish economic growth and increased government oversight of unhealthy price wars. Established players such as Alibaba and JD.com are already facing intense competition from Pinduoduo’s PDD Holdings and Douyin’s ByteDance.
While Tencent still relies on video games and social media as its main pillars of revenue, it has also doubled down on e-commerce. In mid-2024, WeChat renamed its e-commerce platform – which allows businesses to set up an online store for free – to WeChat Mini Shop.
Tencent said it offered WeChat Mini Shop to merchants with increased traffic and transaction support, emphasizing that WeChat’s social interaction, content platform and payment capabilities can help shop owners effectively reach customers and drive sales.
The initiative was part of Tencent’s upgraded e-commerce strategy to “create a unique and reliable transaction experience” in the WeChat ecosystem, which had 1.38 billion monthly active users, the company said in its third-quarter earnings report.
