Chinese appliance retailer Suning has launched a price war ahead of November online shopping promotions, aimed against its online rival JD.com (Jingdong Mall), the Beijing Business Today reported.
In a post on his Sina Weibo page on Oct. 18, Suning Chief Operating Officer He Enlong declared war against JD.com.
According to sources at Suning, the company plans to beat JD.com's prices during its O2O (online-to-offline) shopping campaign from Nov. 6-12. The campaign coincides with the Nov. 11 "Singles' Day" shopping blowout held by Alibaba, which formed a partnership with Suning in August.
The report said that under their mega sales events, both Alibaba and Suning have begun accepting pre-orders for goods to be delivered in November.
Suning also launched a sales campaign from Oct. 21-31, offering 100 yuan ($15.75) discount on any online purchases that had a total amount of 199 yuan ($31.34) or above. An additional coupon for 100 yuan was given to shoppers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing that can be used at Suning outlets.
According to He, the discounts cost over 200 million yuan ($31.5 million).
Meanwhile, JD.com CEO Liu Qiangdong said during an e-commerce summit in Sichuan on Oct. 15 that his company will stop competing on price.
Suning Vice Chair Sun Weimin responded by saying that some online retailers have stopped talking about a price war because they are running out of money.
Aside from lowering prices, Suning also plans to challenge JD.com on delivery time and after-sales services, offering two hours for the delivery of goods after a purchase is made online.
Suning has more than 1,600 outlets across the country that provide its online shoppers with post-sales services. The report said that more than 200 of them also offered the same service to shoppers making purchases through Alibaba's TMall shopping site.
The sales campaign will be a test of logistics and marketing abilities for e-commerce operators, Liang Zhengpeng, a home appliance sector analyst, said.