When I moved to Shanghai 2 years ago, it was “in vogue” for 外国人 (foreigners) to order an air-purifiers for their homes, given the “noise” around Air Pollution doing the rounds in the local media. So with the help of a Chinese friend, I ordered an air-purifier on JD.com early morning at 9 AM on a weekday. And that being my first eCommerce order in China, I was zapped when my doorbell rang the same evening – and th Air Purifier (in all it’s 10 Kg weight) was delivered to my door. It was a startling realization that eComm in China is ahead, faster ..
Since then, I’ve been closely tracking developments and the consumer experience for eCommerce in China. And while the world outside talks more about Alibaba / TMALL / Taobao, there are some amazing innovations on the consumer experience side that are being made by JD.com. Check out these 3 sequential screenshots that bring to life my ordering experience on the JD.com APP on my iPhone.
#1: I place the order, and am immediately shown that the order will be delivered in a 6-hour window: “09:00-15:00” – the next day. Closer to Delivery Time, we are shown the name, number, and PICTURE of the Delivery person. My Delivery man here is “ABC”. See Screenshot below:
#2: On clicking the Profile / PIC of “ABC”, I can see a full-blown very “social” profile. This includes details like: Name, Number, Ratings & Reviews of his deliveries, total number of deliveries done, Kilometers traveled, and top skills/attributes of the Delivery person..
#3 Closer to the Delivery time, when I click on Delivery Status, I can see the map, with the rider’s location in real-time. I can literally see the driver’s location move every few minutes.
Some great innovation going on here. JD.com – take a bow. The stuff makes the entire experience of placing an “order on a website” so “human” and “real”.
TalkingTails - Amit Haralalka 
Amazing blog and very interesting stuff you got here! I definitely learned a lot from reading through some of your earlier posts as well and decided to drop a comment on this one!
Hi, Amit, still blogging, wow, which is good! When we met, within the blogosphere, you were a teenager, perhaps.
Those were good times. I have fond memories of all you Indians, Ashish the Geek Wrestler, Poonam Sharma, Nita (which I met in Rome) and the rest. I am in contact with some of them in Facebook. As far as myself I am 70 now and am still blogging, though in Italian. My youngest daughter worked in Shanghai for one year. She is an engineer. I hope all is well with you and family.
All the best,
Man of Roma (ie Giovanni)