JD Global Sales and Visa have signed an agreement to jointly launch an online merchant subsidies program, targeting consumers across Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas markets.
The agreement included the global arm of JD.com is China’s largest online retailer, e-commerce group JD.com.
According to an announcement by the Beijing-based group, the agreement aims at facilitating the overseas expansion of Chinese brands and merchants, and harness optimized cross-border products and services as a way to fastrack the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
‘With special offers tailored for Visa cardholders, the program will help connect JD customers worldwide and provide them with easy access to a wide selection of products and services from JD, while ensuring a fast, secure and frictionless payment experience,’ JD Global Sales stated.
JD Global Sales will also promote “one-click” card binding to JD customers, and focus on enterprise-level customers of JD.com and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in China.
“2021 is going to be an unprecedented year for eCommerce, and digital platforms will be the new High Street for small and micro businesses (SMBs). Not only can they gain greater exposure and reach potential customers on digital platforms, but also create new service experiences for digital-first customers,” the Vice President and Head of Merchant Sales and Acquiring at Visa Greater China, Henry Yang, indicated in the announcement.
For the full year of 2020, JD.com reported net revenues of RMB745.8 billion (US$114.3 billion), a 29.3 per cent increase from the previous year.
Visa reported some US$3.3 billion in credit and debit cash transactions in the Asia Pacific for 2020, with the total volume reaching US$2.1 billion, the third-largest following the US and Europe.
The cross-border payment group indicated that since January 2020, the total number of Visa cards used for eCommerce transactions worldwide (excluding travel) has increased by 14 per cent, while in emerging markets, the growth rate is as high as 100 per cent, driven by net-new eCommerce users in many cases.
Meanwhile, China’s cross-border eCommerce trade volume totalled RMB1.69 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 31 per cent in 2020, while eCommerce exports reached RMB1.12 trillion, up 40 per cent year-on-year.
A Visa Hong Kong and Macau research report also showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has propelled a massive decline in cash payments and an increase in several digital payment methods.
‘Under the new partnership, JD Global Sales and Visa agreed on moves in 2021 to develop a global commerce ecosystem, in addition to creating financial solutions for cross-border eCommerce scenarios. Giving full play to the global coverage and impact of JD Global Sales and Visa, the cooperation will promote shared resources development and financial empowerment
