The mid-year promotion has come to an end, but the power of technological transformation will continue to empower merchants to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

With the stroke of midnight, the 2024 "618" mid-year promotion came to a close.

As of 23:59 on June 18th, JD.com's 618 transaction volume and order volume in 2024 reached new highs. The number of JD.com live broadcast orders increased by over 200% year-on-year, with over 500 million users placing orders on JD.com 618. There were 83 brands with cumulative transaction volumes exceeding 1 billion, and over 150,000 small and medium-sized merchants achieved sales growth of over 50%.

During this mid-year event, JD.com's new "killing move" - "generative AI" - came to the forefront. JD.com's platform explored and deepened technological infrastructure, helping merchants reduce costs and increase efficiency, thus enhancing the user shopping experience.

Since "generative AI" broke through the waves and demonstrated its strong technological strength, there has been ongoing discussion about how to achieve technology implementation. It is generally believed within the industry that e-commerce platforms, with more technological application scenarios and years of industry accumulation, are naturally suitable for the implementation of "generative AI." The platform's large merchant and user base can also promote technological iteration.

However, how to maximize the release of technological potential and effectively empower merchant operations has become the primary issue in the integration of "generative AI" and e-commerce platforms.

During this year's 618 period, JD.com provided a concrete solution: self-developed Yanxi digital avatars were launched for commercial use, enabling merchants to adopt digital avatar live streaming to improve operational efficiency; the promotion of the "AI All-in-One Service Package" lowered the threshold for merchant operations. With technology as the core, JD.com drove merchants to catch up with the fast-paced era.

According to Retail Business Finance, JD.com's Yanxi digital avatars can effectively increase merchants' live streaming conversion rates by 30% during idle times; during the 618 period, over 5,000 brands used them, with a month-on-month increase of over 30%; the cumulative duration of digital avatar live streaming exceeded 400,000 hours, with over 100 million cumulative views and over 5 million interactions; digital avatar anchors drove nearly 10 billion in GMV.

Image Source: JD.com

In refining its new "killing move," JD.com takes "backup forces" as its responsibility, embarking on a path of technological inclusiveness. Although the "618" has come to an end, the power of technological transformation will continue to influence JD.com merchants' operations and the co-construction of the platform ecosystem.

01 Why Does the Next Anchor Have to Be a "Real Person"?

When "store broadcasting" became the preferred method for merchants to deploy live e-commerce, new issues emerged.

On one hand, merchants face high costs in setting up live streaming studios and cultivating anchors. On the other hand, merchants' live streaming sales are, to a certain extent, linked to the anchor's sales ability, and when the anchor's ability is strong, merchants have to consider issues such as their work stability.

It is evident that for merchants, deploying store broadcasting is both a move to comply with the development of the times and also faces unprecedented challenges. However, at this stage, the pain points of "store broadcasting" can all be resolved through "digital avatar live streaming."

"Digital avatar live streaming" has both cost advantages and can present an "