Chinese tech giants JD and Lenovo are expanding their long-term partnership with plans to launch a business-to-manufacturer (B2M) platform to provide enterprise clients with customised products and services.
The two companies announced the launch in a statement last week in which they also set out their goal of selling Rmb 10bn (US$1.4bn) of enterprise products over the next three years.
In effect, Lenovo will offer its full line of products for enterprise clients via JD’s enterprise procurement platform, while the new B2M platform will enable clients to submit their unique requirements, which Lenovo would then review to design and manufacture customised products as requested.
According to the statement, by leveraging JD Business, JD.com’s professional online procurement channel and its huge logistics network, small-to-medium sized companies also will be able to take part in the B2M initiative. And this matters because SMEs account for more than 90% of the market in China.
“The digital transformation has greatly impacted the enterprise procurement sector. As China’s largest retailer, JD.com is committed to efforts to streamline the procurement process for enterprises of all sizes,” said Chunzheng Song, president of JD Business.
“The partnership with Lenovo provides a pioneering solution, and we expect to leverage JD’s big data ability to continuously improve the customisation for the traditional enterprise procurement sector.”
In addition, Lenovo’s network of more than 2,000 service stations across 900 cities and its smart service system will be integrated with JD’s service system to provide customer service to their enterprise clients across China.
“JD.com is one of Lenovo’s most important retail partners in China. We have maintained a deep strategic cooperation for years,” said Zheng Liu, general manager of Lenovo Enterprise Products.
“The launch of the B2M platform is an important milestone for the enterprise procurement industry, and it will further take the industry to a new level.”
Sourced from JD.com, Lenovo; additional content by WARC staff
