JD.com launches a gift function to compete with Alibaba, Tencent before the lunar year

Chinese e-commerce platform operator JD.com on Friday introduced a gift feature in its mobile app, joining the rival Alibaba Group Holding against competitive pressure from the social media giant Tencent Holdingswhich launched a similar feature last month.

When searching for a selection of eligible merchandise, users of the JD.com app will see a button labeled “Gifting IT.” After clicking, users follow a few simple steps to pay for an item and have it shipped directly to the recipient.

The addition of this feature comes before the Lunar New Year holidays later this month. It follows Tencent’s discreet roll-out of a new feature in December, which allows WeChat users to buy and send gifts through the super app.

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The move has sparked talk of WeChat’s growing potential as Tencent’s latest weapon in China’s fiercely competitive e-commerce market.

Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace followed suit earlier this month with a renewal of its existing gift servicewhich allows users to shop for others. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

A lunar year bazaar in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo alt=A lunar year bazaar in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo>

JD.com’s new gifting feature highlights the growing competition in China’s online shopping sector amid sputtering and rising economic growth. government scrutiny on unhealthy price wars. Established players such as Alibaba and JD.com are already facing intense competition from PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and ByteDance’s Douyin.

While Tencent continues to rely on video games and social media as its main pillars of revenue, it has also doubled down on e-commerce. In mid-2024, WeChat changed the name of its e-commerce platform – which allows business operators to set up an online store for free – to WeChat Mini Shop.

Tencent said it will offer WeChat Mini Shop merchants to increase traffic and transaction support, stressing that WeChat’s social interaction, content platform and payment capabilities could help shop owners reach effectively to customers and driving sales.

The initiative was part of Tencent’s updated e-commerce strategy to “create a unified and reliable transaction experience” in the WeChat ecosystem, which had 1.38 billion monthly active users, the company said in the its third quarter earnings report.

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