During the COVID-19 outbreak, the purchase and delivery of people’s daily necessities has become a problem. To solve this, Dada Group, a company headquartered in Shanghai’s Yangpu district, have fully utilized its local on-demand retail and delivery platforms (JDDJ and Dada Now) to serve the citizens.

Innovative ways to avoid health risks

Putting its delivery riders’ health and security in first place, Dada Now has distributed a large number of protective equipment such as masks, thermometers and disinfectants purchased from across the country. Riders are required to wear masks at work, and do disinfection on time. They also have to take a selfie of themselves wearing masks for inspection.

In case of any health issues, emergency plans have been drawn up, so that riders’ health conditions can be monitored by dada analysis.

(Riders receive body temperature check)

JDDJ and Dada Now have both launched “contactless delivery service”, to prevent face-to-face contact between the riders and consumers. The packages will be place in designated positions for the consumers to pick up.

So far, the service has been well received across the country, resulting in a daily increase of orders of 130%. It has also been enlisted in the best practices selected by the national ministry of commerce.

Reasonable quality and price

During the pandemic outbreak, the price of daily necessities affects almost every one. Through a big data price monitoring mechanism, JDDJ has been working with the merchants on the platform to ensure the supply of various anti-epidemic materials and stabilize prices. Complaints regarding abnormal prices will be followed up and dealt with immediately.

At the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, big data was also utilized on JDDJ to remove wild meat products from merchants’ shelves. DD Now has also prohibited any goods related to “bush meat”.

(Vegetables in supermarkets and grocery stores)

On February 2, JDDJ launched a new campaign to offer fresh vegetables to thousands of supermarkets and grocery stores across 100 Chinese cities to ensure a sufficient supply. As of March 23, the campaign has covered nearly 50 chain supermarkets, over 30 community chain stores and over 1,000 grocery markets.

From January 27 to February 13, the overall sales of JDDJ increased by 450% year-on-year. To break it down, the grain and oil category increased by 540% year-on-year, the meat category was up by 1080%, the snack category 420%, the vegetable category 800%, and the fruit category 350%.

Offering a helping hand

Apart from providing a wide range of consumer-oriented services, Dada Group has also offered a helping hand to its merchants and the families of frontline medics.

On February 12, Dada Group announced it would assist retailers in recruiting 7,000 job positions, and launched a 24-hour service and a preferential measure to encourage merchants to register on its platform, so as to reduce the pandemic’s impact on employment and business operations in the short run. Dada Now also began to recruit delivery riders nationwide with no limit in the number of candidates.

In Shanghai’s Yangpu district, Dada Group has also answered the call of the district government to care for the families of medical staff who had been dispatched to fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan. Starting from the end of February, on a weekly basis, charity packages of vegetables (including mushrooms, eggs and bean products) have been delivered free of charge to the families.

(Packages of vegetables are delivered to families of frontline medics)