Amid speculation that Chinese e-commerce giant JD could be looking at a potential exit from Indonesia and Thailand as early as Q1 next year, industry experts indicated that excessive focus on quality and lack of a competitive edge could be hurting its business in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Ming Yii Lai, a senior consultant at China-focused market research and consulting firm Daxue Consulting, said, “The onboarding criteria at JD.ID is limited to self-operated brand owners and brand-authorised distributors. The stringent listing requirement hinders micro, small, and medium enterprises [MSMEs] or mom-and-pop stores from listing on the platform.”