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Whatever else you might say about Amazon, we can surely all admit that Prime delivery is pretty speedy, convenient and cheap. But what if a rival retailer came along with a proposition that’s even quicker and more affordable than what’s currently out there?
This is the question behind Joybuy’s new online shopping platform in the UK. JD.com, China’s biggest retailer (worth more than $40 billion), launched the service this week. It promises ‘Double 11’ delivery, meaning that if you make an order before 11am, it should arrive by 11pm.
Just like Amazon, Joybuy sells pretty much everything under the sun. From games consoles to groceries, the company says it’s in a position to provide next-day delivery to around 17 million UK households in locations such as Leicester, Birmingham and Nottingham. It’s capable of such a sharp turnaround because the company has harnessed its own logistics operations, meaning it won’t rely on third parties for deliveries.
The JoyExpress delivery business will offer a ‘click to doorstep’ service, operating out of more than 60 warehouses and depots throughout Europe. Three of these warehouses are in the UK, having set up shop in London, Luton and Milton Keynes.
Joybuy’s UK expansion has been a long time coming. JD.com has looked to woo various British retailers in recent years: a mooted acquisition of Argos fell through last year, following a 2024 bid to buy Currys, which also stalled.
Although the megastore is selling itself on speed, Matthew Nobbs, managing director of Joybuy UK, reckons they’re in it for the long haul: ‘We are here for a long time, as our CEO [Sandy Xu] has said. We have to make sure the customer experience is really great.’
Billionaire Liu Qiangdong founded JD.com as a physical store in Beijing in 1998, with the move made to online in 2003 due to the global SARS pandemic, which broke out between 2002 and 2004.
A Joybuy UK spokesperson has said: ‘We’re bringing our decades of retail and logistics experience to the UK and Europe to change the way people shop online.
‘By owning the process from the warehouse to the front door, we’re making same-day delivery the new standard. British shoppers have long had to settle for a trade-off between price and speed, often paying a premium to get their orders more quickly. We’re here to change that.’
Only time will tell, of course, if Joybuy lives up to its name in the UK.
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