“You should be able to get pretty much everything that you’re going to need in your everyday life, and with speed.”
Joybuy – a full category e-commerce site and app owned by China’s biggest retailer by revenue, JD.com – has launched today in the UK as well as five other European markets.
“Our competition is everybody,” Joybuy UK’s country manager and managing director Matthew Nobbs told The Grocer.
“It is one stop shopping. That assortment is curated. I use the term ‘wide as a house’ because the assortment is that wide, and we’ve got 50,000 SKUs already, you should be able to get pretty much everything that you’re going to need in your everyday life, and with speed,” Nobbs said.
The online retailer has launched with a ‘Double 11’ delivery offering, meaning orders made by 11am, will arrive at customers doorsteps before 11pm. Those made before 11pm will arrive the next day.
Double 11 deliveries will be made by JD.com’s logistics arm JoyExpress, which launched in the UK in February. Unlike orders made on rivals such as Amazon – which uses a pool of self-employed drivers to courier packages to customers doors – JoyExpress will deliver in branded uniforms and vehicles.
“It’s part of our customer centricity: handing that delivery over to the customer, ensuring that all of our touch points, including that customer service afterwards, is controlled by us,” Nobbs, former commercial director for rapid grocery player Gorillas, director of trading for Holland & Barrett and senior buying director for Lidl UK, explained.
The offering – while more common in Asian markets - “raises the bar” for UK ecommerce Nobbs said.
“You could replicate it, but it would be quite expensive,” he added.
The Double 11, same day service covers more than 17 million people – some 4.5 million households – on launch, including those in Greater London, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Oxford and Cambridge. It will be rolled out to more towns and cities in the coming months.
Shoppers outside the Double 11 delivery zones can opt for next-day, or standard delivery.
Delivery is free on orders over £29 (and a flat £3.99 otherwise) with a Joybuy spokesman stressing that “unlike other online retailers, Joybuy does not charge extra ‘speed fees’ to receive orders sooner”. Customers can also opt to collect orders through the Joybuy Pick-up Service at around 11,000 pick-up points across the UK, which includes more than 400 locker locations.
Joybuy is also launching JoyPlus, its membership programme which includes unlimited free delivery with no minimum spend per order, and member exclusive offers for a £3.99 a month fee. Members earn Joybuy Points with every purchase, which can be used towards future purchases.
Member pricing is also imminent, Nobbs explained. “In certain categories or certain products, we’ll obviously offer Joy pricing. So that’s an added benefit as well,” he said.
Promising a “better, more joyful way to shop online”, Joybuy offers an extensive range of ambient and frozen foods, household, baby, beverages, personal care, beauty, health, pet, and nicotine products from both major brands and Morrisons own label.
The business sources its grocery range from wholesalers and is establishing direct supplier relationships.
“So the larger your volume is, the higher the propensity is for you to go direct. But also it’s part of the brand partnership as well. It’s a two-way street. We’re touching potentially a new audience for a lot of these brands,” Nobbs said.
Joybuy will be continuing its Tesco price match which started during the site’s ‘beta’ launch phase. While keen on price, Joybuy is not aiming to be the cheapest seller of any given product online.
“We’re the custodians of a lot of brands, we’re not here to war on price,” Nobbs said.
“We’ve got fair pricing, we’ve also got our lightning offers. We’re sharp on price, but we’re not here to destroy the market. Suppliers and brands are our lifeblood,” he added.
In the UK, Joybuy’s logistics infrastructure includes self-operated warehouses in Milton Keynes and Luton, with a combined floor area of more than 90,000 square metres. It operates more than 60 warehouses and depots across Europe, supported by thousands of logistics and operations employees.
From launch, Joybuy features several dedicated brand stores including L’Oréal Paris, Braun, Emma, De’Longhi, BRITA, The Pink Stuff, DJI and Bodum. The brand stores allow customers to explore full product ranges, discover new launches and learn more about their favourite brands in one place, “creating a more immersive shopping experience”.
Product pages on Joybuy are “designed to be interactive”, the company said, with features such as 3D product views, and in the case of Braun, “haptic feedback on your phone to mimic the buzz of an electric shaver while browsing its product page”.
“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,” a Joybuy spokesman said. “We’re here to change that. With Joybuy, same-day delivery isn’t a luxury; it’s our standard for millions of households.
“We’ve built the infrastructure, we’ve partnered with incredible brands, and now we’re ready to show the UK a better way to shop,” they added. “We will make your shopping more joyful.”
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