Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Biggest Rival JD.Com to invest in FruitDay

JD.Com heads a $70 million round of funding in the e-commerce provider of fruit and fresh produce.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s biggest competitor in China, JD.com Inc. declared that it is moving towards a $70 million worth of funding in FruitDay, which is an e-commerce fruit provider in China, JD.Com is frontrunner in the round of funding of Series C, followed by different companies like Susquehanna International and ClearVue. This is the very first investment of JD.Com in FruitDay, and develops the company’s curiosity in continuing fruit and produce logistic in the country.

Chief Executive Officer of JD Mall, Haoyu Shen said, “With our shared commitment to providing consumers with the best online shopping experience, FruitDay and JD.com are natural partners as Chinese consumers increasingly shift to purchasing fresh produce online.” quoted by TheStreet Inc.

FruitDay is famous for importing majority of its fresh fruits and produce from international markets like Chile, New Zealand and Australia. Currently, the online fresh produce provider relishes the title of the biggest fruit and produce retailer on the platform of JD.Com. Through a partnership with JD.Com, FruitDay decided to a build a strategic co-operation, which is going to support the company’s operations not only separately, but also in arrangement with JD.Com massive logistic services and network.

JD.Com Senior Communication Director, Josh Gartner, was cited by Nasdaq as he said, “What is unique is that we handle the last mile deliveries ourselves. By controlling the logistics network, we are able to provide the speed you don’t see anywhere else.”

Moreover, Mr. Gartner said that as a reason of JD.Com expanding presence in China, the company aims to use fruits and produce as a primary target. In addition, he is optimistic that JD.Com will achieve from the FruitDay expertise as the market leader in the country.

Individually, William Blair’s analyst specified previous month that JD.Com was gradually advancing shares in China’s B2C market. Mark Miller, a well-known analyst at the research firm said, “We believe faster third party growth and broadening of the assortment are increasing the appeal of the JD.com platform.” Year to date share performance shows that the company has risen over 50% as compared to Alibaba Group fall of more than 10%.

Almost 29 analysts were sampled by Bloomberg, out of which 20 rate JD.Com with a Buy, WHILE 8 OF THEM GAVE Hold rating to the stock. The twelve month stock price target is $37.48. However, out of 49 analysts covering the stock of Alibaba 42 gave Buy, and 5 assigned Hold rating, the company has $109.22 of twelve month price target.