Helen ChinE: helenchin@ust.hk William KongE: williamkong@ust.hk Brigitte Ng I. Sector Review..............................................................................................................2Internet & E-commerce................................................................................................2JD MALL opens Shanghai Qibao store, reaching 30 stores nationwide .....................2JD.com’s pet express service expands to 10 more cities including Tianjin andLangfang.....................................................................................................................2Henan’s first JD Mall expected to open in October.....................................................2Vipshop’s final 618 flash sale starts at 8:00 PM on 15 June.......................................3Xianyu’s door-to-door recycling service launches in 50 cities nationwide with one-hour service now available .........................................................................................3Taobao Flash works with catering partners to expand quality takeout deliverybusiness .....................................................................................................................3Science & TechnologyClear Water BayKowloon, Hong KongE: ustlfsci@ust.hk I. Sector Review Internet & E-commerce JD MALL opens Shanghai Qibao store, reaching 30 stores nationwide On 12 June, JD MALL (京东MALL) opened a new store in the Qibao businessdistrict of Minhang, Shanghai. As the first JD MALL in Shanghai and a flagship,benchmark-setting complex for immersive home appliances and homefurnishings technology experiences, the store will further enhance JD MALL’s JD.com’s pet express service expands to 10 more cities including Tianjinand Langfang On 15 June, JD Logistics (京东物流) announced that its dedicated pet expressservice, “Jingchongda” has expanded its coverage with 10 additional cities:Tianjin, Langfang, Changzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing, Dongguan, Zhongshan,Zhuhai, Foshan, and Qingyuan. With this expansion, “Jingchongda” pet expressservices, which began in Shenyang and Anshan, have now expanded to covermore than 20 cities nationwide, offering cross-city pet deliveries with the Henan’s first JD Mall expected to open in October Construction of the Zhengzhou JD Mall Super Experience Store has entered itsfinal stage. This store is JD.com’s (京东) first JD Mall in Henan Province and isexpected to open to the public in October this year. Fan Xiaojie, Deputy StoreManager of User Operations at the Zhengzhou JD Mall, stated that the store Vipshop’s final 618 flash sale starts at 8:00 PM on 15 June Vipshop’s (唯品会) final “618 Mid-Year Sale” extravaganza began at 8:00 PMon 15 June. From 8:00 PM on 15 June to 10:00 AM on 22 June, Vipshoplaunched a limited “hot deals” campaign lasting 158 hours. Tens of thousandsof hot-selling items were priced at less than 85% of their everyday prices. Inaddition, the 24-hour “instant-snipe” deal returned, combining extreme value- Xianyu’s door-to-door recycling service launches in 50 cities nationwidewith one-hour service now available On 16 June, Xianyu (闲鱼) officially launched its door-to-door recycling servicein 50 cities across China, covering major first-, second-, and third-tier cities.Users can access the “Recycling” section on the Xianyu app homepage, click toschedule an appraisal, and a professional quality inspection engineer will arrive Taobao Flash works with catering partners to expand quality takeoutdelivery business Taobao Flash (淘宝闪购) recently announced that it is launching a nationwiderecruitment programme for service providers this summer, alongside the rolloutof a special incentive framework. As the summer peak in takeout deliveryconsumption approaches, the platform aims to use financial incentives andsystematic operational support to continue strengthening the supply of qualitytakeout options, accelerating the online transformation of quality catering and Taobao launches in-app “AI video calling” feature to check prices The Taobao (淘宝) app has launched an “AI video calling” feature. The featureis an upgraded new shopping assistant service built on top of Taobao’s photosearch function, allowing users to dial an AI video call and check prices whilethey shop. This feature’s entry point is located within Taobao’s app under“Scan”. Users can chat with the AI assistant using voice dialogue mode. In the JD.com opens 23 new offline stores during 618 shopping festival JD.com’s (京东) offline business saw a significant expansion during the 2026618 shopping festival. JD Mall and JD City Flagship Stores opened 23 newlarge stores in 22 cities across China, adding over 300,000 sqm of retail space,providing consumers with a one-stop shopping experience for homeappliances, furniture, and consumer electronics products. Among these, JD JD.com’s “Billion-Yuan Subsidies” renamed to “Super Subsidies” JD.com (京东) recently renamed the homepage entry “Billion-Yuan Subsidies ×Nation