Chinese online retailer takes on Amazon
Chinese retail giant JD.com has mounted a challenge to Amazon’s control of the home-delivery market with its UK launch of online shop Joybuy.
The platform will offer big-name brands including Apple, Samsung and Lego and is taking on Amazon’s reputation for speedy delivery with its “Double 11” promise – meaning orders placed before 11am will arrive before 11pm that day.
JD.com, founded by billionaire Richard Liu, is China’s biggest retailer and made a series of abortive attempts to branch into the UK retail market before Monday’s UK launch of the online delivery platform.
The company walked away from a takeover battle for electronics retailer Currys in 2024, and had been in talks to snap up retail giant Argos before its owner, Sainsburys, terminated discussions in September.
In this attempt to crack the British market, JD.com’s Joybuy has opened three self-operated warehouses in Milton Keynes and Luton, and plans to reach more than 17m people with free same-day delivery.
Amazon operated more than 30 fulfilment centres across the UK as of 2025 and offers same-day delivery to 81 cities and towns for orders placed before noon.
The areas covered by Joybuy’s “Double-11” promise include London, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Oxford and Cambridge.
JD.com is marketing this new venture as a direct challenge to Amazon, and has launched virtual brand stores on its website with partners including L’Oreal, De’Longhi and BRITA.
Brits ‘forced to choose’ between speed and price
A Joybuy spokesperson said: “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.
“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. We will make your shopping more joyful.”
The platform is aiming to match Amazon’s wide range of products, including tech, toys and food.
The seller beats Amazon to price on some products, with a six-pack of Heinz baked beans listed at £3.80 on Joybuy and £4.27 on its US competitor.
A pair of Apple Airpods 4 headphones were available for £94 on Joybuy and £99 on Amazon on Monday, while a 13-inch Apple Mac Neo was listed for £599 on the US seller, £100 cheaper than on the Chinese site.
Richard Liu founded JD.com, which is separate from UK sportswear seller JD Sports, as a bricks and mortar retailer in 1998 before opening its online platform in 2004.
Liu is the world’s 720th richest person, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $5.6bn.
The firm floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2014, raising $1.8bn and notching a $26bn valuation, making it the largest Chinese company to be exclusively US-listed at the time.
The company employs 900,000 people globally and counts 700m active customers.
Joybuy follows AliExpress and Temu as a Chinese retailer entering the British online marketplace, though the latter firms rely on third-party merchants who sell through their platforms while Joybuy says its status as a first-party retailer sets it apart.