Dada Nexus Limited, China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform, released its first ESG report. The report details the Company’s key initiatives and development in areas pertaining to environmental, social and corporate governance issues.
Based on materiality assessment result, the Company identified ESG issues that matter most to its business and stakeholders, and summarized six key themes in the report.
Highlights of the Company’s ESG efforts and performance include:
Responsible Governance
- Board diversity: The Company has a diversified board structure with female directors exceeding 57%, and directors are experienced in a wide range of industries and expertise.
- Anti-corruption efforts: Offline business ethics training covered 2,230 employees and online trainings covered 100% of employees in 2021. The Company’s anti-corruption efforts are recognized by both employees and partners.
- Strengthening cybersecurity: The Company had no major cybersecurity-related incidents in 2021. The well-functioning cybersecurity management system lays a solid foundation for business continuity and security.
- Improving ESG governance structure: The Company has strengthened the overall responsibility of the Board of Directors for ESG issues in 2021 and developed an ESG strategy in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Human Resources Development
- High-quality and diverse talent pool: In 2021, 1,482 employees newly joined the Company, with females accounting for more than 40%.
- Enhancing employee competencies: In 2021, various trainings covered 100% of employees. The Company’s e-learning platform “Dadao Learning Hub” provides more than 600 courses for employees to access at any time.
- Virtuous knowledge-sharing ecosystem: In 2021, the Company recognized around 150 employees as “Sharing Stars”, who created sharing contents of over 17,000-minute long.
- Multi-channel employee communications: As of end of 2021, the Company signed collective agreements with around 70% of its employees, protecting employee rights and interests in all aspects.
Quality Products and Services
- Implementing personal information protection: In 2021, the Company conducted training programs related to personal information protection covering 100% of employees. Both JDDJ and Dada Now Apps are upgraded to be in compliance with regulations.
- Ensuring fulfillment service quality: In the fourth quarter of 2021, the fulfillment rate of Dada Now intra-city delivery services exceeded 95%.
- Enriching supplies and expanding geographical coverage: In 2021, number of active retail stores on JDDJ was around 150,000, covering 1,800 cities and counties.
- Responding to users’ feedback and complaints: In 2021, the Company handled 920,000 cases of users’ complaints, with 100% of after-sales complaints settled.
- Establishing customer protection mechanism during special period: In 2021, the Company dynamically adjusted customer service capacity in response to the impact of the epidemic and flood, to guarantee the answer rate and timeliness of customer service.
- Exploring technology innovations: In 2021, the Company actively engaged in cooperation with industry partners and made innovative achievements such as the launch of “Dada autonomous delivery open platform”.
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Enabling Partners
- Engaging in new forms of employment: In 2021, Dada Now added more than 3 million registered riders. The next-month retention rate of active crowdsourcing riders maintained high at over 80%.
- Enhancing rider health and safety protection: In 2021, the Company provided more than 1.5 million online training sessions for the riders, while actively preparing for the pilot program of work-related injury insurance.
- Empowering retailer with digital tools: By end of 2021, the Company’s Haibo system had been deployed in 6,000 retail chain stores, significantly improving the efficiency of merchants’ O2O operations.
- Expanding brand cooperation via digital marketing innovations: In 2021, the Company directly partnered with 215 brands, up 38% year over year.
- Promoting industry development: The Company’s efficient local retail model and on-demand delivery network contribute to ensuring basic living needs, promoting growth and stabilizing employment. The Company also opens up its digital solutions to enhance the overall industry efficiency.
Promoting “Green” Philosophy
- Responding to climate change: In 2021, the Company identified and assessed risks and opportunities arising from climate changes, laying a foundation for low-carbon transformation.
- Committed to green packaging: In 2021, nearly 80% of packaging materials provided by JDDJ were biodegradable, covering more than 70% of orders on JDDJ.
- Low-carbon operations throughout the value chain: The Company adopts low-carbon delivery modes while keeping optimizing delivery routes. In 2021, orders delivered by electric vehicles accounted for nearly 100% of total intra-city and last-mile delivery orders. Meanwhile, the Company provided a number of digital solutions to improve labor efficiency and thus helping reduce carbon emissions in upstream warehousing and picking operations.
- Fostering a green office culture: The Company launched a light-off campaign in 2021 to turn off light at office for one hour during noon, leading to a 4% reduction in electricity consumption.
Delivering Social Values
- Caring for children’s education and well-being: In 2021, the Company launched the “Guardianship Program” and “Waiting for a Good Book – Squirrel Project” to promote children’s healthy growth.
- Responding to social needs in a timely manner: In 2021, as a key enterprise appointed by local governments to ensure supply in pandemic-struck areas, the Company engaged in various initiatives to meet consumer needs while supporting merchants.
- Providing humanitarian assistance in disaster situations: In 2021, the Company supported the flood-stricken groups in Henan Province, including commission reduction to help merchants resume operations, and a series of caring measures to protect riders’ health and safety.
- Promoting digital inclusion: In 2021, the Company actively engaged in aging-friendly and barrier-free design for JDDJ App, which passed the assessment by MIIT in Jan 2022. During Jan to May 2022, the average monthly visits of the JDDJ Elderly Edition reached approximately 200,000, with total orders exceeding 120,000 and GMV around RMB20 million.
