Chinese chain that wants to open 1,000 shops every day!

JD.com is an e-commerce website for Chinese customers similar to Amazon

Richard Liu, 44, started it in 1998 as a way to raise money to buy medicine for his sick grandmother

In 2004 he closed the firm’s 12 stores and moved it online following the Sars outbreak in China

tHE chief of China’s second biggest retailer has outlined a bold strategy to open 1,000 convenience stores a day.

While virtually unknown in the uK, JD.com has risen to become one of the world’s biggest shops because of the scale of its business in China.

It is opening 1,000 of its franchise stores a week there – and plans to ramp up expansion to grow by 1,000 a day by the end of the year, in a country of 1.4bn people.

While that may seem beyond the realms of anything ever seen in Europe, JD. com boasts that it is receiving 50,000 applications a day from potential shopkeepers who want to borrow money to open a franchise.

Richard Liu, 44, founder and chief executive of JD.com, said: ‘As of last month, JD. com opened 1,000 convenience stores in China every week. Our target is to open 1,000 stores every day by yearend.

It is now worth about £40bn and employs almost 160,000 people

From a poor farming family, Liu is now worth almost £9bn

Last year JD.com announced plans to open hundreds of unmanned convenience stores

by Hannah Uttley Almost every store would be franchised. the applicants are mostly migrant workers who have returned to their villages or small towns.

‘Our financial services arm would provide them with loans to open stores.’

He said shopkeepers could earn around £900 a month.

the plans come after JD. com opened its first round of shops in November, with 1,111 stores opened in a single day.

Liu was originally given a loan by people in his village to complete his degree. the married father of two then built up the JD.com empire, now worth around £40bn, and has 292m active customers.

He said: ‘I always think if I can do something to help, just like 20 years ago the villagers helped me, it will benefit society and help young people find opportunities similar to those that were given to me.’