JD Mall, the physical retail chain of Chinese e-commerce giant JD, is set to open its first store outside the Chinese mainland in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, marking its latest push to expand into the broader global markets.

Scheduled to start operations on June 18, the flagship JD Mall will span over 30,000 square feet (2,787 square meters) in Wan Chai, one of Hong Kong’s major shopping districts, JD said on Friday.

The store will feature home appliances, electronic devices, and lifestyle products. Emerging categories such as artificial intelligence-integrated devices and robots will also appear on the shelves, according to the group.

The group added that it will keep extending the retail chain’s footprint over the next three years, planning to open six to eight branches in Hong Kong, with a priority on densely populated commercial areas such as Sha Tin, Mong Kok, and Tuen Mun.

Yu Kun, head of JD Five Star Appliances — the JD subsidiary that operates the JD Mall chain — said the Hong Kong branch marks “the first step” in the chain’s international expansion blueprint, noting that it provides the group a chance to study and understand customer needs in a market with a global background.

“If we were to enter Europe, conditions would differ significantly across the dozen or so countries there. … In that sense, the market closest to home that most closely resembles an international market is Hong Kong, so we will definitely use Hong Kong as our first step,” he said.

Bryan Peng Wenjun, executive director of the HKSAR government’s Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises, said that the opening of JD Mall’s Hong Kong branch will set an excellent benchmark for the integration of online and offline retail services. He said the office will continue to work with JD to further drive growth across various sectors in the city.

“As Hong Kong works on its first five-year development plans, we also warmly welcome other outstanding companies to establish a presence in Hong Kong and use the city as a platform for global expansion,” Peng added.

JD on Friday also announced that it will partner with 1,000 leading domestic and international brands and further expand its businesses across the SAR, which the group estimates will create 10,000 local jobs in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the group added that it has launched the 100th branch of Kai Bo Food Supermarket. The e-commerce heavyweight completed its acquisition of the local Hong Kong supermarket chain last year.

The launch of JD Mall in Hong Kong marks the latest arrival of mainland e-commerce services into the city. As more mainland firms seek to broaden their overseas footprint and new growth opportunities, the SAR’s sizeable customer base and its unique role as a gateway connecting the world continue to attract ambitious players.

Last month, Alibaba Group’s Taobao Hong Kong announced that its sister platform Tmall Supermarket — a self-operated online supermarket — officially launched services in the city. Customers in Hong Kong can receive their orders as soon as the next day after making purchase online, the company said.

The momentum also boosted the local retail market, with total retail sales in April rising 8.6 percent to HK$31.4 billion ($4 billion) from the same month in 2025, according to the Census and Statistics Department’s latest data.

Online sales represented for 9.7 percent of total retail value, increasing 30.6 percent year-on-year to HK$3 billion, the data showed. 

Contact the writer at gabylin@chinadailyhk.com