(Yicai) Oct. 20 -- JD Health, the healthcare arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com, has opened its first brick-and-mortar shop entirely dedicated to aesthetic medicine in Beijing's central business district.

The new JD Aesthetic store has received more than 3,000 orders since it launched pre-sales last month, with all in-shop service slots fully booked for this month, according to data recently released by JD Health.

JD.Com entered the aesthetic medicine sector several years ago and has been gradually increasing its investment in physical assets and service offerings. It trademarked JD Aesthetics in March and opened its first self-operated shop providing relevant services at JD Health's clinic in Beijing's Yizhuang Development Area in July.

JD.Com's advantage in the aesthetic medicine business lies in its massive e-commerce user base, which can bring substantial traffic and potential clients via its online aesthetic medicine service platform, industry experts told Yicai. However, compared with major rivals such as Meituan and So-Young International, JD Aesthetics has relatively low visibility among female beauty consumers, with its market influence still relatively weak, they noted.

In 2021, JD.Com allied with So-Young, a New York-listed aesthetic medicine service provider operating brick-and-mortar outlets, to develop an online aesthetic medicine service channel that offers consultations, customized treatment plans, and others.

Although JD Aesthetics has reduced the price of some products by leveraging the supply chain advantages of its parent company, the cost of some services is still relatively high, an aesthetic medicine enthusiast said to Yicai, adding that its prices lack advantages compared with other platforms.

China's aesthetic medicine industry is still highly fragmented, with small and medium-sized private institutions dominating the market. No industry giant has emerged so far, which presents opportunities for new entrants.

Opening physical stores is a capital-intensive business, some industry insiders pointed out. From site selection, renovation, and store opening to employee recruitment, coupled with various other subsequent investments, the business management is quite different from JD.Com's core competency in online business, so it is still difficult to judge the impact of the firm's entry on the future of the sector, they said.

In addition, people will start paying more attention to the safety and overall effectiveness of aesthetic medicine services as the number of users grows, making drug traceability and the disclosure of doctor qualifications increasingly necessary, according to frontline practitioners. This will require big companies such as JD.Com to promote the standardization of services across the entire industry, they noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev