Beyond selling medicine: JD Health's new narrative

After several years of fierce competition for traffic in “online consultations” and “pharmaceutical e-commerce,” the pure dividend of online traffic in internet healthcare seems to have reached its ceiling. For industry giants, the current issue is no longer a binary choice between online or offline, but rather how to break down business boundaries and achieve a “1+1>2” effect. Against this backdrop, JD Health is extending its reach into the offline physical examination sector, aiming to build a complete “medical + examination + diagnosis + pharmaceutical” closed loop. On January 27, JD Health publicly shared developments in its physical examination business, marking “caution” and “restraint” as its key themes. In terms of quantity, JD Health currently only has five physical examination institutions, mainly located in Beijing and Guangdong. According to Xin Feng, JD Health has not formulated any aggressive large-scale expansion plans; in 2026, it plans to open two new locations in Beijing’s Wangjing and Asian Games Village. “At present, the offline physical examination business is still in the ‘0 to 1’ validation stage,” said Wu Daling, head of JD Health’s physical examination business, to Xin Feng. “Unlike the rapid iteration of internet business, offline medical entities involve site selection, renovation, equipment procurement, and qualification approval, all of which are lengthy and require heavy investment. To truly replicate these several-thousand-square-meter medical institutions requires fully mature organizational capabilities, service chain, and management standards.” This “slowness” in expansion corresponds to its “high-end” positioning. In the fiercely competitive physical examination market, JD Health has chosen to enter the mid-to-high-end segment. For example, at JD Health’s Beijing Yizhuang store, the average customer transaction is around 1,200 yuan. For JD Health, the physical examination business is by no means an isolated revenue stream. Strategically, physical examination serves to seamlessly connect infrequent offline data with frequent online services. Once a user discovers an abnormality during an examination, JD Health’s online resources offer “one-stop” solutions, from report interpretation and follow-up consultations to medication. This connectivity is not only reflected online, but also extends to physical offline spaces, forming a unique “physical examination + specialty” collaborative model. In JD Health’s layout, the physical examination centers are located together with its self-operated specialty clinics, such as dental and medical aesthetics, sometimes even “just upstairs or downstairs.” Physical examination serves as a traffic entry point to identify issues, and specialty clinics immediately undertake the solutions. This “comprehensive business model” combination is becoming a key path for JD Health to enhance customer value. According to Xin Feng, this model is currently expanding into broader areas such as weight management and traditional Chinese medicine. However, there remains a gap between the ideal consumer closed loop and the reality of the revenue structure. Despite owning massive consumer traffic through the JD APP, JD Health’s physical examination clients still mostly exhibit the traditional “To B” characteristics—about 80% of its income derives from group orders (corporate procurement), with a renewal rate above 95%. How to truly activate those users brought in by the B-end and transform physical examinations from one-off corporate “welfare expenditure” into proactive, ongoing consumer healthcare spending remains a central challenge for JD Health’s physical examination business moving forward. From “selling medicine” to “opening stores,” JD Health is attempting to build a deeper moat through a heavier asset model. But whether this “medical + examination + diagnosis + pharmaceutical” closed-loop logic can be validated and scaled up still requires time and testing from the market. Risk Warning and Disclaimer The market has risks; investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account individual users’ specific investment objectives, financial situations, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions herein are suitable for their particular situation. Investing based on this is at your own risk.