JD.com: China's other online giant blazes its own trail

New York

JUST about every June, on the anniversary of his company's founding, Richard Liu dons a big motorcycle helmet and red uniform, hops on a three-wheeled electric bike and makes home deliveries for his e-commerce company JD.com.

It is in part a publicity stunt for Mr Liu, the 41-year-old billionaire who is the company's chairman and chief executive. But it is also a way to better understand the technical and logistical challenges facing JD, which is in a pitched battle for e-commerce supremacy in the world's second-biggest economy after the US.