Liu Qiangdong is not waiting around. The founder of JD.com has long spoken of his deep connection to the sea and boats, a passion rooted in his family history and childhood dreams. His ancestors were boatmen, and growing up with these stories instilled in him a special affection for vessels and water. His dream of becoming a captain, held since elementary school, has never faded.
This year in February, Liu made a high-profile announcement of a 5-billion-yuan investment to launch a new yacht brand, "Sea Expandary," aiming to revolutionize the industry with his expertise in supply chain management. While met with some initial skepticism, he has not slowed down. Recently, he has taken another concrete step toward realizing his captain's dream.
A new company, the Qingdao Branch of Shenzhen Tanhai Yacht Industry Development Co., Ltd., has been formally established. Its legal representative is Fu Chuanyu, and its business scope includes vessel and yacht leasing, along with other rental services. While it may appear to be a standard rental operation, a closer look reveals its parent company is linked to Liu Qiangdong's independent yacht brand, Sea Expandary.
When Liu first announced his foray into yachting, many assumed he was still in the early planning stages. Now, he has already extended his reach to the northern city of Qingdao, focusing on the highly accessible yacht rental market.
The choice of Qingdao aligns with current consumer trends. There has been a noticeable shift in domestic high-end tourism, with people moving beyond simple sightseeing and photo-taking towards paying for unique, experiential activities. Sailing, yacht parties, and sea fishing—once scenes from movies—are becoming popular new consumption options for middle-class families and corporate teams. In northern China, Qingdao is a top destination capable of supporting this kind of premium maritime tourism, boasting a natural harbor, mature coastal resort infrastructure, and a massive influx of tourists and corporate business demand each year.
An awkward reality, however, is that the supply of yacht rentals in Qingdao has not kept pace with demand. Available options are often limited to a few expensive, old-fashioned vessels or small, scattered companies operating older boats. There is a notable lack of standardized, large-scale rental service providers that can cater to business receptions, corporate team-building, and private celebrations at sea. This gap represents a vast, underexploited market, which is likely what Liu Qiangdong has identified as an opportunity.
To view the Qingdao branch as merely a tentative step would be to overlook the series of strategic moves made in recent months. In February 2026, the Sea Expandary brand was founded with a 5-billion-yuan plan to cover the entire industry chain from R&D, manufacturing, and sales to operations, leasing, brokerage, and services. According to the Sea Expandary website, Liu has placed the manufacturing base in Zhuhai, focusing on new energy smart yachts, while establishing the China headquarters in Shenzhen to oversee brand strategy and global sales.
Subsequently, Dalian Tanhai Yacht Co., Ltd. was established with a registered capital of 100 million yuan, its business scope including the manufacture of pleasure and sports boats. The recent establishment of the Qingdao leasing branch effectively connects the manufacturing and consumer ends, forming a cohesive north-south strategic layout. Qingdao's role is clear: it serves as the hand of the entire industry chain reaching out to the end consumer market.
By expanding the yacht rental network in this popular northern coastal city, the aim is to allow customers who are willing to spend but not yet ready to purchase a yacht to experience being on the water. Business banquets, birthday parties, and proposal ceremonies could all potentially move from land to a yacht. Once an experience becomes a habit, the next natural step is consumption upgrade and brand loyalty.
This move may seem like a departure from his original track, but the underlying rationale is highly pragmatic. In fact, Liu Qiangdong is not following the traditional path of established yacht brands. Instead, he is replicating his signature heavy-asset, self-operated model into this new field. He is starting from the supply chain source, building his own factories, controlling his own channels, and establishing his own service system. For the yacht industry, which has long relied on handcrafted customization and intermediaries, this represents a completely different approach.
Consider how other internet giants operate offline. Alibaba has sold its stake in RT-Mart, and its Taobao Convenience Stores operate on a brand licensing model where merchants provide the space and labor while the platform supplies the brand, traffic, supply chain, and digital systems. The platform does not directly operate, control inventory, or manage heavy store assets; its core strategy is leveraging systems to mobilize social resources. Meituan follows a similar playbook with its community-based Squirrel Convenience stores using a franchise-plus-trusteeship model, the rapid expansion of Happy Monkey hard-discount supermarkets, and Raccoon Kitchen food delivery chain kitchens—all requiring minimal heavy investment from Meituan itself.
The common thread in these strategies is positioning oneself on the "lighter" side, using other people's capital and assets. Liu Qiangdong is doing the opposite. His entry into yacht rental is not about creating a platform to match scattered boat owners with consumers for a commission. He is investing in building his own factories and ships, opening branch companies in cities, and establishing his own rental service network. From the outset, Liu has intended to control the entire industry chain within his grasp.
This approach is strikingly similar to his earlier, relentless pursuit of building JD.com's own logistics network, buying land, and constructing warehouses across the country. At the time, this heavy-asset model was widely questioned, seen as an investment with disproportionate returns. Time, however, proved that this deep, capillary-like network became JD.com's widest moat. Now, in the yacht industry, Liu is evidently planning to deploy the same strategy once again. While others chase asset-light, low-touch operations, he is once more shouldering the heaviest and most labor-intensive burden, and with great enthusiasm.
This stems from his personal business judgment. Liu Qiangdong has stated that yachts represent the last major high-end gap in China's industrial system and pose a significant challenge. Globally, over 90% of the market share is still firmly held by European and American companies, while domestic yacht enterprises have long remained small-scale, with few investments exceeding ten million yuan. His 5-billion-yuan investment has a clear target: to compete directly with top-tier European and American yacht manufacturers.
He has also proposed an exceptionally bold product vision: not to build traditionally luxurious custom yachts, but to focus on new energy leisure yachts in the 100,000-yuan price range. His goal is to create yachts affordable for ordinary working families, making yachting as accessible as car ownership. This sounds ambitious, but Liu has always relished a challenge. He firmly believes that high-end products should not be locked away in display cases but should be accessible to everyday households.
While targeting the mass market, a high-end front is also being developed. Liu has revealed securing orders for five 72-meter catamaran yachts, each priced at approximately 60 million euros. This dual strategy of catering to both ends of the market reshapes the industry's competitive logic while retaining upward growth potential.
Therefore, the Qingdao branch is far from an idle move. Viewed within the broader context of the offline commercial ecosystem Liu Qiangdong is constructing, its future potential becomes truly compelling. JD.com's offline expansion in recent years has been systematic, not piecemeal. JD MALLs are rising in cities across the country; the acquisition of Hong Kong's Kaibo supermarket brought over 90 fresh food stores and supporting cold chain logistics; the launch of the new JD SPACE composite commercial spaces, along with the dense network of JD Electronics city flagship stores, 7FRESH supermarkets, JD Auto Care, and JD Pharmacy, paints a clear picture of a multi-dimensional offline network.
Once the yacht rental business matures, it could create powerful synergies with this existing network. For instance, yacht experience zones could appear in JD SPACE locations, allowing online bookings and offline sea voyages. Corporate clients completing team-building purchases at a JD MALL could seamlessly book yacht services in Qingdao. Further, with integrated membership systems, consumption points could be redeemed for a sunset cruise at sea. This integration of land and sea consumption scenarios could elevate experiential spending to an entirely new level.
All of this, however, relies on that heaviest foundation: self-built ships and a self-operated rental network. The establishment of the Qingdao branch, while just the tip of the iceberg, sends a clear signal. While Alibaba and Meituan shift from "unlimited warfare" to "limited warfare," prioritizing asset-light strategies, Liu Qiangdong remains committed to heavy-asset deployment, aiming to break through in a trillion-yuan traditional industry.
This contrast is not a strategic coincidence but a consistent choice. Once, the outside world questioned JD.com's self-built logistics model; later, that logistics system became a key reason countless consumers chose JD.com. Now, as he bets on yachting and again attracts many puzzled looks, Liu Qiangdong seems unfazed by the noise. He knows exactly what he wants. This descendant of boatmen from Suqian is using the method he knows best in an attempt to profoundly reshape an industry. Qingdao is just one stop on this maritime expedition. Liu Qiangdong's captain's dream is edging closer to reality.
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