(File Photo)

Chinese e-commerce giant Jingdong (JD) announced Tuesday an inventory pooling scheme with American retailer Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart stores will serve as warehouses for JD in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Wuhan.

JD’s system will be able to automatically check whether the goods that customers want are available at the nearest Wal-Mart store. If so, delivery will began from Wal-Mart stores rather than JD’s own warehouse in order to save time, while also giving Wal-Mart the chance to expand its influence in China’s smaller cities.

JD Vice President Feng Yi said a self pick-up service will be set up in Wal-Mart in the future.

Cooperation between the two giants has been growing since they signed a cooperation agreement one year ago. JD has opened offline stores in some Wal-Mart stores to sell electric devices. Both sides benefit because it brings more customers to Wal-Mart and provides greater product selection.