Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com announced on Tuesday a partnership with Shopify to help overseas merchants sell in the world's second-largest economy.

JD.com, which owns 550 million annual active customers, said it will open an “accelerated channel” for brands on Shopify to begin selling via its cross-border e-commerce site in China. Typically, it takes up to a year for American brands to start selling in China, but with JD.com's support, the process will be shortened to three to four weeks.

The service will take advantage of JD’s network of 1,300 warehouses and 200,000 delivery personnel in China. JD.com has its own logistics arm with a comprehensive network of delivery employees and facilities, which it sees as a competitive edge over rival Alibaba.

Meanwhile, JD.com will assist more Chinese vendors in getting access to the e-commerce website builder Shopify's service to better reach consumers in Western markets.

As the direct-to-consumer model grows in popularity among Chinese cross-border sellers, there is an increasing demand for building a self-owned website through Shopify to enter overseas markets. The tie-up will not only help Shopify attract more Chinese customers, but also help JD.com expand internationally.

JD.com has been working to expand its presence overseas in recent years. It has launched e-commerce platforms JD.ID and JD CENTRAL in Indonesia and Thailand respectively, and has built 18 warehouse centers and a distribution network covering 90% of the provinces in Indonesia. Last week, JD opened its first physical retail stores in Europe.