JD.com

China's rural population—around 589 million people—is larger than the entire U.S. population but constitutes an economy relatively untapped by e-commerce. JD.com is rectifying this by pioneering innovative delivery solutions for rural China. Most striking is its drone delivery program: To date, JD drone deliveries are servicing over 100 villages and have made more than 20,000 delivery runs. Ultimately, JD envisions combining unmanned planes and wingless drones to complete long distance and last-mile deliveries for rural areas. (It has also innovated in urban areas, with four-wheeled autonomous minicars that can avoid traffic and find uncongested routes.) CEO Liu Qiangdong claims that when the network is expanded nationwide it will save 70% on delivery costs. Those savings will benefit not just consumers but producers too, such as farmers who want to get their goods to urban markets quicker than trucking allows.