Sep 28, 2020|

300,000 kg of Unsalable Kiwi Get a Second Life with JD

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by Ella Kidron

After seeing a cry for help in the local news in Sichuan, JD mobilized a team to help rescue 300,000 kg of unsalable kiwifruit.

The report, which appeared in the Chuanguan News (川观新闻) on the evening of September 27th, said that the “Wenchuan warriors” were desperately seeking a channel to sell the produce. During the worst period of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, 12 “Wenchuan warriors” from Lehuo village, Wenchuan county (home of the devastating Wenchuan earthquake of 2008) in Sichuan province, selflessly traveled day and night to deliver six trucks full of vegetables amounting to around 100 tons to the epidemic epicenter. This time, one of the Wenchuan warriors, Guiyun Yang, is the main person in charge of the kiwifruit sales and transportation.

Just five hours after the report, Yong Zhao, village director of Lehuo village came with good news that JD would open a sales channel through which the kiwifruit would be sold to JD consumers all over the country.

According to Zhao there are more than 1,400 villagers in Lehuo village and kiwifruit is a big source of income for them. He received many calls after the posting in Chuanguan news, but hesitated to sell because he did not feel that the logistics could guaranteed. “I was worried that the fruit would be damaged during transportation and destroy our kiwifruit brand.”

Behind the scenes, upon catching wind of the request, JD Logistics’ Southwest region reported the information to an internal working group. After collecting significant information, members of JD Fresh, JD Logistics and other relevant departments held an emergency online meeting to discuss how to solve this problem.

A representative for JD Logistics Southwest region said, “We have always heard the story of the ‘Wenchuan Warriors” trekking for 20 hours to deliver vegetables to Wuhan and were deeply moved”. JD has a mature response mechanism for unsalable produce. During the epidemic period, it only took JD one month to sell nearly 10 times as much unsalable produce than the same period last year. “It is our duty to help the ‘Wenchuan delivery warriors’ sell kiwifruit,” said the representative. Furthermore, JD’s professional packing and transport capabilities gave the villagers peace of mind.

The JD team (Photo from Chuanguan News)

The JD team (Photo from Chuanguan News)

Early on in the virus outbreak, JD launched the National Fresh Produce Green Channel (“Green Channel” to help farmers sell unsalable products through JD’s channels. The program also provides JD customers across China with access to more high quality and fresh produce thanks to JD’s supply chain and logistics strength.

 

 

(ella@jd.com)

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