Feb 26, 2021|
Demand for Yuanxiao/Tangyuan Skyrockets ahead of the Lantern Festival
by Ella Kidron
Consumer preferences around Lantern Festival in China are changing, according to JD’s big data. Lantern Festival (which falls on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar – Feb. 26 this year) is usually a time for people in China to gather around the table and eat “yuanxiao” in the north of China and “tangyuan” in the south of China. Both yuanxiao and tangyuan are glutinous rice balls which typically have a sweet filling.
JD big data shows that in the week leading up to the festival, the amount of glutinous rice balls sold increased eight times YOY, and lanterns doubled. This is no surprise as online channels have become a major force for the FMCG category, especially as of last year.
What is new, however, is the move towards new flavors and styles. For example, the sales volume of salty yolk-filled glutinous rice balls increased 1.5 times YOY. What’s more, among the fruit-flavored category, durian is the highest. Salty flavors are also highly popular, with fresh meat glutinous rice balls increasing by more than 1.5 times YOY. Consumers are also opting for lanterns which have creative designs on them.
In the week before Lantern festival, users searched most not for black sesame flavored glutinous rice balls (a traditional and popular flavor), but for rice rhubarb (大黄米), sugar-free, chocolate and other flavors. Lettuce sales also increased, thanks to the tradition in the south of China to consume it since the word for lettuce sounds like the word for “making money”(生财) in Chinese. Sales of lettuce increased by 77% YOY.
With the main New Year feasts of this year now over, consumers are looking to get back in shape. The sales volume of scales sold reached the highest level in nearly a month, while consumption of sports-related items increased more than 1.6 times YOY.
The below infographics indicate some of the Lantern Festival trends this year:
Popular products sold during Lantern Festival
Popular flavors of glutinous rice balls include fresh meat, rhubarb rice, salty-yolk and sweet-scented osmanthus
Dec 20, 2024|
Dada NOW Receives “Leading Restaurant Empowerment Platform” Award at the 10th China Catering Innovation Conference
On December 19, Dada NOW, China’s leading local on-demand delivery platform under Dada Group, was awarded the “Leading Restaurant Empowerment Platform” accolade at the 10th China Catering Innovation Conference in Shanghai. Celebrated for its innovative 4D Service Standards, Dada NOW delivers professional, flexible, intelligent, and customizable services to top food and beverage brands including CHAGEE, KFC, Luckin Coffee, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut, garnering extensive acclaim within the catering industry.
4D Service Standards
The “Leading Restaurant Empowerment Platform” award honors platforms that provide comprehensive and professional services to restaurant businesses. Leveraging years of experience with leading restaurant brands, Dada NOW has crafted its 4D Service Standards to effectively address delivery challenges and enhance service quality. These standards include:
- Dedicated: Integrated solutions for warehousing, picking, and delivery.
- Dynamic: Tailored delivery solutions for diverse vendor scenarios, including store-stationed and crowdsourced rider options.
- Data-driven: Efficient data management systems utilizing AI technology for order dispatching, fulfillment timeliness, and quality inspection.
- Designable: Customized services for large supermarkets and restaurant merchants to bolster brand value.
Fast and Accurate Delivery
In the fast-paced food delivery sector, Dada NOW’s survey data indicates that 63% of brand merchants and consumers expect timely delivery, 21% prioritize location accuracy, and 9% value punctual pickup. Dada NOW completes delivery in as quickly as 9 minutes, with a 99.5% on-time completion rate and a 98% accuracy delivery rate. Real-time order matching is achieved in as fast as 0.3 seconds, ensuring fast and accurate service.
Unlike delivery providers that only focus on a single merchant type, Dada NOW provides both supermarket and restaurant deliveries. The differing peak times between these sectors allow for capacity complementation, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs. With a nationwide network of over a million riders and an industry-leading on-demand delivery model, Dada NOW has executed over 900 million route plans, swiftly allocating resources during peak periods such as lunch and dinner rushes, new product launches, and promotional events.
Customized Solutions for Merchants
To meet the strong customization needs of brand merchants, Dada NOW can offer bespoke services for each store, integrating its delivery capacity, products, and technological solutions. A notable example is the partnership with Sam’s Club, for which since 2017 Dada NOW has developed customized solutions in delivery capacity models, co-branded equipment, rider training, and system integration. This collaboration has achieved nearly 100% coverage of customized rider equipment such as helmets, uniform and delivery containers, and provides excellent customer service experiences. This highly effective collaboration demonstrates Dada NOW capabilities that are also transferrable to the restaurant sector.
Luckin Coffee, a long-standing partner of Dada NOW, exemplifies the high standards in the coffee and tea beverage sector, achieving a “30-minute delivery rate of 99.9%” to maintain peak freshness delivered to customers’ doorsteps. Dada NOW’s flexible rider network effectively manages peak demands and large order volumes during product launches and promotions through an intelligent order dispatching system, ensuring optimized delivery routes and careful handling to prevent issues like coffee spillage. Since 2023, this partnership has earned Dada Now several accolades from Luckin Coffee, including the “Best Strategic Cooperation Award” and “2023 Outstanding Delivery Partner,” with rider Tu Yanping being recognized as one of four “Annual Gold Riders” nationwide.
Dada Group operates two core businesses: JD NOW, formerly known as JDDJ, an instant retail platform, and Dada NOW, a local on-demand delivery service. Leveraging its extensive crowdsourced delivery network of millions of riders, Dada NOW provides a comprehensive service system open to merchants and individual senders across various industries and product categories. The company’s two platforms operate independently and collaboratively.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
Dec 13, 2024|
JD.com Targets 5 Billion RMB with Chilean Product Partnership as 2024/25 Season Cherry Sales Launch
On December 12, JD Super, the supermarket division of JD.com (also known as JINGDONG), launched the Chilean Specialties Festival and kicked off 2024/25 Chilean cherry sales with the recent arrival of the first “Cherry Express” ship in China. In a ceremony attended by the Chilean Ambassador to China, H.E. Mr. Mauricio Hurtado, JD Super signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chilean brands, aiming to achieve 5 billion RMB in sales of Chilean products, including cherries, wine, and salmon, over the next three years.
The sea-freight Chilean cherry sales launch event was officiated by Ambassador Hurtado, Chao Junwen, Secretary-General of the China Chamber of Commerce for Foodstuffs and Native Produce, and Juan Latife, General Manager of Garces Fruit China, Chile’s leading cherry exporter.
Through large-scale direct sourcing, JD’s procurement team has reduced the import costs of Chilean cherries, offering consumers prices that are approximately 15% lower than those on other e-commerce platforms for the same grade and size.
To ensure quality and proper grading, JD Super has introduced a caliper offering this season. Each box of cherries comes with a caliper that allows consumers to accurately grade the fruit and ensure they have received high-quality Chilean cherries.
Since late October, JD’s online channels and its 7Fresh omnichannel supermarket chain have been selling the season’s air-freight Chilean cherries. This product offering, which has been met with enthusiasm from Chinese consumers, is supported by JD’s extensive national cold-chain logistics network and instant delivery services that can deliver orders within 30 minutes, making it easy and affordable for users to enjoy the early batch of Chilean cherries.
“This large-scale procurement cooperation will allow JD Super to continue leveraging our strong supply chain capabilities and work closely with Chilean partners to offer a wider variety of Chilean products at competitive prices and services to Chinese consumers,” said a spokesperson of JD Super.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
Photo Gallery: This Week at JD (Feb. 21 – Feb. 26)
