Sep 20, 2018|
JD Ramps Up Expansion of 7FRESH Stores Across China
Consumers in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu will soon be able to experience 7FRESH, JD.com’s premium offline stores focused on fresh food.
JD has signed agreements with 16 real estate companies including China Poly Group, Joy City, Vanke, Yuexiu Property and Greenland Holdings, to expand the premium supermarket chain. Launched earlier this year, the stores have proven a hit with customers, who are drawn by the unique experience of offline shopping complete with the convenience and service-quality that have made JD.com China’s largest and most trusted retailer.
7FRESH is differentiated by its mix of products, with fresh produce making up more than 70% of offerings. Twenty percent of products are directly sourced from overseas suppliers who have been carefully vetted by JD, an important factor for Chinese shoppers, who are increasingly focused on food safety and sourcing. All leafy green produce is restocked within 24 hours, and lots of selected produce can be cooked on site.
“7FRESH redefines the offline retail experience by combining the best parts of fresh grocery markets and top-quality restaurants with cutting edge e-commerce technology,” said Xiaosong Wang, CEO of 7FRESH. “With the expansion of 7FRESH into more cities across China, we are bringing ‘Boundaryless Retail’ to even more shoppers for an incredibly convenient and enjoyable way to buy fresher, safer and more reliable products.”
JD’s own advanced technologies are central to the rollout of the 7FRESH brand. Through the building of customer profiles, JD can determine optimum store locations and layouts. Data analysis also helps improve inventory management by selecting the most appropriate amounts and types of SKUs from JD’s vast selection of goods, according to each store’s unique needs. Meanwhile, ‘Magic Mirrors’ automatically provide product information on a screen when they sense that customers have picked up fresh produce. And JD’s powerful logistics capabilities enable 30-minute delivery from the stores for online shoppers.
Jan 4, 2018|
JD’s 7FRESH Stores Launch Top-Notch Offline Food Shopping Experience
JD is bringing a truly premium offline food shopping experience to China with the opening of its new 7FRESH stores.
One of the biggest factors that has driven the remarkable boom in China’s e-commerce sector, is the traditional weakness of the country’s physical store infrastructure. JD has become China’s biggest retailer by offering a superior customer experience online. Unlike in other markets where shoppers enjoy going to the supermarkets—especially upscale experience markets—in China, the only premium experience was online.
That’s all changing with the launch of 7FRESH.
Unlike any grocery experience in the country, the clean, spacious stores will be stocked with thousands of fresh products, including fruit, flowers, imported meat and freshly-caught seafood prepared and cooked on site. These stores create an offline experience that complements JD’s reputation for delivering the highest quality fresh food right to the doorsteps of its over 266.3 million customers.
“JD is uniquely positioned to bring this premium-quality offline shopping experience to Chinese consumers because of our supply chain technology and scale as the country’s largest retailer,” said Xiaosong Wang, CEO of 7FRESH and President of JD Fresh. “With the highest efficiency and the greatest knowledge of consumer preferences, as well as access to the highest-quality products, we can invest in a premium experience far beyond anything Chinese consumers have experienced before.”
7FRESH integrates several advanced technology elements to deliver a uniquely personal and educational hands-on shopping experience. For example, ‘magic mirrors’ that sense when customers pick up an item of produce, and automatically provide information on a screen about its source, as well as nutritional information, are now being tested. The stores will also soon feature smart shopping carts that can follow customers as they browse the aisles, allowing them to shop with children, hands-free, without having to fuss over their purchases.
Items can be scanned and bagged through traditional checkout or self-checkout. 7FRESH stores accept payment via cash, card or easy mobile payment using the 7FRESH app. Self-checkout offers the option of payment using a facial recognition system connected to the 7FRESH app. Customers in the neighborhood can either take goods to go, or have them delivered to their homes in 30 minutes.
The meat selection at 7FRESH includes some of the finest Iberico ham imported from Spain. Fresh fish and seafood can be caught from the seas of Japan and delivered to the dinner table in just 24 hours. At an in-store bakery, skilled pâtissiers trained by a Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (M.O.F) craftsman offer fresh bread, cakes and other baked goods.
Stores will also feature a restaurant area, where consumers can choose from a wide range of food cooked on-site by the highest quality trained chefs. Consumers can also purchase fresh cut flowers provided by JD’s partner, the renowned Taiwanese florist Ching Kao.
The launch of 7FRESH underscores an ongoing revolution of traditional retail powered by e-commerce technology. With an innovative supply chain built from scratch and as the largest-scale buyer across many product categories, JD has the most efficient sourcing, storage and logistics operations in China. This efficiency enables the company to unlock shopping services and experiences like 7FRESH, and many others that were previously impossible to justify under traditional retail models.
JD.com has been offering fresh food online since 2012. In January 2016, the company launched JD Fresh as an independent fresh food business unit. With China’s largest nationwide cold chain logistics network—the only one in the world that is operated in-house by a large-scale e-commerce company, down to the last mile—JD Fresh is able to offer rapid delivery of tens of thousands of high-quality fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, meat and frozen products sourced from over 2,000 partners.
In addition, JD is working with a growing number of partners to use blockchain to track every step in the supply chain, from production to delivery. Underscoring its commitment to food quality, JD recently partnered with Walmart, IBM and Tsinghua University to launch the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance, to enhance food tracing, traceability and safety in China.
Consistent with this mission, 7FRESH offers products directly sourced from top-quality suppliers who have been carefully vetted by JD, an important differentiator for Chinese consumers who are increasingly focused on food safety and produce supply chains.
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