Mar 8, 2021|
JD Super in Spotlight for Supporting Chinese Brands Going Overseas
by Hui Zhang
As the EU-China bilateral agreement of protecting geographical indications (GIs) in China and Europe entered into force on Mar. 1, JD.com, among other retail platforms, came under the spotlight for its efforts in helping Chinese products go global.
The agreement protects around 500 iconic European and Chinese agri-food names against imitation and usurpation, and many Chinese products, such as Anji white tea and Shanxi mature vinegar are on the list. The two products have witnessed increasing sales on JD.com thanks to support from the platform.
Take tea as an example. Official data shows that China’s ready-made tea beverage market size will reach RMB 478.9 billion yuan in 2021, however it is difficult for tea brands to go abroad due to the slow industrialization and branding processes. JD Super together with tea alliances and local government leverages its strength to provide preferential policies to help tea growers quickly win market share.
Since joining JD in 2017, Anji white tea has achieved a compound growth of 270% in 2020, up 270% YoY, reaching 8.7 times the industry average growth rate.
“The diversification of consumption scenarios has played an important role in the development of tea industry, and JD will take advantage of its platform to enable China’s high-end tea to reach the rest of the world,” said Lizhen Liu, general manager of JD’s FMCG business unit.
Shanxi mature vinegar has also benefited from e-commerce platforms such as JD. According to JD Super’s data, the compound annual growth rate of Shanxi mature vinegar exceeded 50% YoY in 2020 on JD. Meanwhile, this vinegar not only sells well in northern China, but has also become the first choice of condiment for consumers in many southern cities including Chengdu, Dongguan, and Hangzhou.