by Martin Li

JD opened the first Shenzhen branch of its omni-channel fresh produce supermarket SEVEN FRESH on Apr. 30.

“Backed by JD’s robust supply chain, SEVEN FRESH can provide consumers with quality and differentiated products at an affordable price. We are committed to serving consumers in the long, “ said Carol Fung, president of JD FMCG Omni-channel，at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The supermarket is located in Wankeli, a property developed by Vanke, the giant real estate developer in China, in the Shenzhen’s central Futian district.

It covers an area of 1,983 square meters and provides a variety of fresh food including fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and seafood.

Consumers can not only buy imported produce like durian from Thailand and Boston lobster, but also local fruits from Guangdong province, including lychee, guava and pomelo.

The store provides shoppers with 26 kinds of ready-to-cook products, including pre-washed vegetables, soup ingredients and seasoned meat.

“Consumers can even buy ready-to-cook pork tripe stewed with chicken, a dish favored by Guangdong people. We only choose chickens which have been bred for over 160 days,” said the store manager, Hao Long.

The number of ready-to-cook dishes will be gradually increased, according to Hao.

There is a SEVEN FRESH Bakery in the store, which provides freshly baked bread.

Seventy percen of the baked goods have been developed by the store. Most of the supplies are imported, including butter from New Zealand, flour from France, cheese from Australia and cream from Austria, according to Hao.

Consumers can choose to either buy food in the store or order online with delivery service.

Online delivery is available from 8 am to 9 pm each day. The fastest delivery speed will be only 30 minutes for consumers who live within three-kilometers radius from the store.

“We come to Shenzhen market with the help of JD’s omni-channel and supply chain capabilities. We believe that SEVEN FRESH can provide local residents with a more comfortable, convenient and better quality fresh food service, as well as an omni-channel choice,” said Duan Lixia, who is in charge of Southern China business of SEVEN FRESH Supermarket.

Duan said that SEVEN FRESH is not only a fresh food supermarket but also a place where consumers can enjoy cooked food and baked goods prepared by the store.

“SEVEN FRESH inherited JD’s internet company DNA, so our online service is not a simple complement to offline store. Instead, it’s aimed at an integrated –online and offline – service for consumers,” said Duan.

Following the first store, JD will soon open another two in Shenzhen, located in Futian and Bao’an districts respectively, according to Duan.

 

（Banner photo: Carol Fung (fourth from the right), president of JD FMCG Omni-channel, and Helson Zheng (third from the left）Head of SEVEN FRESH, JD.com, cut ribbon with representatives from Shenzhen Futian District government for the opening of JD’s first SEVEN FRESH in Shenzhen on April 30.)

 

(bjlihao3@jd.com)

by Ella Kidron

From May 1-5, offices and schools will take a five-day break for the International Labor Day holiday. JD Data (released on Apr. 29) indicates that if anything, the Qingming holiday in April was merely a warm up and that many people are ready to go out and play. A few trends worth noting are:

1. It’s family vacation time.

A reflection of increased confidence in the long-term stabilization of the COVID-19 situation in China, more families are preparing to take vacations. The number of individuals booking at least two hotel rooms increased 83% YOY while bookings for hotels near amusement parks increased 101% YOY.

2. Sun protection is a priority.

With places like Jiuzhai Valley National Park in Sichuan, Zhangjiajie in Hunan and Sanya in Hainan becoming the hot destinations for this year’s International Labor Day travel spree, it’s no surprise consumers are stocking up on sun protective gear. During the month of April, the number of sunhats and pairs of sunglasses sold increased 284% and 229% YOY respectively.

3. Flight and train tickets are flying off the shelves. “Say go, just go” mentality of traveling on a whim is apparent.

Many people are choosing to hop on planes or trains this holiday, with air tickets and train tickets up 5 times and 3 times YOY respectively. Furthermore, mystery boxes and other spontaneous travel packages are increasingly popular among young people and families.

4. Some people just want to relax at home.

Despite the flurry of activity around travel, the data indicates that some consumers are choosing to stay home and might even do some home upgrades over the holiday. Sixty-five-inch TVs as a proportion of total TV sales is up 48% YOY, and health conscious fresh ACs and sterilization ACs are up 200% and 171% YOY respectively.

Senior analyst at the JD Big Data Research Institute, Fei Lu, shared: “Family outings make up a much larger proportion of trips this International Labor Day holiday than last year. We’ve already seen the overall tourist population structure and consumption level recover and exceed 2019 levels.”

 

(ella@jd.com)

by Hui Zhang

An increasing number of Chinese consumers are considering replacing their home appliances during the upcoming 5-day May Day Holiday (May 1-5), as reflected in a white paper by JD.com and China Market Monitor, a research organization focusing on retail research in the Chinese consumption market. The white paper predicts that the large home appliance market size will reach up to RMB 52.3 billion yuan during the holiday with “high-end,” “intelligent,” and “innovative” being among the key words to describe consumers’ preferences.

These new preferences and the continuous market growth during the upcoming holiday can be traced back to sales performance of home appliances in 2020.

As Generation Z (people born from 1995 to 2010) are becoming the major consumption forces, their preferences for home appliances with intelligent and healthy features are driving a new trend. The white paper shows that in 2020, the market size of intelligent home appliances reached RMB 272.7 billion yuan, accounting for 43% of the total proportion of the home appliances market.

Various innovative home appliances are emerging in the market, and have become the new favorites for many Chinese consumers. According to the white paper, sales of floor cleaner have maintained a YOY growth rate of more than 20 times; and washing machines with dual washing and drying functions, 8K TV sets and sterilization and purification air conditioners have maintained a YOY growth rate of 395%, 268% and 171% respectively.

In addition to young consumers, Chinese families are also becoming smaller with only 1 or 2 members accounting for nearly 50%; and the number of small families is almost 2 times the amount in 2017. Home appliances targeting small families are also experiencing major growth. For example, the market shares of electronic rice cookers under 3L accounted for 15% of the whole market in 2020, with a YOY growth rate of nearly 54%.

Regarding the potential home appliance market share growth, the white paper predicted that TV, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners will reach RMB 8.8 billion yuan, 11.2 billion yuan, 7.2 billion yuan, and 25.1 billion yuan respectively, with a YOY growth rate of 34%, 12%, 6%, and 21% respectively during the May Day holiday.

“As one of the major players in the home appliance market, JD is willing to work with brands to continuously promote the structural upgrade of the industry and lead the home appliance industry to renew in the direction of technology, intelligent products and innovation,” said Fan Xie, president of JD Home Appliance.

 

(zhanghui36@jd.com)

by Ling Cao

JD announced on Apr. 28 to implement its cold chain network and other capabilities to help bring fresh durians from Rayong city, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, to China, enabling customers to enjoy durians at their ideal level of ripeness.

Traditionally, durians from overseas will be picked when they are only 60%-70% ripe and then they will be chemically treated on the journey so that they are fully ripe by the time they reach customers. This impacts the taste of the durian, and also goes against the general industry principle that durians should be left to ripen naturally to maximize flavor, aroma, texture and appearance.

Liyuan Zhang, a sales manager from JD Fresh shared, “We saw most of our customer complaints on durian, mentioning that the fruit is not sweet enough nor ripe enough. Therefore we are trying to find how to best naturally-ripen the durians first, and then make efforts to allow them to reach customers quickly.”

Using its cold chain logistics network, JD arranged for the temperature to be controlled at 15℃ during the transportation process, whether the durians are transported by air or by ground. This enables the durians to achieve ultimate ripeness and still reach customers without quality being negatively impacted. JD will also open pre-sales to help customers reserve durians in advance, so that when products are delivered to China, they can be sent to customers’ doorsteps directly instead of sitting around in the warehouse.

Zhang shared, “We are proud to bring this kind of durian experience to customers, allowing them to taste the same quality of durians as if they were in Thailand.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)