Aug 17, 2020|

Turning Inwards: JD Helps Sell Eel across China

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by Yuchuan Wang

 With the help of JD, Fujian province-cultivated eel enterprises have found a new sales channel via JD’s sales approach. From February to June, sales of Fujian eel products increased 451% year-on-year on JD, with many eel farmers and manufacturers making up for losses incurred due to COVID-19.

Fujian is a major province for eel cultivation in China. In the past, 70% of Fujian eel was exported to Japan, U.S. and other overseas markets. But this year, the eel industry in Fujian suffered heavy losses on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, and exports decreased to less than half of that of previous years. At the same time, the domestic catering market was also impacted, resulting in the sharp contraction of domestic eel sales.

JD.com launched the “National Fresh Produce Green Channel” in February.

To help farmers sell their inventory amidst the pandemic, JD.com launched the “National Fresh Produce Green Channel” in February. The initiative also helped local eel companies well to the domestic market through JD’s e-commerce platform.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Many eel enterprises simply moved their products online without considering that many Chinese consumers do not know how to prepare eel. To boost sales and make it easier for consumers to do it, JD.com guided Fujian’s eel enterprises to develop ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat eel products.

“Based on JD’s big data insights, we developed the roast eel ready-to-eat product. On the first day of its launch during JD.com’s 618 Grand Promotion, we sold out of all roast eel products,” said Jianli Wang, sales manager of Sandugang, a Fujian-based eel producing and manufacturing company. On June 18th, transaction volume of eel products on JD was nearly RMB 1 million yuan.

During 618, JD opened up an exclusive sales and logistics channels for seafood like eel. These efforts have helped Fujian eel farmers resolve key sales challenges.

This August, JD held an “eel season” sales event online. The company hopes to bring more quality seafood to its consumers and continuously drive sales for merchants, facilitating the recovery of more enterprises.

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

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