China: food ecommerce in great demand among consumers

Fruit is the most frequently bought, with dairy products and vegetables ranked second and third, respectively.

Fresh food ecommerce developed rapidly in China in 2014 and 2015 but experienced a reshuffle in 2016. However, ecommerce companies Alibaba and JD.com later reinvigorated the market by raising investments in supply chains and logistics.

JD.com also opened its first off-line fresh food supermarket in Beijing in January 2018 where customers can either buy in the shop or order on its app. The company said over 10,000 customers visited the 7FRESH supermarket each day during its trial period.

President of 7FRESH said the company planned to open 1,000 shops across China within the next five years.

According to the report, logistics account for a large part of the cost for fresh food ecommerce businesses, as the foods have short quality guarantee periods and are easily spoiled.

The report found that 30.7% of customers hoped to receive their goods within several hours, while 28.8% hoped delivery times could be shortened to between 30 minutes and one hour.