Cathy Zhou, Shanghai Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

China’s love affair with online purchasing continues to grow in double digit figures and is on track to outgrow the combined US and EU markets in sales terms by 2020.

With over 640m internet users:

63% shop online weekly compared to 21% globally

Sales of fresh produce online which has been hampered by a lack of cold chain logistics has been seen as the last area to conquer. Over the course of the last two years the environment has changed and as a result fresh produce online sales have taken off. From January to October 2015, the consumption of fresh produce on E-Commerce was RMB 339.70 (EUR 48.53) per capita. Fruits and vegetables were the main products sold on E-Commerce, which accounted for 55.2% of the total share, followed by meat, poultry and egg, occupying 17.4% and seafood 15.5%.

The average check of vegetables, fruits, dairy products and frozen products are less than RMB 30.00 (EUR 4.28), but the average check of seafood products was RMB64.60 (EUR 9.23). The peak season for seafood sales was Chinese New Year with the total sales value of seafood was 1.36 times higher in February 2015 than that in January 2015. Consumption of fresh produce on E-Commerce occurs most at first tier cities and second tier cities along coastal areas. Consumers from north China play a major role in fresh produce consumption, which occupies a share of 55.1%, while east China 26.3% and south China 16.6%.

The development on new platforms such as SFbest which specialises in fresh produce or indeed YHD, the online platform for Walmart has championed this growth. In addition the more established platforms such as TMall and JD.com have made significant investments in developing cold store warehousing and logistics. While margins in general grocery continue to be squeezed, fresh produce represents a high margin opportunity in addition to building a quality aura for platforms.

For more information contact cathy.zhou@bordbia.ie