Fresh retail transactions in the Chinese market have exceeded 2 trillion yuan——
Buy fresh food, make the market prosperous online and offline
At the turn of autumn and winter, shrimp and crabs are beautiful.
Consumers' demand for various fresh ingredients has entered another peak season.
In the first half of the year, in response to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, fresh food e-commerce has exploded and played an important role in promoting the sales of agricultural products and facilitating daily life. Many people have gradually developed the new habit of "purchasing fresh food online".
With the stabilization of the epidemic prevention and control situation and the continuous recovery of economic and social activities, the offline fresh food market has gradually attracted the return of consumption.
So, for people who love fresh ingredients, should they go to the market to choose them, or do they trust the e-commerce platform?
What are the new characteristics of the development of the two channels?
In this regard, the author visited.
Love both online and offline
"I'd rather eat a bite of fresh peaches than a basket of rotten pears." As people's living standards improve, the "photograph rate" of fresh ingredients in life is getting higher and higher.
The online and offline channels for buying fresh produce have their own merits.
Li Qi works at an Internet company in Wuhan, Hubei. He is busy at work and has no time to go to the supermarket. Ingredients such as rice noodles, vegetables, meat and eggs will choose to buy on platforms such as JD.com and Ele.me.
Usually, he will place an order in advance when he leaves work at night, and it will be delivered within 40 minutes, and he will be able to get it at home when he returns home.
"I usually spend more than 30 yuan to buy it once, which is enough to eat for two days. This is more economical than ordering takeout every day! I am also convenient. I am tired after working all day. I just want to lie in bed for a while. Go out to the supermarket again." Li Qi said.
Rich categories and high efficiency are the primary considerations for many consumers when choosing fresh food e-commerce.
Every time Xiong Hui, a Chongqing resident, wants to improve her food, she chooses to buy some bread, pastries and vegetables on the fresh food platform.
"I went online to buy fresh food, mainly because the small supermarket at the door could not meet my needs, and the variety was not complete. Especially during the period just after the epidemic, the supermarkets supplied more limited categories, and I often did not order fresh food for delivery. You can’t buy what you want.” Xiong Hui said that for herself, online shopping for fresh food has become a “just need”, but she will also go to the supermarket with her friends and always pay attention to whether the merchant has promotional activities. Or preferential prices.
Compared with fresh food e-commerce, traditional farmers' markets and supermarkets also have their own "fan groups."
After Ms. Wang Rong who lives in Beijing retired, she often went to the nearby fresh supermarket with her family.
"Buy yellowish ones or reddish ones? Yellowish ones will be a little sour. If you don't like to eat them, then buy red ones!" They carefully selected the color of the tomatoes and saw that the tomatoes in the fresh supermarket were selling 40% off. Bought 3 boxes.
Wang Rong told the author that because of the epidemic, she has also started to use platforms such as JD.com, Duodaian, and Hema Xiansheng for online shopping, but she still feels that on-site selection can be more confident about Jinliang and quality.
Especially offline stores will have discount promotions when the market closes at night.
"For food, such as meat and seafood, our family still values quality. We feel that seeing is believing when we go to the vegetable market or the supermarket is more intuitive and more at ease."
The fresh food e-commerce research report released by iResearch shows that users have developed the habit of buying fresh food online.
Among them, users who buy fresh food online 2-3 times a week have increased from 25.7% in January and February this year to 30.1% after March.
The report predicts that the fresh food e-commerce market transaction scale will increase significantly, and is expected to exceed 800 billion yuan in 2023.
"Value for money" is the focus of attention
So, what is the difference between different channels of fresh food?
This can be seen from Hema Xiansheng, which has both online and offline channels.
In the Hema Xiansheng store in Xizhimen, Beijing, there are various types of fresh vegetables and fruits, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish.
In the store, in addition to the customers coming and going to select the goods, you can also see that the shop assistants are busy packing the goods, quickly sorting them directly on the conveyor belt, and delivering them to the courier.
In terms of price, the online and offline prices of the products in the Hema Xiansheng store are the same. Although they are different from other sellers, the difference is not big.
Taking sea shrimp as an example, Hema Fresh Food is 39.8 yuan per catty, 40 yuan per catty on the Daily Youxian platform, 38.98 yuan per catty for more points, and 35.98 yuan per catty in a Wumart supermarket in Xicheng District, Beijing.
Offline selection is intuitive and true, and online ordering is convenient and fast.
As a rising star in fresh food sales, e-commerce platforms attach great importance to promotions and discounts, and attract consumers with higher "price ratio".
Tang Yishen, general manager of the fresh food business department of 7FRESH, JD Retail Group, told the author that in this year’s "Double 11", many products on JD Fresh will take a 50% discount, covering fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry, seafood, eggs, milk, frozen food, etc. All fresh products.
"At present, the pre-sale has been opened. Pre-order Aksu Apple now. The deposit is 10 to 50 yuan and you can enjoy buy 1 get 1 free; cherries, steak, hairy crabs, etc. are all participating in the activities, fresh and delicious directly to users in first- and second-tier cities. At the same time, Jingdong Sheng Xian also teamed up with big catering brands to create the '11.11 yuan convenience dish blind box' to provide office workers with different delicious dishes." Tang Yishen said.
In terms of quality, e-commerce platforms have taken many measures to reassure consumers.
For example, JD Fresh has a "fresh-hunting buyer group" with more than 100 people, which has traveled to more than 70 countries and regions around the world, carefully selecting high-quality origins, and bringing consumers the most original fresh products.
In order to ensure quality, JD Fresh controls the entire supply chain of fresh food, adheres to the mode of direct procurement at the origin, continuously expands direct delivery from the origin, reduces middlemen, improves turnover and transportation efficiency, and uses efficient cold chain logistics to quickly convert The product is delivered to the consumer.
"In order to solve the problem that fresh products on e-commerce platforms cannot be directly selected and the quality is unstable, JD Fresh has created a systematic quality control standard system to strictly control the origin, products, packaging, specifications, and transportation from the source. Quality, to ensure that every fresh product that consumers buy has a stable and high quality, even if they don’t have to choose by themselves, they can buy with confidence. For example, middle-aged and elderly people care about nourishing health and are willing to pay for high-quality fresh food such as sea cucumbers. Provide preferential and healthy fresh product portfolios for middle-aged and elderly people, and achieve fast door-to-door delivery, so that they don't have to squeeze the vegetable market." Tang Yishen said.
Complementary co-generation as a trend
Previously, there was a view that as the impact of the epidemic diminishes, online fresh food may gradually be replaced by offline.
In the interview, the author found that for fresh food consumption, online and offline channels are more complementary than mutually exclusive.
Liang Wenjie, who works in the Internet industry in Beijing, said that fresh food e-commerce can directly reach the door of the house, which facilitates the lives of office workers, but she cannot do without offline supermarkets.
"I don’t necessarily go to the supermarket to buy things. I like to hang out when I’m free and buy something along the way. If I’m in a hurry, I just go to the store and buy it directly. If I buy online, I have to wait for delivery, or get together. Enough for the delivery fee." Liang Wenjie said.
Mr. Chen, a 43-year-old employee of a public institution, said that his lifestyle is to go to the supermarket to buy food after get off work every day, but he often uses online platforms.
"For me, both methods are indispensable, mainly due to the inconvenience at the time. When you go to the supermarket, you can check the price and quality, choose one by yourself, and it is convenient to be near home. If it is rainy or busy at work, Going out to buy groceries is a bit troublesome. At this time, it is more convenient to place an order online and deliver it to your doorstep." He said.
In fact, online and offline integration has also become the focus of many businesses.
"Suning Online Supermarket launched Suning Tesco's "Fresh Eats" Traceability Program in September, with the goal of direct harvesting from the place of origin to help foodies try to taste freshness. We also held Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and Sichuan Meishan Eyuan No. 38 Jelly Orange , Pujiang Kiwi and other offline activities. For another example, starting from October 30th, users can enjoy the'Double 11' promotion at Suning Carrefour stores. Among them, the prices of fresh products such as ribs, chicken wings, apples, etc. It is the'basin' of the annual price." Pan Zhengquan, Operations Director of Suning Carrefour North China, told the author.
Pan Zhengquan said that the characteristics of fresh products are scattered origin, warehouse distribution, and quality control.
Suning Carrefour achieves unified procurement, transportation, warehousing, quality control, etc. through the construction of a unified nationwide warehousing and distribution system and an integrated cold chain system to maximize the purchase of fresh products at the lowest price and the best quality.
In the future, Suning stores will be opened within 3 to 5 kilometers of Suning Carrefour stores, forming synergy with Carrefour China stores, and at the same time further opening up the supply chain, so that high-quality products from various sales channels can better cover consumers.
Nowadays, government departments are also actively accelerating the construction and improvement of circulation infrastructure, promoting cross-border integration of the retail industry, offline and online integration, and striving to create a convenient life service circle.
At the 3rd China Fresh Food Retail Conference held on September 23, Zhang Yujun, the second-level inspector of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China's fresh food retail transactions have exceeded 2 trillion yuan, and the future development potential is huge.
The Ministry of Commerce will continue to vigorously implement the consumption upgrade action plan, focus on building a quarter-hour life service circle, accelerate the construction and improvement of the commerce circulation system, and better serve the overall national economic development and new development pattern.
Wang Junling Sun Yajun
Wang Junling Sun Yajun