The online retail market in China is booming, as are sales of perishables. Ahead of the curve is Tmall (part of the Alibaba Group) which, through Tmall Fresh and Mr. Fresh, has created some of the first B2C platforms that caters for fresh produce online sales and delivery.
Alibaba’s Tmall is the biggest domestic online B2C retailer. It is a platform for international and Chinese brands to sell goods directly to consumers in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and has a reach of millions of consumers. Tmall Fresh is the organisation’s new portal for perishable products.
Usually, due to high subscription costs, only large brands have online ‘flagship stores’ on Tmall and Tmall Fresh. Tmall Fresh currently only hosts Chinese online stores. Most of the existing flagship stores are importers or large distributors, that have been selling products on Tmall in the past before switching to Tmall Fresh.
Tmall Fresh and Mr. Fresh
“Tmall Fresh has been launched to meet the growing demand for fresh produce. It is becoming the online sales channel for perishables in China. Products include seafood, meat, dairy and, increasingly, fresh fruits,” says He Chunlei, CEO of Tmall Fresh.
To assist rookie foreign fresh produce exporters in overcoming difficulties that come with market entry, Mr. Fresh was introduced alongside Tmall Fresh.
Mr. Fresh is an online flagship store for foreign products on Tmall Fresh, entirely run by the Tmall Fresh Team. It aims to support foreign brands entering China. Mr. Fresh takes care of customers, marketing, sales, logistics and customer services. As such, it provides foreign suppliers with a low-cost entry to the Chinese market, whilst also avoiding the investment costs it takes to open a store on Tmall.
Supporting foreign exporters
“For foreign fruit exporters, Tmall offers two solutions. Foreign exporters can either cooperate with Chinese flagship stores, and sell their products through these existing portals on Tmall Fresh. Or, the second option, is that foreign exporters can join Mr. Fresh. Through cooperation with Mr. Fresh, foreign fruits can easily be sold into the Chinese market. We introduced the concept to solve trade barriers that foreign companies are facing entering China as a new market. The idea is that, after having sold their products on Mr. Fresh for a couple of years, foreign exporters are well positioned to open a flagship store on Tmall Fresh,” according to He Chunlei.
“Mr. Fresh is designed to meet both the needs of the supplier and the consumer. Fruit varieties that are currently sold are New Zealand kiwifruit, Thai durian, Chilean cherries and Vietnamese mangoes. Our mission is to help foreign companies enter the B2C market in China by providing them with a complete solution package. At the same time, we provide the consumer with product and company information. We use our sales data and marketing information to help our suppliers understand the needs and preferences of Chinese consumers. The market for online fresh produce sales is growing at 7% a year. So far, fruits make up a small share of total sales of perishables, but we see huge potential.”
PMA Fresh Connections China
From March 15 to 17, the PMA Produce Marketing Association (PMA) is organising Fresh Connections China, a yearly summit taking place in Shanghai. He Chunlei, CEO of Tmall Fresh, will be one of the speakers at the conference organised on the second day.