Chilean Cherries in Hot Demand During Double 12 Festival

The “Double 12” shopping holiday that takes place annually on Dec. 12 is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in China. This year, the Double 12 holiday coincided with the arrival of this season’s first sea shipment of Chilean cherries. All of China’s leading e-commerce portals, including JD.com, Tmall and Pinduoduo, chose to join hands with the Chilean Cherry Committee of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) to make fresh cherries one of their most popular online items.

During this period, the strong trading performance of Chilean cherries on various e-commerce platforms attracted special attention. Notably, sales of the product tripled on Pinduoduo compared with the same time frame of last year.

On Dec. 9, the first “Cherry Express” ship of the season arrived in Hong Kong after a 23-day sea voyage. JD.com and representatives of the Chilean cherry industry held a joint press conference in Shanghai to celebrate the arrival. That evening, the Sinar Mas Plaza near the Bund was illuminated with slogans encouraging people to purchase Chilean cherries on JD.com. The red lights on the skyscraper shone over a festive atmosphere full of warmth and good fortune.

To market fresh cherries, online platforms employed a handful of promotional activities such as providing subsidies, inviting celebrities to do live broadcasts and initiating group-buying services. Owing to these efforts, sales of fresh cherries on JD.com during the lead-up to the Double 12 festival and the festival itself achieved a 30% year-on-year increase. Moreover, Tmall has scheduled special campaigns for Chilean cherries during the Christmas and New Year period. Sales of the fruit on the portal are also expected to experience a jump in December over the previous year.

Arrivals of Chilean cherries are projected to peak in coming weeks as the Chinese Spring Festival holiday draws closer. Considering these increased supplies and the active promotional efforts of the Chilean cherry industry, the fruit is bound to draw more Chinese consumers to place orders both online and offline. The Chilean Cherry Committee of ASOEX will also maintain close ties with various retail channels both online and offline to create another successful season for Chilean cherries in China.

Images: ASOEX

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.