Fruitday-Zespri Agreement Opens Vertical Channel for Kiwifruit

A delegation from Zespri International Limited, including Chairman Peter McBride, visited the headquarters of Fruitday in Shanghai on September 12. Based on their close collaboration in the Chinese market in recent years, the two parties reached an agreement to take a further step: Fruitday is to become a direct purchaser of Zespri kiwifruit. This development cuts distributors out of Fruitday’s market channel and positions it as the world’s sole e-commerce retailer to also act as a direct purchaser from Zespri.

Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, accounting for one-third of total global sales. Zespri brand kiwifruit are also very popular among Chinese consumers, and the company has been working closely with Fruitday, a major e-commerce retailer of fresh produce, to promote kiwifruits in the Chinese market. Fruitday is Zespri’s top retailer, accounting for 8% of Zespri’s total sale in China, and assists Zespri in promoting new varieties and fighting against counterfeits.

According to Zespri, Fruitday had devoted itself to promoting Zespri products in China for years and they believed that the deepened cooperation will yield further progress on supply chains and marketing—especially among younger customers, who are more likely to purchase fresh produce online.

Mr Guozhang Zhang, the co-founder of Fruitday told Produce Report that the collaboration is a breakthrough for Fruitday in terms of supply chain. As a direct buyer of Zespri fruit, Fruitday will no longer need to purchase through outside distributors, which will reduce costs and ultimately benefit their customers. It will also simplify the import process and save time on transport, thus allowing Fruitday to provide fresher products to customers. Direct purchasing will also give Fruitday more options on product specifications and varieties, and a better guarantee on quality.