JD.com Seeking Stronger Ties With South American Fruit Exporters

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has opened an office in Chile with the goal of establishing direct contacts with South American fruit exporters and streamlining the export process.

According to Fernando Schmidt, commercial director of the fruit and food section of the new office in Santiago, the endeavor is intended to bring more fruit exporters from Chile, Peru and other South American countries to collaborate with JD.com. Schmidt emphasized JD.com’s appeal to local traders, notably its cold chain logistics with multiple refrigerated warehouses across the country and its unique omnichannel retail platform with on-demand delivery, which ensures the quality and freshness of the fruit supplied to end customers. The office will be in charge of facilitating talks between exporters and JD.com’s China-based departments by reducing the language barrier, which is often an obstacle to doing business with China, said Schmidt. He also stated that the export process is expected to become smoother and faster in the future.

Another goal set by JD.com is to increase the number of fruit items sold on the online platform. For the time being, however, the retailer plans to focus on cherries, cherry plums, sugar plums, blueberries, table grapes, apples and avocados from Chile and Peru.

Regarding the demographics of consumers who buy imported fruit in China, it was noted that JD.com’s customer base has seen a transition from younger generations to older generations over the course of the pandemic, a trend that is continuing to this day. The fact that practically the entire population of China is engaged in online purchasing makes it an appealing market for the South American fruit sector.

JD.com started marketing fruit around six years ago. Its retail platform currently generates over $410 million in revenue from the sale of imported fruit, particularly Chilean cherries, New Zealand kiwifruit and Thai durians.

In 2021, JD.com signed agreements with Chile’s four top cherry exporters, namely, Garces Fruit, Copefrut, Nature South and Fruittita Co., for direct sourcing of the fruit. Meanwhile, the company has been heavily involved in promotional campaigns held in China by the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association for cherries, table grapes and stone fruit.

Image: JD.com Corporate Blog

This article was based on a Chinese article. Read the original article.