JD to expand 7Fresh grocery chain across China mainland

JD is expanding its 7Fresh grocery store chain across Mainland China.

The e-commerce and tech company has signed agreements with 16 real estate companies including China Poly Group, Joy City, Vanke, Yuexiu Property and Greenland Holdings to expand the supermarket chain, which was launched earlier this year.

Consumers in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu will be next in line to experience the e-commerce platform’s premium offline stores focused on fresh food. Fresh produce makes up more than 70 per cent of the brand’s offerings.

Twenty per cent of 7Fresh products are directly sourced from vetted overseas suppliers in response to Chinese shoppers’ increasing focus on food safety and sourcing. All leafy green produce is restocked within 24 hours, and selected produce can be cooked on site.

CEO of 7Fresh Xiaosong Wang said 7Fresh redefines the offline retail experience by combining the best parts of fresh grocery markets and top-quality restaurants with cutting edge e-commerce technology.

“With the expansion of 7Fresh into more cities across China, we are bringing ‘Boundaryless Retail’ to even more shoppers for an incredibly convenient and enjoyable way to buy fresher, safer and more reliable products.”

JD’s own advanced technologies are central to the rollout of the 7Fresh brand. Through the building of customer profiles, JD can determine optimum store locations and layouts. Data analysis also helps improve inventory management by selecting the most appropriate amounts and types of SKUs from JD’s vast selection of goods, according to each store’s unique needs. Meanwhile, ‘Magic Mirrors’ automatically provide product information on a screen when they sense that customers have picked up fresh produce.

JD’s logistics capabilities enable 30-minute delivery from the stores for online shoppers.

Korean office

Meanwhile JD is expanding its international footprint with a new office in the centre of Seoul’s CBD. The office will help JD with outreach to South Korean brands that are highly sought-after in China. It will significantly increase the company’s procurement power in the region, reducing the threshold for Korean brands to enter the Chinese market and tapping JD’s more than 300 million customers.