In today’s world where “everything can be e-commerce,” fresh produce e-commerce stands out as a love-hate “paradox.” Fresh produce, as a daily necessity for three meals a day, inherently has the advantages of being a rigid demand, high frequency, and high repeat purchase. The market is also continuously growing, with NetEase’s data showing that the market size of fresh produce e-commerce in 2022 grew by 20.25% year-on-year to 560.14 billion yuan, indicating numerous opportunities in a large market.
Sin embargo, successfully operating a fresh produce e-commerce business is not easy. Giants occasionally face layoffs, shutdowns, and crises. With the rise of live-streaming e-commerce, fresh fruits and seafood have become major focus areas for influencers. The core issue is that fresh produce is a “fresh” business requiring freshness at every supply chain stage. Due to immature quality control at the front end and transportation issues at the back end, product damage occurs, leading to consumer skepticism towards fresh produce e-commerce.
Recently, “Deep Echo” observed the “Happy Countryside Harvest Season” event jointly launched by Kuaishou and JD Supermarket. Themed “Fresh Competition, Real Jing ‘Selection,’ Local Delicacies ‘Fresh’ to Your Home,” the JD Fresh Produce Competition live-streaming event combined the advantages of Kuaishou influencers and content with JD Logistics’ supply chain advantages, cleverly avoiding the pain points of fresh produce e-commerce. Consumers enjoyed a pleasant shopping experience, and farmers, agricultural products, and production areas gained real exposure and revenue.
According to data, the event achieved a total exposure of 8.8 billion times, with the dual topics #HappyCountrysideHarvestSeason# and #JDFreshProduceCompetition# accumulating 7.93 billion views. The live streams garnered 390 million exposures, achieving a total GMV of 7.13 millones de yuanes. With the peak of traffic dividends and the increasing competition in live-streaming e-commerce, how did Kuaishou achieve this? What new insights can this event bring to fresh produce e-commerce and future agricultural support methods?
Front-End Live Streaming Traceability + Back-End Cold Chain Assurance: Creating a New Paradigm for Agricultural Support
“To eat crabs, you have to find the source, it’s incredibly delicious.” During the JD Fresh Produce Competition’s “Hairy Crab” live-streaming event on September 8, Wang Xiaoli, who played Liu Neng in the Northeastern comedy series “Country Love,” and Kuaishou influencer Xiao Shenlong made such remarks repeatedly.
Unlike previous live streams, this event brought the live broadcast directly to the source of the crabs – Suqian. Wang Xiaoli and Xiao Shenlong were at a crab farm in Suqian, catching and eating crabs live, showcasing the advantages of Suqian hairy crabs, such as their firm flesh and rich roe. Además, the duo added fun to the live stream with challenges like “Crab Eight Pieces” and “Opening Blind Boxes” with local crab farmers. From eating to playing, they presented a crab feast.
Viewers persuaded by the “eating broadcast” could click on the yellow cart to purchase freshly caught Suqian hairy crabs. Relying on the supply chain assurance from JD Supermarket and Kuaishou, the products were shipped directly from the source and transported via cold chain to ensure freshness from the origin to the table.
The hairy crab live stream was just one of many live-streaming events. For the sixth Farmer’s Harvest Festival, Kuaishou and JD Supermarket held the “Happy Countryside Harvest Season” event, featuring premium agricultural products directly from the source. Other live streams included matsutake mushrooms, autumn pears, carne de res, and sea cucumbers, all with Kuaishou influencers visiting the source, shipping directly from the origin, and using cold chain transportation to ensure freshness and safety.
From the source to the consumer’s table, the freshness and quality were guaranteed by the combined advantages of Kuaishou and JD’s platforms – Kuaishou influencers ensured quality at the front end, while JD Logistics’ supply chain minimized product loss at the back end. This collaboration showcased a new model for the industry.
Fresh produce is unique compared to categories like beauty and apparel because consumers have a direct perception of its quality and value. It is challenging for influencers to spark consumer interest by merely promoting products in live streams. Past mishaps in fresh produce live-streaming have eroded consumer trust.
In this event, Kuaishou connected influencers to consumers, with influencers participating directly in the production and farming processes and conveying their experiences through short videos or live streams to increase consumer trust.
Por ejemplo, in the beef live stream, Kuaishou agricultural influencer @Da Peipei visited Yangxin, the largest cattle breeding and processing hub in North China. In the autumn pear live stream, influencer @Beijing Fat Sister explored the “transparent central pear house” at JD Green Pastures Orchard Factory to witness the entire process from picking to processing. In the sea cucumber live stream, influencer @Hu Tongtong Loves Eating boarded a sea fishing boat in Weihai, Shandong, to participate in sea cucumber harvesting.
Influencers not only promoted products but also added fun through various challenges and events, making the fresh produce live streams more engaging and immersive for consumers. Por ejemplo, Wang Xiaoli and Xiao Shenlong enjoyed an “all-crab feast” at a restaurant named “Ou Xiang Xie,” reminiscent of a scene from “Dream of the Red Chamber” where characters enjoyed crabs and flowers. Influencer @Hu Tongtong Loves Eating explored the coastal environment in Weihai while listening to stories from local crab farmers, adding unique selling points and highlights to the live streams.
Ensuring quality at the source is just the beginning; the most challenging part is transportation. Fresh produce is highly perishable and must go through various transfers before reaching consumers. Any mishandling in transportation or storage can lead to spoilage, increasing product loss rates. JD’s logistics and transportation advantages addressed these concerns. JD also released the “JD Fresh Produce Industry Standards” during the live stream, standardizing the origin, packaging, transportation, and storage of fresh produce to ensure safer and more reliable online purchases for consumers.
By linking the source to the live-streaming room and integrating front-end quality control with back-end transportation, Kuaishou and JD Supermarket jointly addressed the major challenges of fresh produce live-streaming e-commerce, providing local farmers and production areas with increased revenue and growth opportunities.
From Selling Products to Deepening Industry Engagement for Sustainable Harvests
The five traceability live streams of the JD Fresh Produce Competition are just one example of Kuaishou’s agricultural support efforts. Farmers rely on the weather for their livelihoods, with seasonal cycles of spring planting, autumn harvest, summer heat, and winter storage. The cultivation and harvesting of agricultural products have specific seasonal windows. Missing these windows can impact the final yield. Around these critical periods, short videos, e-commerce, and other internet platforms use various methods to expand the market for agricultural products and increase farmers’ incomes.
In the past, selling agricultural products was challenging due to time and location constraints. Agricultural production areas are often in remote, inaccessible places, making it difficult to promote products despite their quality. Fresh produce and agricultural products have strong seasonal attributes and need quick exposure and concentrated sales.
The advent of internet platforms is solving these problems. In the internet era, the costs of producing, storing, and disseminating content/products have significantly decreased. Short video and e-commerce platforms connect more people transparently and efficiently. Even from remote towns, as long as there is a phone and internet access, information can be spread, and goods can be sold. Influencers on these platforms gather like-minded users and quickly share fresh stories, making quality products visible and accessible to those who need them.
As early as 2020, Kuaishou began focusing on the ecological development of agriculture, leveraging its platform traffic and influencer resources to continuously promote the production and dissemination of quality agricultural content. Actualmente, Kuaishou’s agricultural coverage spans the entire agricultural production chain, with diverse content types meeting various user needs, leading to sustained user growth. Over the past year, Kuaishou’s agricultural interest users reached 300 millón, with daily likes on agricultural content exceeding 38 millón, a 30% year-on-year increase. The huge consumer demand has broadened the market for agricultural products, with over 870 million agricultural product orders shipped nationwide through Kuaishou in 2022, a 55% year-on-year increase from 2021.
In 2023, JD Supermarket expanded its tier-three categories (including fresh produce, granos, aceites, bocadillos, y bebidas) by recruiting professional buyers to source high-quality goods from the origin, reducing procurement costs through multi-channel integration. Professional quality controllers are hired to be on-site, ensuring standardized sorting and grading, maintaining stable product quality at optimal procurement costs. In logistics, JD collaborates with retail and regional logistics for price negotiations and consolidated orders to further reduce logistics costs. Overall, JD controls procurement, quality, and fulfillment to ensure user experience and boost sales.
Selling agricultural products is just the first step in “supporting agriculture.” Beyond simple “selling,” Kuaishou is delving deeper into the entire agricultural industry chain, enabling long-term and diverse monetization for farmers, rural areas, and agriculture.
por un lado, covering the entire industry chain from planting to processing to sales can further enhance local employment and income. Por ejemplo, the JD Fresh Produce Competition invited influencers to the source, authentically showcasing local customs, which can indirectly boost local tourism revenue.
Por otro lado, supporting content creation from the source, Kuaishou launched the Village Broadcast Plan to support local new farmers, providing diverse opportunities and monetization channels. The plan aims to invest funds and traffic resources over the next three years to cultivate village broadcasters and rural entrepreneurs, promoting employment, entrepreneurship, and rural economic development.
With the support of internet platforms, the model of agricultural support has entered the 2.0 era. For farmers, the platform’s full industry chain support expands income channels and avoids the risk of agricultural product backlogs, better ensuring their interests. For consumers, direct delivery from the origin to the table allows for safer purchases and a more satisfying shopping experience. For the industry and society, strong quality control and traceability capabilities facilitate the scaling and standardization of agricultural products, bringing new prospects to agriculture and rural areas.
Food is the most fundamental need of people. Sin embargo, in the past, agricultural products and fresh seafood faced challenges when entering live-streaming e-commerce, leading to discouraged practitioners, mistrustful consumers, and unguaranteed farmer incomes. Through various live-streaming activities during the Farmer’s Harvest Festival, the collaboration between Kuaishou and JD Supermarket provides a new model for agricultural support. Good content combined with direct supply chains not only achieves harvests and boosts sales but also ensures sustainable and long-term prosperity.
