Peter McBride, chairman of Zespri, visited the headquarters of Fruitday in Shanghai yesterday. Fruitday is a prominent Chinese retailer which is especially good with online sales of fresh fruit. The two companies have settled the collaboration, in which Fruitday will become a direct retail customer of Zespri in China.
Zespri’s chairman Peter McBride and vice-president Bruce Cameron, together with two of the founders of Fruitday, Wei Wang and Zhang Zhao Guo.
Fruitday is now a direct tier-one customer, meaning they will now purchase directly from Zespri and no longer have to buy through the other distributors. Giving them the position of being the Zespri's largest direct retail customer in China.
Fruitdays founder Zhang Zhao Guo explains: “Our online sales of fresh products and strong online presence make it possible to communicate in a more direct way with our customers. This way we can offer Zespri an enriching platform in China. We are looking forward to working closely together in the future.”
Zespri added: “Fruitday has devoted itself to the sales and promotion of our kiwifruit in China. Because of our collaboration, online and offline, we can reach the Chinese consumers and especially the youth, our target audience, in a successful way.”
Fruitday is a rapidly expanding company in China. In August, the company announced its collaboration with the French company Lactel, one of the largest exporters of milk and dairy products in the world. In China, Fruitday had been going its own way with the launch of Mr Orange, a new brand for citrus from Yunnan. Fruitday supports the citrus producers with whom the company works closely, resulting in the installation of a modern fruit sorting machine among other exciting developments.