Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news!

Subscribe I am already a subscriber

You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker).

As we provide the news for free, we are relying on revenues from our banners. So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.
Thanks!

Click here for a guide on disabling your adblocker.

Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news!

Subscribe I am already a subscriber
Shanghai Hema, new Alibaba retailer outlet

"China: "Product itself is best brand advertisement"

"As a retail platform for food, we purchase all kinds of fruit and vegetables from domestic and international production sites. Through both online and offline methods, we sell these products to Shanghai and surrounding areas. We have opened eight stores in Shanghai. The online sales area is in a radius of three kilometers around these stores. In the future, our sales area will expand to other first tier cities, such as Beijing and Shenzen,"� says Mr. Paul Xian Ping, Purchasing Director at Shanghai Hema.

Hema is a new premium retailer in Shanghai which opened its doors last year. Hema is 100% owned by Alibaba, and embodies the internet giant’s new retail model, in which the company is moving into brick and mortar sales. The company is also pushing for rapid expansion in China.


Paul Xian Ping is Marketing Manager at Hema. Customers can use this bag to pick up the products they ordered online. In a certain radius around every store, all ordered products will be delivered to the customer within 30 minutes.

"In the past few years, people have gained more knowledge about fruit and vegetables, and their quality of life has improved. Moreover, more and more foreign brands have made their way to Chinese production sites. While doing groceries, the consumer not only focuses on the price and the country of origin, they are also looking at the differences between products. That is why, when we purchase fruit, we mainly focus on the product's characteristics, by tracing down the production source, shortening the supply chain and improve the product quality, so that the product safety is guaranteed, and we will give the customer a better experience."

"With quality as the basic principle, we follow a strict management system for product quality. Firstly, we work together with a few well known international fruit suppliers. They supply their products according to our specific quality demands. Moreover, we cooperate with large scale Chinese fruit suppliers and retailers. By closely working together with these three domestic and international partners, we can manage our products most efficiently."


A newly opened Hema supermarket in Shanghai. There are now 15 branches, which is as much as Alibaba has.


Employees in Shanghai Hema are preparing the online orders. After ordering online, every customer within a certain range of a shop will receive his products at home within 30 minutes.

"When it comes to market promotion, I believe that the product itself is the best advertisement. In order to let the consumer completely understand our product, our employees in the stores will communicate with the consumer to inform them about the products, such as brands, the amount of sugar, and the production area. Moreover, our beautiful packaging shows the product's image to the consumer."

"In the past few years, through the improvement of production technology and beneficial national policies, the development speed of Chinese agriculture is great. The quality of domestic products is also rising constantly. Compared to imported fruits and vegetables, however, there is still a difference in quality. This is mainly because the international agriculture is scaling up. The production sites are large scale, intensive farms. In China, however, the production areas are widely scattered farmers. They cannot use the benefits of large scale production."


Ready to eat tropical fruit at Shanghai Hema



Dole ready to eat pineapple at Shanghai Hema


Fresh salads from Shanghai Hema


Strawberry gift boxes from Shanghai Hema

Paul Xian Ping (Purchasing Director)
Shanghai Hema Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Email: Xianping.sxp@alibaba-inc.com
Publication date: