Frozen shrimp was the top-selling seafood item on Chinese e-grocer Dingdong in the first half of 2022, followed by fresh clams and fresh sea bass, the company told SeafoodSource.
Dingdong, which delivers grocery items sourced from its own network of suppliers to urban Chinese consumers, appears to be in better shape than key rival Missfresh, which is in financial meltdown after its share price collapsed.
Having pulled off a 2021 initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange that valued the firm at USD 3 billion (EUR 2.9 billion), Missfresh is now worth USD 88 million (EUR 79 million) as its share price plunged in recent months. Investors have become worried about the long-term trajectory of the Chinese economy amid COVID lockdowns and unpredictable incursions by regulators into the online sector.
Beijing-based Missfresh operates a model similar to that of Shanghai-based rival Dingdong, whereby it delivers food from small scale, localized warehouses in key Chinese cities.
The company’s expensive expansion – it claims to have set up operations in 16 cities in the past year – has been criticized as too much too soon on various Chinese stock-picker online forums. The company is seeking to sell several of its units to raise funds, and faces a class-action lawsuit from shareholders claiming the company lied in its financial statements during its IPO. Missfresh has not yet filed its 2021 annual report and has been issued warnings by the Nasdaq exchange for its tardiness.
Early investors in Missfresh include Goldman Sachs which, like other investors, bet on the company’s ability to emerge as top dog in a viciously competitive Chinese fresh grocery market. In November 2021, Missfresh said it would expand its supply chain network to include 200 farms and 350 factories and processing facilities across China, saying the move would help it increase margins and lower prices by eliminating middlemen and cutting cold-chain costs.
For its part, Dingdong grew its revenues by 43.2 percent in the first quarter of 2022, with orders up by 15.6 percent year-on-year, but the company post a loss of CNY 448 million (USD 70.8 million, EUR 62.7 million) in the first three months of the year, even though its loss margin continued to decline to a current 7.8 percent.
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