Online retailer JD.com has partnered with Mowi China to sell fresh salmon to mainland China for the first time, the companies announced on 31 May.
Mowi China will launch four new salmon brand offerings, all from its newly established factory in Shanghai, during JD.com’s 18 June anniversary sales festival period. The Shanghai plant is Mowi’s first in mainland China, and specializes in the processing of value-added and ready-to-eat products, with capabilities to produce sashimi-grade salmon as well.
The partnership between Mowi China and JD.com was driven predominantly by a significant uptick in interest surrounding salmon from Chinese consumers in recent years, the firms said in a press release. According to internal data, salmon sales on JD.com’s platform in 2018 increased by 100 percent over the previous year, with “salmon” leading the charge as the most searched term within the retailer’s fish category, it said.
“As Chinese consumers have become busier and more health-conscious, they are welcoming high-quality seafood products that are delicious and quick to prepare,” noted Emily Zhang, the commercial manager of Mowi China. “As we open our first processing facility in mainland China to expand in the hugely promising mainland Chinese market, we are confident that JD’s deep understanding of Chinese consumers and unparalleled logistics network make them the perfect partner for us.”
The four fresh salmon products to be included in the upcoming launch are “tailored to local tastes and consumption trends,” Mowi China explained. The seafood farmer worked with JD.com to identify a demand for easy-to-cook products in China that remained unmatched. As such, the new Mowi China salmon products each come with accompanying sauces, the first two of which are a Sichuan-style spicy sauce and a classic lemon butter sauce.
“Sauce paired products are primarily aimed at millennials in large cities who are too busy to cook or lack cooking skills,” the company said.
Alongside its fresh offerings, Mowi China will also introduce frozen salmon cubes aimed at families with young children – a product inspired by JD.com’s insights that more families are buying salmon for their children. According to Mowi China, “by removing the skin and bones, the product delivers the full health benefits of salmon, including high levels of omega-3 essential for healthy growth in infants, in a safe-to-eat format while saving precious time for busy parents.”
Premium fresh salmon portions from Mowi will be included in JD.com’s upcoming sales festival period. This premium offering is farmed and delivered directly from one of Mowi’s overseas farming operations in Norway, Scotland, Chile, the Faroe Islands, and Canada. Within 72 hours of being harvested, the salmon will arrive in China and be processed at Mowi China’s Shanghai factory.
“Mowi’s integrated value chain together with JD’s world-leading cold chain logistics network is key to providing guaranteed shelf life, freshness and quality for JD customers,” JD.com said.
“With our commitment to providing the freshest, highest quality products possible for our consumers, we are excited to further strengthen our partnership with Mowi China,” Max Cao, the general manager of seafood procurement at JD.com, said. “Busy and sophisticated JD shoppers will jump at the chance to purchase these delicious, tailor-made new offerings of top quality salmon, with quality and delivery assured by JD’s signature in-house logistics and cold chain network.”
