Shanghai-based online retailer Gfresh experienced a “significant impact” to its sales of imported seafood when China went into lockdown, according to CEO Anthony Wan.
But Wan told SeafoodSource he expects his company’s overall volume for live and fresh seafood to recover 70 to 80 percent of pre-COVID levels by the end of the year.
“This is based on the assumption that all restaurants will reopen, with banquets and wedding ceremonies will resuming by July 2020,” Wan said.
A continuing ban on banquets and wedding functions means Gfresh’s live and fresh import volumes have only recovered to around 30 percent of pre-COVID levels in April, Wan said.
“Our live and fresh seafood imports that served the restaurant and banquet markets were hit particularly hard with minimal trading in February and March,” he said. “Many restaurants have now reopened and we are seeing a general recovery in most seafood imports.”
While demand collapsed during the coronavirus lockdown in February and March, supply-side issues have been less of an issue for Gfresh’s seafood trade, Wan said.
“There are a handful of live products where supply has lagged a little, which has led to a quick surge in prices. However, for many seafood products, there is a noticeable oversupply of product causing lower prices,” he said. “There has certainly been an impact on commercial carriers, lift, and routes. These commercial routes are now being replaced by freighters. While some exporters have seen higher freight charges, certain exporters have also seen cost reductions. The situation with air freight has increased the complexities of doing business, but goods are still flowing into China.”
As for long-term changes to his company’s business model or systems caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, Wan said the pandemic has “fast-tracked” the digitalization of seafood trading.
“Businesses that are doing well during this crisis are tech companies that provide new markets, distribution, or fulfilment solutions for people to continue doing business despite the current restrictions,” he said.
Having witnessed a “significant increase” in inquiries from global exporters looking to digital platforms like Gfresh as a new sales channel into China, Wan said he believes this transition towards ecommerce may continue after the pandemic recedes in virality.
“Therefore, we have even greater conviction that our seafood ecommerce model is right,” Wan said.
To that end, Gfresh will heavily invest in technology and ecommerce capabilities this year, Wan said.
“We're launching a seller's app which will act as a control center for our seafood suppliers – giving each supplier complete control on where, what, and how to sell. We're then integrating the seller's app with our growing network of partners to allow suppliers to sell deeper within China, and more broadly across the world.”
Photo courtesy of Gfresh
