The 2016 sales data from Tmall.com, obtained by SeafoodSource, presents a glimpse into the complex and obscure world of e-commerce in China, especially as it relates to seafood.
Tmall is part of the Alibaba group and a market leader in China’s e-commerce sector, and its annual sales report was compiled by CBNData in cooperation with Tmall.com.
According to the report, Tmall’s three top-selling seafood species last year were king crab from Chile, “Boston lobster” (North American lobster from Canada and the U.S.A.) and a fish from New Zealand named chang shou yu, which translates as orange roughy (also known as deep sea perch).
Canada, Argentina, Denmark and Vietnam were the countries of origin with the most volume of seafood sold on Tmall. However, more than 50 percent of Tmall’s seafood imports were from “other nations,” suggesting a highly fragmented sourcing of seafood. Australia and New Zealand topped Tmall’s list of meat-exporting nations.
Thailand narrowly leads Australia at the top of the list of source countries for fresh food products sold online. Others in the top end of the list, in order of volume, are New Zealand, Chile, Vietnam, Canada, U.S.A., Denmark, Norway, Argentina, Malaysia and South Africa. However, the figures for Southeast Asian nations on the list appear to have been boosted by large exports of fruit as well as seafood, especially in the case of Vietnam.
The data also reveals a shift in online purchases of fresh food and seafood, with more consumers in inland regions previously regarded as poorer and more remote compared to the nation’s east coast, which includes Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Wenzhou. In 2014, the east coast accounted for 65 percent of fresh sales, but this shifted down to 40 percent in 2016, though it remains the top purchasing region. Sales to consumers in southwest China (the region includes the huge cities of Chengdu and Chongqing) are growing fastest, according to the CBNData/Tmall report, though no precise figures are given.
The report also shows a tendency among Chinese consumers for adventurism and fads in imported food products. The fastest jump in sales recorded for a fresh food product in 2017 went to Tunisian pomegranate, while consumers also jumped for roasted chicken from Poland and pomelo from Israel. There was also strong growth in sales of “manufactured fish products” from Denmark and Switzerland.
Tmall’s data also shows a clear delineation on age groups in regard to online purchases of seafood. The preferred seafood category of the 19- to 22-year-old age group was fish balls (popular surimi-style snacks often consumed with noodles), with salmon ranking as the second-most purchased category by this age group. These two categories were also the favorites among buyers 23 to 38 years old, but with a higher purchase rate of salmon.
Meanwhile, shrimp ranks as the most-purchased category among the 29- to 35-year-old age group, followed by salmon. Shrimp is also the most-purchased category in 2016 among the 36-50 age group, but sea cucumber was the second-most purchased item, followed by salmon. Sea cucumber was the most purchased item among 51- to 70-year-old Tmall shoppers, followed by shrimp and salmon.
Households with babies, meanwhile, purchased high volumes of nutrition-focused food. Cod (variously described as silver cod, sablefish and Arctic cod in China) ranked as the most popular seafood chosen by mothers, while that group was least likely to buy processed shrimp products. Salmon was also popular among mothers, though not in its canned form.
Imports of fresh food sold online in China (where Tmall has a dominant market share) as a whole, meanwhile, went from USD 10.2 billion (EUR 9.6 billion) in 2010 to USD 21.8 billion (EUR 20.5 billion) in 2015, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Fresh food as a percentage of overall consumption rose from 66 to 72 percent among urban Chinese between 1995 and 2012, while the figure for rural dwellers went from 32 to 45 percent in the same timeframe, based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Revenues from online commerce continue to grow in double digits in China, but the sector has become crowded with new entrants chasing consumers. Many of the country’s e-commerce sites have yet to turn a profit, while market leader Alibaba remains a dominant presence.
