'Due to the Novel Coronavirus'... Acceleration of Online Consumption and Distribution in China

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Due to the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) outbreak, the consumption habits and distribution methods of Chinese consumers are being reorganized around online channels.

According to the "Changes and Implications in the Chinese Consumer Market Caused by the Novel Coronavirus," released on the 13th by the Korea International Trade Association's International Trade and Commerce Research Institute, as working from home and refraining from going out have become routine across China, there has been a surge in online purchases of daily necessities, online order delivery from offline stores, contactless offline delivery, and online purchases of over-the-counter medicines.

In particular, there is a rush in purchasing daily necessities such as fresh food, processed food, and medicines through e-commerce. During the recent Lunar New Year holiday period (January 24 to February 2), vegetable sales on JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce platform, increased 4.5 times compared to the same period last year. At Beijing Jingkelong Mart, fresh food orders reached 700,000 kg in the three days starting from Lunar New Year's Day, and total delivery orders increased more than 4.5 times compared to the same period last year.

Large supermarkets, small and medium-sized stores, and traditional markets, which mainly operated offline, are also collaborating with e-commerce platforms to introduce O2O (Online-to-Offline) delivery services. Huajiajiayuan, a high-end restaurant in Beijing that lost customers after the novel coronavirus outbreak, is generating revenue by selling vegetables supplied wholesale to general consumers through online order delivery platforms.

Contactless and non-face-to-face delivery services have become common for all products, including fresh food. Companies like Hema Xiansheng and Ele.me provide services that share delivery information via text messages and apps and deliver only to designated locations such as in front of the home, complex entrances, or front desks.

The Chinese government has also ordered the active expansion of e-commerce distribution channels for fresh food by strengthening producer-seller matching in each province and city to suppress the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Senior Researcher Park So-young emphasized, "Just as SARS 17 years ago led to the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms like Taobao and JD.com, this novel coronavirus is bringing another major change to China's consumer market. As next-generation technologies such as unmanned delivery and remote medical care become commercialized in China, online consumption is expected to expand further. Therefore, it is necessary to actively utilize major mobile platforms in China and expand direct online distribution channels."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.