Pike crab "going to sea": fresh food retail forward, Hema supply chain upward

"If I hadn't been to Qingdao once, the only seafood I'd eaten would have been frozen fish." Anna, who has lived in the central city since she was a child, lamented, "In our place, the most eaten are local farmed aquatic products such as fish and shrimp. Seafood is eaten very little, good quality is expensive, cheap and afraid of not fresh, and there are very few varieties of seafood. ”

Freshness and price are the main reasons affecting the consumption of seafood by inland people, because most live fresh has extremely high requirements, environmental changes, logistics efficiency, temporary storage, sales mode, etc. will make its loss rate difficult to control, so the cost of transporting live fresh from coastal cities to inland is quite high. This means that inland people have to pay more if they want to eat the same fresh seafood as the coastal areas.

As a direct-to-consumer fresh retail end, how to let inland people eat good seafood and eat good and affordable seafood is a problem that the entire fresh retail industry needs to break through.

Nowadays, there are already people who have taken the lead in giving excellent results. In 2018, Hema began to be deeply involved in opening the sea everywhere, and through continuous optimization of links and new technologies, Hema has delivered a variety of fresh seafood to the tables of consumers everywhere at relatively lower prices, for example, in recent years, Hema has sent fresh wild pike crabs from the East China Sea to inland cities further afield such as Chengdu, Kunming and Guiyang. At the same time, the price is less than half of the original local pike crab price, or even lower. It is reported that this year's first batch of wild pike crabs from the East China Sea have successively arrived in stores across the country through the Hema live fresh supply chain.

Behind the story of a pike crab going to sea, there is a gathering of Freshippo's continuous cultivation and spare efforts in the supply chain in recent years, as well as Hema has always kept in mind "bringing all kinds of good things to consumers".

First, across thousands of miles of coastline, just to find the first bite of "fresh"

China's coastline is long and tortuous, spanning more than 18,000 kilometers from north to south, from the Bohai Sea in the north to the South China Sea in the south, covering a variety of different marine environments, thus giving birth to a "seafood guide" along the coastline.

The Bohai Sea is the largest inland sea on the mainland, located in the northernmost sea of the mainland, and the seafood eaten by people in the northern region is mainly produced here. Due to the injection of a large amount of fresh water from mainland rivers, the salinity of the Bohai Sea is relatively low compared with the other four seas, and the temperature of the Bohai Sea is relatively low, so the seafood produced in this sea area has a longer growth cycle, thicker and firmer meat, and the Bohai prawns, which are one of the eight treasures of seafood, are produced here.

The Yellow Sea is located after the Bohai Sea and extends along the coastlines of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui. It is one of the four major fishing grounds in China, rich in seafood resources, especially shrimp, crab, snail, shellfish and other seafood. The East China Sea is the second largest fishing ground in China, with seafood dominated by pike crabs and ribbon fish. As China's largest ocean, covering Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the South China Sea seafood is characterized by rich variety, short growth cycle, and generally larger fish than other seas.

Following this coastline, in order to allow consumers to eat their "first bite of fresh", Hema has also created its own "seafood territory".

According to Li Weitao, a fishery procurement officer of Hema Aquatic Products, different times, different sea areas, and different times of opening the sea, so the products produced will be relatively different.

"August 1st is the opening of the East China Sea, because only pike crab fishing is allowed in the sea at this time, so at this time in Hema we can see fresh pike crabs online. On August 15th, the South China Sea is opened, because the water temperature of the South China Sea, including the air temperature, is higher than that of the East China Sea, so the richness of goods will be relatively more, at this time there will be more varieties of crabs, such as three-eyed crabs, orchid crabs, safflower crabs, and many chilled fish are also from the South China Sea, such as our common mud fierce, golden thread, yellow fish, including strip fish and other major chilled commodities. It is expected that September 1st is our Bohai Sea opening, our landmark product Donggou flying crab, and everyone's favorite skin shrimp will be launched. It is expected that starting from September 16, Zhejiang including the entire southeast will be released, at this time we commonly see small yellow croaker, ribbon fish, pomfrets, a large number of catch and market. ”

This is the entire time node of Hema opening the sea, and it is also the rhythm of seafood commodities according to the entire coastline of China. Li Weitao introduced that taking pike crabs as an example, Hema in the fishing and sale of pike crabs, are following the growth cycle of pike crabs and natural laws, "In the early days, everyone bought 2-3 taels, and then gradually turned to 3-4 taels with the growth of pike crabs, and then turned to higher, and in November, the red paste pike crabs will be on the market." ”

In 2023, Hou Yi, CEO of Freshippo, stressed in an internal letter to all employees that in the future, Hema will adhere to "product power is the only core competitiveness". Finding good products is the first link to create commodity power, whether it is the East China Sea or the Bohai Sea, Hema along the coastline, looking for the "first bite of freshness" for consumers.

Second, 5 years of supply chain precipitation, let more people eat a bite of "live fresh"

"'Fresh' is an important criterion for Chinese residents' food selection and food preparation, especially seafood. Compared with frozen seafood, consumers are more likely to favor live seafood. Zhai Tianchang of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that live and fresh transportation puts forward higher requirements for the supply chain.

It is precisely based on this demand that after looking for "fresh", in order to allow consumers to eat a bite of "live fresh", Hema has spent five years continuously upgrading and improving the supply chain, and now we can see more and more live fresh in Freshippo's seafood tank.

"If you participate in the opening of the sea, you can find that it is actually very difficult to ship fresh goods." Hema aquatic products procurement Li Weitao said. Taking pike crabs as an example, wild pike crabs that have just gone out to sea are still very fierce, and it is easy to fight with each other if they are not careful, resulting in the situation of "missing arms and legs", which greatly affects the appearance. At the same time, in the transportation process, pike crabs can be more "squeamish" than hairy crabs, the road is unstable, they will get motion sickness, to the plateau area, they will even have "high anti", and this series of reactions directly affects the survival rate of pike crabs.

In order to deliver the live pike crabs to consumers "perfectly", Hema has made all preparations from the moment they go to sea, and started the "preservation journey" of pike crabs with the fastest and most efficient "Hema mode".

The traditional way to sell open sea fishing commodities is to connect with wholesalers in the fleet, then distribute them to seafood markets in various places, and then transport them to supermarkets for sale.

"In the traditional mode, the link is complex and uncontrollable, and the time is long, resulting in no guarantee of transportation temperature and freshness." Wu Zhisong, head of Shanghai Haikai Trading Co., Ltd., said that the biggest hope of nearly 30 years of experience is to let more consumers eat fresh pike crabs caught in their hometowns. Working with Hema for several years, he transported pike crabs to many inland cities that he could not have imagined.

The Hema model, on the other hand, is a combination with a "fresh boat", where wild pike crabs arrive at the port and arrive at the nearest direct mining processing center by "ice-added" transit water truck. Under the sorting of the senior "crab picker", it only takes tens of minutes to board the water truck and send it to various Hema stores.

On the basis of last year, Freshippo continued to optimize the distribution link, for the ultra-long distance of Xi'an, Sichuan-Chongqing, etc., Hema launched the 3.0 version of the "mobile aquarium" level water wheel, and added professional breeding and purification equipment such as liquid oxygen, secondary filtration, protein and chlorine, and the overall turnaround time was further shortened.

During transportation, in order to ensure a "comfortable journey" for pike crabs, seawater from the fishing area will be used. Under the protection of the upgraded version of the water wheel, drivers who are more than 10 years old will still be selected: reduce sudden braking, bumps and sudden acceleration as much as possible to ensure the smooth operation of the entire journey, which is also an important criterion for improving the survival rate of pike crabs.

Taking Shanghai as an example, the pike crab gets on the bus in the early morning and leaves for the journey, and after sleeping, it can directly "wade" into the Hema seafood tank. "Under the full-link management mode of live fresh transportation, the overall turnover efficiency has been increased by 40%," Li Weitao said.

Today, Hema has built 10 direct mining bases from Dandong, Liaoning Province to the Beihai Sea in Guangxi, nearly 10,000 miles of sea territory, and through 6 live fresh supply chain lines, seafood from all over the world is "jumping alive" to Hema seafood tanks.

How to present excellent products such as "pike crab" to consumers in the freshest way is the second link to build Freshippo's commodity power, and supporting this link is Freshippo's continuous cultivation of the supply chain.

Third, perfectly deliver umami to the consumer's table

"The first step is to let users buy live crabs, the second step is to buy good live crabs, and then to buy cheap live crabs for less money, which is the general direction we have been working on." Hema aquatic products procurement Li Weitao said.

Tidal Business Review learned from Chongqing citizen Ms. Zhang that when she and her daughter traveled in Qingdao many years ago, it was the first time they saw pike crabs, and the seafood stalls in Qingdao sold for 20 yuan a plate, almost 4 pieces, and the specifications were not too large. According to Ms. Zhang, the first time she ate it, the feeling was that the meat was very fresh, but it was too troublesome to gnaw the shell.

Later, there were also pike crabs in Chongqing, but they were frozen. According to Ms. Zhang's description, the frozen pike crab is more than 40 pounds, and the taste is still different from that eaten in Qingdao. E-commerce also has pike crabs shipped from the East China Sea, promising to send live crabs, but the hands are dead.

Until one time, she was surprised that she could buy live pike crabs in Chongqing's Hema Horse, which was not only larger than Qingdao's food, but also not expensive, almost 40 pounds. And in Hema you can eat it directly.

At the price of chilled\frozen crab in the local market, fresh pike crabs can be bought in Freshippo, and the essential driving force behind this is Freshippo's supply chain capability, which continuously compresses the intermediate links of pike crab circulation in the form of direct supply, minimizes transportation time, and constantly upgrades transportation equipment to ensure the "journey experience" of pike crabs, thereby improving the survival rate.

According to Freshippo, the process of getting pike crabs directly from the pier to the store has been shortened by an average of 70%, greatly improving the survival rate, which is at least 40% higher than five years ago.

The most direct effect of the increase in survival rate is a decrease in death loss, a reduction in sales costs, and a significant reduction in selling prices. Therefore, at Freshippo, you can not only see live pike crabs, but also buy high-quality pike crabs at lower prices.

"Freshippo has taken advantage of its own advantages to integrate the supply chain, realize the 'one-vendor operation' from the production end to the retail end, reduce the transaction costs caused by the participation of middlemen, and improve supply efficiency. Realize the Pareto improvement of production suppliers and consumer welfare, while pursuing the development of the industry, better meet the people's seafood consumption needs. Zhai Tianchang of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

Ma Weidu once said: "If you think one more step than others, you will surpass most people", and Hema always thinks one step more than others in terms of the shopping experience that brings discounts, preferences and excellent experiences to consumers.

For inland people, the processing and preparation of seafood are relatively unfamiliar, and they can rarely experience other flavors except steaming. Therefore, when buying fresh pike crabs, how to make them is also a headache for consumers.

In this regard, Hema has already thought of a way for consumers. This year, in addition to the Hema "net celebrity" pike crab fairy barrel, there are 8 flavors of on-site processing: steamed/soy sauce original steamed, green onion and ginger stir-fried, garlic vermicelli steamed, pepper and salt stir-fried, typhoon shelter stir-fried, spicy stir-fried, and this year's new pickle flavored pike crab.

In addition, Hema has launched a pre-made dish customized for air fryers, salted egg yolk pike crab, which has become one of Freshippo's most popular items due to its deliciousness and ease of use. The main raw material is the pike crab from the East China Sea, and its sales have increased nearly fourfold after one month of its launch.

With the continuous improvement of the living standards of mainland residents, people have gradually changed from the basic consumption level of pursuing quantity assurance to the demand level of pursuing diversification, high quality and multi-channel. According to the BCG China Consumer Confidence Survey, 63% of consumers are most looking to upgrade the category of fresh food.

Nowadays, from global taste, to continuous optimization of supply chain upgrades, to "easy" presentation to consumers, Freshippo has walked in the forefront of the fresh retail industry in its own way and won the hearts of consumers.