As an indispensable ingredient on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table, the demand for meat and aquatic products consumption continued to rise during the Spring Festival. According to the retail market data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, as of December 31, 2023, the monthly retail prices of beef and mutton have fallen for up to 8 consecutive months, pork prices have fallen for 7 consecutive months, chicken prices have fallen for 2 consecutive months, and the retail prices of beef and mutton have hit a three-year low. In addition, the monthly wholesale prices of aquatic products also showed varying degrees of continuous decline.
Before the Spring Festival, the reporter visited offline supermarkets and online platforms, and found that online and offline advantages are different, and the price and quality have different performances. Offline supermarkets mainly sell fresh meat, and some offline channels also have frozen products, while online platforms mainly sell frozen products, with obvious price and quality advantages.
Meat has dropped for up to 8 consecutive years, and e-commerce black pork sells white pork prices
Judging from the monthly changes in the retail prices of major livestock and poultry products in the country announced by the National Development and Reform Commission, in 2023, beef and mutton will both reach eight consecutive declines, hitting a three-year low.
The most common pork on the table has also dropped for 7 consecutive years, of which the retail price of pork in December 2023 has decreased by 20% compared with December 2022.
In addition, according to the data released by the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the monthly wholesale prices of pike crabs, sea cucumbers, and freshwater shrimp have also reached 5 consecutive declines, 4 consecutive declines, and 3 consecutive declines respectively.
In response to the phenomenon of meat price reduction, the reporter visited offline farmers' markets, supermarkets and fresh stores. It is reported that before the Spring Festival, the price of poultry meat and aquatic products showed a stable trend as a whole, and there was no large fluctuation and sudden price increase. At the same time, the reporter also had a better understanding of the prices of similar products in online channels.
Taking black pork with a more delicate taste and stronger meat aroma as an example, it was found that a pound of white pig pork belly is sold for about 14-17 yuan offline, while the price in Jingdong Supermarket is 14.95 yuan a catty, which is about 12% cheaper than offline, which can almost be called "selling black pigs at the price of white pigs".
The person in charge of meat procurement and sales of Jingdong Supermarket revealed that the overall sales of meat this year have increased steadily, and the main sales of chicken wings, beef tendons, black pork, large yellow croaker, hairy crabs, and white shrimp have sold better than in previous years, of which chicken sales have increased by nearly 5%, and black pork sales have increased by 125%. In terms of the growth rate of subdivisions, the sales of conditioned chicken wings, beef brisket, black pig pork belly, three-striped hairtail, king crab, Arctic sweet shrimp and ready-to-eat sea cucumber have increased significantly.
The quality of online poultry meat and aquatic products is more stable and uniform, with the same price and specification standards, and the defect rate is low
Judging from the results of the reporter's visit, the online and offline retail prices of poultry and aquatic products are generally flat, and there are certain price advantages in the online channels of some categories, and the more obvious is the difference in specifications and quality.
Compared with the unified supply of goods with inconsistent offline specifications, unstable bone breakage and blood stasis rate, and the sales model of mixed packing by catty, online channels start with standard formulation, strict screening, and put the quality control steps in front, cooperate with warehouse sampling and other steps to fully control the quality of each product.
Poultry products such as chicken wings and chicken thighs occasionally have price fluctuations of 0.3-1 yuan in offline retail, mostly due to size, blood stasis rate, and bone break rate.
In addition, on the one hand, the sales scope of offline fresh fish is limited, and most of the offline frozen large yellow croaker is sold in mixed packs, with different sizes and obvious differences in quality. On the other hand, online channels are also rarely able to achieve fast chilling, cold chain delivery, and time-sensitive delivery, and the freshness will undoubtedly be reduced.
Appearance, size, freshness, etc. will have a certain impact on the sales of poultry meat and aquatic products, and the advantages of quality control, cold chain transportation, logistics and distribution have become the key to the formation of differentiated competitive advantages in online channels.
JD.com strictly controls the quality of water content, bruise rate and other details, ensures product quality through multiple measures such as regular sampling inspections, and relies on the advantages of logistics resources to allow consumers to obtain high-quality and low-cost meat products more efficiently.
Stable quality control, direct delivery from the source, cold chain transportation, timeliness logistics Jingdong Supermarket has become the preferred choice for purchasing ingredients for Chinese New Year's Eve meals
Approaching the Spring Festival, poultry and aquatic products, as an essential ingredient for Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, are ushering in a sales peak. According to the results of the reporter's visit, in terms of price, specifications, quality, convenience, etc., online channels are the first choice for the procurement of ingredients for Chinese New Year's Eve meals.
It is understood that on the one hand, Jingdong through professional procurement and sales of national price comparison, and factories and production areas to negotiate large-scale purchases, to ensure low prices, directly benefit consumers, on the other hand, timely understanding of consumer preferences, dynamic adjustment of hot products. While ensuring quality and low price, it also gives full play to its own cold chain and logistics advantages, and fully solves the problem of long-distance transportation and preservation through services such as extremely fast cold chain transportation and 211 time-limited delivery.
At present, it has entered the peak period of preparing for the New Year, and online channels have larger packaging, higher quality and lower prices for meat and aquatic products that are more suitable for family dinners and Chinese New Year's Eve dinner tables, and online procurement of New Year goods is also becoming the mainstream channel for consumers to purchase New Year goods.
Approaching the Spring Festival, in order to ensure continuous price stability and adequate supply of products during the Spring Festival, JD Supermarket will conduct real-time monitoring and timely replenishment of daily livelihood commodities such as meat, poultry, eggs, milk, aquatic products, etc., so that consumers can buy New Year's goods with good quality and low prices in JD Supermarket.