After the success of selling 168 tons of American cherry in July, T-Mall, the largest e-commerce platform in China, pre-sold out 50 tons of fresh seafood from Alaska in merely 10 days, which is approximately 2 year’s total sales volume of seafood of a Wal-Mart. The cold chain distribution network, which covers 42 mainstream online shopping cities nation-wide, allows the consumers to enjoy the premium quality of the fresh food.


The Alaskan seafood came directly from Alaska, and the price was only half of that in physical stores, which attracted a lot of orders. The logistics operation of the seafood was conducted by Cainiao Network all the way from Alaska to China, and then distributed to nation-wide households by their cold chain network, which guaranteed the extreme freshness of the food.


The transportation of seafood calls for extremely high logistics standard. To secure the freshness and quality, the transportation was conducted in below 18°C. In the past, the below 18°C cold chain distribution was only possible in at most 2-3 cities, while this time, the number extended to 42.


This order was pre-confirmed between T-Mall and consumers, then the fishing activities were carried out accordingly. After this, Cainiao Network coordinated a bunch of domestic professional cold chain logistics suppliers and distributed the food to households within 48 hours.


This year, fresh meat and seafood became the new favorite in online shopping, which has already been supported by a enormous number of consumers. The pre-sale or pre-order model beautifully reduced as much cost as possible. Above all, the key of promoting this business lies in the completion and improvement of logistics system, particularly the cold chain distribution network.


Cainiao Network is now working with cold chain logistics companies in 42 cities like Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Shanghai etc., and the distribution origins have also expanded from the solely Shanghai to total 9 cities. Cainiao Network expressed their will to cooperate with any willing and qualified cold chain service providers in the market.


Analysts commented that the effort of Cainiao Network and this new business model with together enhance the efficiency and quality of cold chain logistics industry.