Usage of omnichannel wholesale platform Yinongpi increases as China battles Covid-19
Yinongpi, the omni-channel agricultural products wholesale trading platform created by JD.com and Dili Group, has posted a transaction volume of Rmn200m (US$30m) in the nine months since its launch.
The platform was launched in September 2021 and supports both remote and on-site transactions for agricultural products, a set of digitalised functions such as sales and inventory management, price index monitoring, food safety tracing system and other tools, as well as logistics, insurance and financial services.
The demand for its services has accelerated in recent months as China has battled a number of Covid-19 outbreaks.
“As a result of the epidemic, we have fewer offline clients this year, but through Yinongpi, many clients reached us online,” said Jinyu Li, from the Jinyuxiangyun vegetable wholesales company, which was an early user of Yinongpi.
“Under the help of the platform, our sales for produce in the first quarter achieved 30 per cent year-on-year growth, including beans, cabbages, potatoes, onions and other vegetables.”
The first project based on Yinongpi platform was launched in Shouguang of Shangdong province, one of China’s largest vegetable production bases last September.
According to JD, the platform was able to help improve traders’ operating efficiency, lower transaction costs, and help market regulators carry out more timely supervision work to further safeguard the overall transaction process.
The daily average transaction volume in Shouguang exceeded Rmb3m (US$450,000) on the platform in the past nine months.
Yi Zhao, head of the omni-channel ecosystem development department under JD Super said that JD will continue to deepen cooperation with the agricultural products logistics park in Shouguang and to move all of the transactions in the park onto Yinongpi.
At the same time, the platform will expand its services in food origin tracing, big data analysis, park management, financial and logistics support.
“Yinongpi is a meaningful attempt for the agricultural products wholesales sector’s transformation and will play an active role in exploring new potential in agricultural development,” Zhao added.
“Under China’s drive for rural revitalization and digital economy, we hope the growth of the platform will create both industrial and social value.”
Tengzhou, another county of Shangdong province known for its potato production that exceeds 2m tonnes, is also leveraging Yinongpi to upgrade its supply chain and expand sales channels, not only in big Chinese cities but also to foreign markets such as Malaysia, Australia and other countries.
The project between Tengzhou and JD.com officially launched in May of this year, is expected to achieve an annual output value of more than Rmb5bn (US$749m) in the near future.
