Fruitday has launched its latest promotion for Northwest cherries, offering consumers in China a box of premium cherries from the US with any purchase made through its new mobile apps.
Running just Monday to Friday, the promotion offers customers a half kilo box of Northwest cherries for just RMB19 (US$3.1), about half of a profitable selling price, and then refunds the amount as online store credit for Fruitday.
Fruitday’s co-founder Loren Zhao told Asiafruit that while the company was still in the midst of the campaign, it was looking at selling more than 350,000 boxes of Northwest cherries through the promotions.
Building on the success of last year’s online campaign, when the US ambassador to China Gary Locke was invited to kick off Northwest cherry promotions, Zhao said this year Fruitday wanted to stick with the idea of having an ambassador, but didn’t want to copy the 2013 promotion.
Instead, Fruitday is making every one of its customers an ambassador for Northwest cherries, encouraging both new and existing Fruitday customers to upload photos of their Northwest cherry purchases on social media and share them with friends. “The most important thing is that customers get to try Northwest cherries for the first time,” said Zhao. “This is like a ‘free trial’ where everyone can become an ambassador for Northwest cherries and experience the high-quality product.”
The promotions have caused a stir among some retailers in China, but Zhao insists that the promotions have the support of Northwest cherry growers and that Fruitday is upholding its reputation for offering quality produce.
While Fruitday will have to wait until the promotion wraps up on Friday to assess its impact, Zhao said it's encouraging that so many boxes of cherries have already been sold to customers.
