Commercial pork website launches supplying US produce to China
Opening with a seven-day sale, the site currently offers eight US pork products, according to the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF). These include: pre-cut bone-in pork butt steak and pork belly.
The products were sourced from three US meat processors and are being sold via three specialised distributors which will deliver the items frozen to Chinese consumers nationwide.
Joel Haggard, USMEF senior vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region, said: "Online commerce is growing in China at a phenomenal rate. Food is still a small portion of total online sales, but consumers are becoming more accepting of receiving courier packages of food, including frozen perishables like meat."
He added that although US pork has been available online in China prior to the launch of this particular website, the dedicated sales platform represented a new breakthrough in online visibility.
The site attracted more than 400,000 visitors within the first few hours of its launch, with USMEF organising a promotion to win a sample of American pork. The website also includes a video on US pork production, as well as information on US pork and what it available to order, so as to give a story behind the products.
USMEF said it had been investing in building the online profile of US pork for almost a year. "We are very attracted to the online model," said Haggard. "We see sales results instantaneously and, for this particular promotion, we stand to receive more than 1,000 detailed customer comments on US pork."
According to USMEF, revenue from e-commerce in China last year reached an estimated $290bn, an increase of 38% on 2012.
