The first Lani cherry exports of the season by Freshmax New Zealand have been received by Chinese importer Fruta Cloud and are now under promotion by its client HEMA Fresh. 

Lani is one of the New Zealand company's newest patented varieties, with the first commercial harvest carried out last season. The fruit has a large size and deep crimson color.

Fruta Cloud is one of China's fastest growing business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platforms, and one of its retail customers, HEMA Fresh, says the fruit received a lot of interest at the grand opening of its new store in Shanghai.

The e-commerce company highlighted that New Zealand cherries were highly sought after in Asian countries like South Korea, Taiwan and China, adding that the Lani crop was often sold out before the two-week harvest begins. 

"On 12/12, Frutacloud collaborated with HEMA Fresh to launch the sales of Lani™ on China’s second biggest shopping holiday to set a tone for the rest of New Zealand cherry season," Frutacloud said.

HEMA Fresh is a new chain of stores that opened earlier this year in Shanghai, and aims to merge the 'online convenience and offline shopping experience.'

"Unlike traditional grocery stores, HEMA Fresh is equipped with innovative system that allows its employees to pick up fresh produce and other items for customers that order through HEMA’s app."

The fruit is then delivered by cyclists to customers within 30 minutes to customers living close to one of its stores.

The idea of the Lani cherry promotion is for consumers to see the fruit in store at the start of the season and then feel confident about ordering online later on, according to Freshmax.

Fruta Cloud explained that end-to-end cold chain logistics was hard to achieve in China, but with HEMA's collaboration it was able to bring the freshest fruit possible to its customers.

"The launch of Lani™ not only signifies the growing trend of premium produce market in China but also ignites the marketing battle for the upcoming Chinese New Year peak season," it said, adding it would also market other 'special varieties' from New Zealand this season.

Last month, Freshmax said this campaign would see the largest volumes so far of its Lani and Starletta varieties. Starletta is another trademarked cultivar which has a white flesh and is harvested after Lani.

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www.freshfruitportal.com