Jd.com opens the Chinese market to Cinco Jotas ham

It creates an online store on its website to serve a market that has grown by around 700% in two years

During his participation in the World Retail Congress in Madrid last April, Richard Liu, CEO and founder of Jd.com, one of China's online retail giants, announced the opening of a store on its website dedicated exclusively to Cinco Jotas ham. This announcement was part of other alliances with which the business leader is seeking to help various European companies to access the Chinese market.

The strategic alliances Jd.com is creating include particularly several selected to meet the huge growth in Chinese demand for fine wines. In 2017 alone, the company sold over 18 million bottles of European wine, among them those from the Osborne group, whose online wine and beverage store was launched on this platform in 2016 and has already become a key pillar in its omnichannel strategy in China.

Successful new development
Iberian ham has recently become popular among Chinese consumers, and sales on Jd.com alone have skyrocketed by almost 700% in the last two years. Cinco Jotas ham, owned by the Osborne group, has been available on Jd.com since 2017, and the opening of a specific store will offer a further boost for its entry in the Chinese market.

Cinco Jotas, which produces 100% acorn-fed free-range Iberian ham through an artisanal process, will have direct access to Jd.com's almost 300 million customers. The Chinese company will offer a blockchain-based tracking solution to allow customers to trace the entire cycle of the ham from production to delivery.

Opening in Spain
The company has recently opened a Spanish version of their website, which is now the fourth language after Chinese, Indonesian and English. According to Liu, the future of retail commerce involves allowing customers to buy what they want, where they want and when they want.

“Building our retail business to reach nearly 300 million customers is just the beginning of the journey”, said Liu in Madrid. “Now that we have scale we are helping society through programs like sustainable farming and recycling packaging. Our true legacy will not only be how many consumers we reach, but the overall impact we have on society”.

The number of European brands on Jd.com has almost doubled in the last two years, with beauty and skincare products, household appliances, clothing, beverages and mother and childcare products performing particularly well.