"Through this partnership, Smithfield Foods will take yet another step in developing its e-commerce business and expand its presence in China, as we meet consumers where they shop,” said Kenneth Sullivan, president and CEO of Smithfield. “Smithfield has a strong food safety platform and we take this even further to deliver products consumers enjoy and feel good about sharing with their families. We are proud to bring this longstanding reputation and sense of responsibility to our partnership with JD.com."
Ma Xiangjie, vice president of Shuanghui Development, exclusive domestic agent of Smithfield, said, "Shuanghui Development will capitalize on its national presence of industrial facilities and knowledge of domestic and foreign consuming habits, to introduce more and more Smithfield and Shuanghui products for family meals, meeting the personalized and convenient needs of the end-user towards imported products."
Richard Liu, JD.com chairman and CEO added, “Ensuring the quality, safety and reliability of everything we sell is part of JD's overall commitment to our customers. When it comes to food, and particularly a major staple of Chinese households like pork, this is even more critical. That's why we are pleased to be working with Smithfield, a trusted and respected partner with a long history in the industry, to offer easy access to high-quality choices for even more families around the country."
JD.com’s exclusive products will include bone-in cuts and variety meats, with a focus on small packaged frozen products. Smithfield specializes in these products and they are the types of products in high demand in China.
Also, according to the agreement, JD will leverage its big data insights to help Smithfield in areas including data analysis and categorization of on-shelf goods and to carry out precisely targeted marketing campaigns based on in-depth study of consumers' shopping behaviors.
JD and Smithfield will cooperate on cold chain logistics applicable to both land and marine transportation. In the US, Smithfield can monitor the temperature inside the cargo hold of a truck and inside a container. In China, there are two sets of cold chain distribution systems, from both JD.com and Shuanghui.
JD.com has been actively implementing block chain tracing technology in recent years. It set up the "JD Tracing and Anti-Counterfeit Alliance" earlier this year which has been successfully applied to beef, chicken, seafood and other animal products. This coupled with Smithfield’s traceability efforts throughout the lifespan of animals enables the cold chain system to better protect US pork transported to China.
