The Netherlands was not the only country breaking records in terms of temperature this summer. China also logged the hottest national summer in 57 years last year and this year the heat is also spreading in the warmer regions of China. As a result, products to combat the summer heat have increased substantially, with Tmall taking advantage of the opportunities.
What better way to combat summer heat than with ice cream? During summer, most Chinese people living in warm parts of the country hide inside, with the comfort of their airconditioning. Fortunately for them, Tmall made it possible to deliver ice cream straight to your door.
Of course, in the West it’s possible to order ice cream from places that offer food delivery, but Tmall takes it one step further with huge cold warehouses in developed regions of the country. The ice cream is then packed into a special seamless foam box, packed with dry ice at -78 °C . If the ice cream is melted, the consumer can return their purchase on the spot, effectively boosting the sale of ice cream to huge volumes. At their peak, Tmall sold 100.000 ice cream in 4 minutes during the 618 Mid-year shopping festival.
The important part is not the profit that Tmall made by selling ice cream; the intriguing part is that Tmall basically shows off how advanced their logistics chain is. Despite the fact that most of these products reach consumers by an overloaded electric scooter, the planning and supply chain to eventually reach the customer is as cutting-edge as it gets in a country as big as China. The set up logistics chain for ice cream can, and will be utilized for other products in the future. The possibilities in the Chinese e-commerce market continues to expand in ways that we in the West couldn’t imagine!
