Workers water lychee trees in Haikou.

Growing in the fertile soil in the volcanic areas of Haikou, capital city of south China’s Hainan Province, Haikou volcanic lychees have a unique flavour and are more nutritious than their peers in other areas.

On May 11, 2020, the Haikou government held a joint press conference with Alibaba’s e-commerce business units, including Taobao Tmall, Taobao Live, RT-Mart, and Hema Channels. The press conference, focused on the rigorous selection of authentic Haikou volcano lychee king with geographical indication tags, was held in a bid to strengthen and promote the regional lychee brand.

Lychee King, known in Chinese as Zi Niangxi, is a top-notch lychee variety in Hainan, accounting for only 1% of the local lychee output. With the largest fruit diameter among its peers, a single fruit weighs as much as about 70 grams. Its flesh is soft, juicy and sweet, and is very popular with consumers.

With a planting history of 2,000 years in Hainan, Haikou Volcano Lychee is one of the regional public agricultural products brands that Haikou has built on the strength of the city. The city has held the "Haikou Volcano Lychee Month" event for four consecutive years since 2018, and has done a solid job in linking up production with sales, brand marketing and other work. In 2019, Haikou Volcano Lychee was awarded a national geographical indication certification mark by the State Administration for Market Regulation, which further enhanced its brand value.

On the day of the press conference, Taobao Live hosted a special livestream  dedicated to Haikou Volcano Lychee, generating product sales amounting to 7,500kg. Furthermore, the burst in sales of Haikou Volcano Lychee drove sales volumes of overall Hainan lychee varieties up to 150,000kg on the day of the livestream.

Usually, Haikou Volcano Lychee King sells about RMB 30 per kilo on Taobao and Tmall. But the custom-made Lychee King chosen by the rigorous selection activity  were of best quality and preferential price. Tmall Farms  also certified Haikou Volcano Lychee Base as one of its digital offline  bases.

On April 15, 2021, the Haikou Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department and Alibaba jointly organised the 2021 Haikou Volcano Lychee Industry Alliance Conference in the city. Parts of the event were also livestreamed by prominent livestream anchors and ‘‘influencers’’, who helped further promote the local lychee brand and generate sales among their fan bases.

The Haikou Volcanic Lychee Huoli (firepower) Alliance Launching Ceremony was one of the most important parts of the conference. The alliance is composed of growers, merchants, platforms, warehousing, logistics, and other key industry players related to the Haikou Volcano Lychee supply chain. The establishment of the alliance in this sense has strengthened links between production, supply and marketing, in turn streamlining the supply chain.

Each member of the alliance performs their respective responsibilities, focusing on innovation and development through win-win cooperation. Growers are provided with the opportunity to specialise in cultivating high-quality lychees and merchants are tasked with undertaking subsequent procurement duties. Meanwhile, those managing e-commerce platforms are tasked with taking full advantage of online marketing trends, and warehousing and logistics staff are put in charge of pre-cooling, packaging, cold chain transportation and delivery to consumers.

Group photo at the Haikou Volcanic Lychee Huoli (firepower) Alliance Launching Ceremony held on April 15, 2021

In an effort to enhance its brand awareness, Haikou Volcano Lychee also held a series of marketing activities during the lychee harvesting season. These included a collaboration with Tmall’s two food e-commerce platforms, as well as the production and dissemination of a promotion video that introduced the geographical origin of the lychee varieties.  

The Haikou government also made efforts to further promote and enhance the Haikou Volcano Lychee brand. It did this by building eight modern standardised sorting centres, establishing strict fruit selection standards and graded packaging, promoting high quality and issuing a competitive price strategy. It also issued supportive policies to improve brand influence and market competitiveness. These measures have served to advance village development across Haikou.

Platforms such as Tmall and Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao empower Haikou’s lychee industry through digitalisation, injecting it with the power to drive profits through online business channels. These platforms help to connect the dots between production and sales, and jointly construct a drop-shipping model, which allows sellers to sell products without having to keep them in stock. Ultimately, taking full advantage of online e-commerce platforms will further upgrade the development of Haikou’s lychee industry.

In the month following the alliance launch ceremony, Haikou Volcano Lychee garnered more than 170 million views across various online platforms. As a result of this exposure, the Haikou official flagship store sold more than RMB 8 million worth of lychees in a month, a sales figure up by 29% compared to the same month in the previous year.  

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)