不穿旗袍改买荔枝？高考家长的“新三样”来了

This article shares the new blessing trend that has emerged among parents during this year's college entrance examination (Gaokao) season, along with practical information on where to buy high-quality, cost-effective blessing-themed fresh produce.

1. A new trend has emerged for parents' Gaokao blessings this year. While in previous years, wearing qipao (which sounds like "victory" in Chinese) and carrying sunflowers were popular for good luck, this year has seen the rise of the "new three items" of fresh produce, chosen for their auspicious Chinese homophones. Lychee has become the most popular blessing item this Gaokao season: its Chinese name "li" sounds like "success", "perseverance" and "striving for the top", and it has deep cultural roots as an auspicious fruit for imperial examinations since ancient times. Other popular options include durian, whose Chinese name sounds like "turning the tide", and original-cut beef, which symbolizes "full of energy".

2. To get fresh, reasonably-priced blessing-themed fresh produce, simply open the JD app and search for "Fresh Produce 618" or "Lychee 888" to place an order. During JD's 618 Grand Promotion, Feizixiao lychees cost as low as 11 yuan per catty, Monthong durian is 19.9 yuan per catty, and original-cut beef is 33.3 yuan per catty, with very deep discounts.

3. JD's superior supply chain allows lychees to be shipped from orchards in Guangdong to Xinjiang and Tibet within 24 hours at the fastest. The platform also controls picking timing and quality at the source, enforces strict food safety standards for all fresh produce, offering shoppers greater peace of mind.

This article outlines the emerging trends in today's fresh produce consumption, providing actionable insights for brands to refine their marketing and product strategies.

1. In terms of consumption trends, Gaokao season blessing demand has expanded from traditional apparel categories to fresh produce. Parents are willing to pay for products that carry well wishes and emotional value, and this type of occasion-based emotional consumption has become a new growth driver, with lychee's rise as this year's Gaokao season hit serving as a prime example.

2. For product development, brands can dig deep into the inherent traditional cultural connotations of their products, and assign new meanings aligned with current consumer demands. This approach resonates far more with consumers than forced, manufactured gimmicks. Lychee, for instance, has long carried traditional imperial examination-related blessings such as "champion's helmet" and "claiming first place with one lychee", making it a natural fit for the Gaokao context.

3. On channels and quality: today's consumers value both the emotional value of a product and its freshness and food safety. Brands can draw on JD Fresh's model of source direct procurement and end-to-end quality control, partner with major platforms, and leverage big promotion events to boost brand awareness and drive sales.

This article identifies new growth opportunities in the fresh produce segment during Gaokao season, offering actionable experience and insights for fresh produce sellers.

1. Regarding new growth opportunities, Gaokao season has become a new consumption node, and blessing demand has expanded from non-food categories to fresh produce. Fresh produce with auspicious homophones that fit the Gaokao context has become a hot new track. Lychee's rise to the top of Gaokao season popularity this year proves that this demand has reached scale, making it a worthy category for sellers to add to their offerings.

2. For marketing takeaways: tapping into the inherent cultural heritage of products and building scenario-based emotional marketing resonates far more with consumers than forced, generic marketing. Lychee already has a centuries-old reputation as an auspicious fruit, so it naturally wins parents' approval when positioned for the Gaokao context.

3. For operational takeaways: consumers buy both the symbolic meaning and the quality of the product. Sellers need to implement solid quality control and supply chain management to guarantee freshness and food safety, while leveraging major promotion events like 618 to roll out discounts, boost sales volume, and improve conversion rates.

This article outlines new consumer demands in today's fresh produce market, offering new business opportunities and insights for digital e-commerce development for fresh produce producers and processors.

1. In terms of production and design, consumers today are no longer satisfied with just basic quality from fresh produce; an increasing number are willing to pay extra for the emotional value and cultural meaning attached to products. Producers can develop standardized, themed products for occasion-based scenarios such as Gaokao season to meet consumers' emotional demands.

2. For business opportunities: Gaokao season blessing consumption has grown from a niche preference to a large-scale new consumption hot spot. Fresh produce developed around blessing demand has sustained room for growth, and factories can layout corresponding product lines in advance to seize first-mover advantage in the market.

3. For digital e-commerce insights: to succeed on e-commerce channels, producers need to cooperate with platforms to implement source quality control, prioritize freshness and food safety, and proactively participate in end-to-end quality management and digital traceability. This helps producers secure cooperation support from large platforms and improve their products' market competitiveness.

This article outlines the current development trends and core pain points of the fresh produce industry, pointing out new development directions for fresh produce-related service providers.

1. In terms of industry trends: fresh produce consumption has evolved from merely meeting basic dietary needs to a comprehensive experience that satisfies demands for both emotional value and quality assurance. Occasion-based emotional consumption has become a new growth driver, and corresponding supporting service demand is also growing.

2. Regarding core customer pain points: perishable products such as lychee face increasing consumer requirements for freshness and food safety. Traditional supply chain and quality control services can no longer meet these demands, and merchants need more efficient supporting services to solve these challenges.

3. For solution directions: service providers can benchmark JD Fresh's superior supply chain model, build high-efficiency cross-regional delivery networks, extend services upstream to producing areas to help merchants control picking processes and quality, and offer end-to-end traceability services. This addresses consumers' food safety concerns and improves clients' product competitiveness.

This article showcases successful practices for fresh produce platforms in matching consumer demand, offering reference for platforms on investment attraction, operation and layout of hot tracks.

1. In terms of user demand: today's consumers want more than just the product itself from fresh produce; they value the emotional value it carries, and are raising their standards for freshness and food safety. Platforms need to layout and match up with occasion-based consumer demands in advance.

2. For sourcing best practices: for popular categories, platforms can go deep into core producing areas in advance, lock in high-quality goods via bulk direct procurement, and have on-site presence to supervise growing and picking processes, to guarantee product quality from the source and meet consumer demand for fresh flavor.

3. In terms of operation: platforms can build exclusive events around hot trends, leverage large promotion events like 618 to launch discounts that drive sales, and offer clear quality commitments such as 5-segment guarantee for durian and "zero-additive" standards for free-range chicken to build user trust. Platforms can also set up exclusive search entries for hot trend products to help users find items quickly and improve conversion.

This article presents new developments in fresh produce consumption and the industrial side, offering new cases and research directions for industry researchers.

1. For consumer-side developments: occasion-based emotional consumption is continuously crossing into new categories. Gaokao blessing demand, originally concentrated in the apparel category, has now expanded into fresh produce. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for cultural meaning and emotional value, and a new consumption track is emerging that deserves continuous research and tracking.

2. For industrial-side developments: fresh produce e-commerce platforms have expanded beyond simply selling products online to full-chain operations including source direct procurement and end-to-end quality control. The maturation of superior supply chains has solved the long-distance transportation problem for highly perishable products like lychee, expanding the sales scenarios for fresh produce.

3. In terms of business models, this article presents a replicable hit product creation formula: "cultural meaning tapping + end-to-end quality assurance + superior supply chain support + occasion-based promotion marketing". This path for creating hit products in fresh produce e-commerce also reflects the new development direction of supply-side reform in the fresh produce industry against the background of consumption upgrading.