Lakala steps into community O2O market

Lakala's booth at the launching ceremony on Jan 17, 2014 in Beijing [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Lakala, China's biggest provider of community financial and e-commerce services, launched community fresh food services in Beijing on Saturday.

With its advantage in long-time cooperation with community grocers, the new business mode offers fresh goods, such as imported fruits, vegetables and meat products, to customers in communities.

When a customer places an order online, the owner of the grocery in the nearby community will make the delivery of the goods at the given time.

The new model greatly meets customers' requirement for fresh foods, which are convenience, freshness, better shopping experience and lower prices, said Han Jitao, president of Lakala's e-commerce arm.

To grocers, the community O2O model can expand their business scope with low costs on stock and help traditional stores to offset the impact of e-commerce.

"The development of Internet and data analysis and the upgrading consumption trend of Chinese help us to embrace the O2O era", Han said.

Lakala first selected 30 groceries in the Tiantongyuan and Hulongguan communities to pilot the new business mode.

"After a lot of market research, we found white-collared workers living in these communities are willing to buy some untraditional foods, such as half-finished foods, at nearby groceries after a tiring day of work," said Han. "It's convenient and the price is much lower than having dinner at a restaurant."

Lakala plans to cooperate with 150,000 groceries nationwide on community O2O business in 2015, Han added.