The Final Battle of China’s Food Delivery: Not About Traffic, But About "Revolutionizing" the Kitchen
At 9:30 a.m., a food delivery rider hurries through an underground market in Harbin, China. The red-clad figure navigates past sushi stalls, coffee shops, and pastry stores with ease. After picking up the orders, the rider mounts an electric scooter and speeds toward Gogole Street.
Ten minutes later, on the other side of the city, Wang Ke, sitting at his desk, answers a call from the rider—this is the fourth time he’s ordered breakfast from the same store this week.
A few months ago, ordering breakfast was a tedious dilemma for him: breakfast shops didn’t serve coffee, while coffee shops offered insufficient breakfast portions. Ordering from two different stores meant waiting for separate deliveries, often forcing him to go downstairs two or three times within half an hour just to assemble a decent meal.
Today, with a simple tap on his screen, he can place a single order from the first Harbin store of 7Fresh Food MALL—JD’s first catering infrastructure brand—and receive dishes from three different shops via one rider.
Behind this upgraded convenient food delivery order lies a subtle shift in the catering landscape of this Chinese city.
The ongoing upgrade of food delivery efficiency is also a local life revolution driven by JD Food Delivery.
The "Online Food Mall" in Delivery Boxes: From Fragmented Competition to Collaborative Operations
Harbin’s Geming Market, once a traditional underground food market for locals, has been transformed into a new landmark and internet-famous check-in spot since this summer—now reborn as 7Fresh Food MALL.
Since discovering the mall’s food delivery service two months ago, Wang Ke has ordered almost all his three meals a day from here: sushi with coffee for breakfast, grilled meat rice with milk tea for lunch, and occasionally a roast duck set with fried snacks for dinner.
“In the past, if I wanted extra snacks or a cup of milk tea with my meal, I had to place separate orders. Now, I can order everything I want in one go. Once you try it, you can’t go back—it’s convenient and saves money,” he says.
Thanks to JD Food Delivery’s “multi-store order combination” feature—allowing customers to order from multiple shops in a single delivery—young people in Harbin have finally embraced their own “online food mall.”
Office Workers Gain Freedom of Choice in Food Delivery
Liudinghuo Grilled Meat, which Wang Ke orders from at least three times a week, consistently ranks among the top sellers on the platform, thanks to its healthy and nutritionally balanced grilled meat rice.
Looking back, Zhang Yi, founder of Liudinghuo, had doubts before deciding to join 7Fresh Food MALL.
“We already have grilled meat stores in Beijing and Hangzhou. When we planned to enter Harbin, we intended to launch a ‘single-person grilled meat’ model. But as a local from Heilongjiang, I knew Harbin’s dining culture leans toward sharing meals. I worried that the ‘single-person’ concept wouldn’t be well-received,” Zhang explains.
JD’s team stepped in with support and advice, easing the merchant’s concerns. Using JD’s massive data support, they tailored recommendations for Liudinghuo—adjusting prices, creating differentiated offerings, and optimizing product combinations and serving formats. With this guidance, Zhang made the decision to join.
After the store opened, Liudinghuo’s “single-person grilled meat” became an instant hit— a rare concept in Northeast China. Within half a month of 7Fresh Food MALL’s launch, the store had already met its expected revenue target.
Zhang also recognized the need for differentiation: “If we only sold raw grilled meat for delivery, customers would face barriers like lacking utensils or grilling skills. If we only did dine-in, we’d be limited by opening hours—grilled meat is traditionally more of an evening meal, not fast food.”
JD Food Delivery provided data-driven suggestions, leading Liudinghuo to develop a “grilled meat rice” line exclusively for the food delivery market. This not only filled the gap for fast lunch options but was also well-received by consumers. Delivery orders continued to grow, with over 200 orders during peak hours—accounting for about 30% of total sales.
The combination of online and offline operations created mutual customer flow: dine-in customers started ordering delivery, and delivery users were drawn to visit the physical store.
“We’ve been doing food delivery for years. In Beijing, since 2016, we’ve opened 7 stores and offered both single-person and regular meal delivery—but we barely made any profit from it before. This time, we partnered with JD hoping to boost brand awareness. To our surprise, after two months, we finally saw that food delivery can actually be profitable,” Zhang says.
For JD Food Delivery, entering the catering industry is more like a marathon requiring sustained effort—and ensuring long-term profitability for merchants is a key priority.
Repeat Orders and Returning Customers: The Ultimate Endorsement for Food Quality
From Zhang Yi’s perspective, JD’s “multi-store order combination” feature has also brought clear benefits to merchants.
“For a grilled meat shop like ours, if we operated delivery independently, we’d need a wide range of products—including snacks or staple foods—to meet customer needs. That’s practically impossible to achieve well,” he notes.
JD’s multi-store order model allows merchants to focus on their core products, excelling in “small but refined” offerings while ensuring customers still have diverse choices.
A manager at 7Fresh Food MALL reveals that JD has invested significant effort in coordinating order preparation and delivery.
First, menu optimization: For example, Liudinghuo’s grilled meat takes 10 minutes to prepare, while Coffee Bear’s latte takes only 1-2 minutes. If a customer ordered both, mismatched preparation times would delay delivery. To solve this, 7Fresh Food MALL collaborated with Liudinghuo to develop grilled meat rice specifically for delivery, cutting preparation time to 3-5 minutes.
Second, delivery capacity optimization: As delivery orders grew steadily, the number of riders on the platform increased by 30% compared to the opening period. During peak hours, JD also flexibly dispatches riders from nearby areas to ensure a smooth customer experience.
Third, order picking optimization: Full-time staff were assigned to dedicated areas to help merchants accept and consolidate orders, avoiding 占用 (occupying) the merchants’ operating space and reducing costs while improving efficiency.
"Dine-in + Delivery": A Win-Win for Merchants and Customers
With JD’s support, once-fragmented food stalls and independent shops are transforming into an online-offline integrated “food community.”
More choices mean a more convenient life—and food delivery enthusiasts in Harbin are among the first to enjoy this “three-meal benefit.”
A Winning Combination: "100% Kitchen Live Streams + Supply Chain"
For an innovative food market to transition from an “internet-famous check-in spot” to a “long-term favorite,” it needs to win over consistent foot traffic.
After its transformation, Harbin’s Geming Market now hosts over 30 merchants, including time-honored brands, intangible cultural heritage vendors, specialty snacks, and internet-famous food shops. It has become a hub for quality catering—and a strict no-go zone for substandard food businesses.
No one leaves the physical market on an empty stomach, and online, JD Food Delivery has found a way to reassure customers.
During business hours, anyone who accesses the Harbin Geming store page of 7Fresh Food MALL can watch live streams of each shop’s kitchen.
Since the opening, Coffee Bear has been swamped with orders.
As a company specializing in coffee machines, Coffee Bear has been looking to expand into new retail models in recent years—seeking more opportunities for its brand and an additional channel to sell coffee machines.
Joining the transformed Harbin Geming Market marked Coffee Bear’s first offline venture. The store offers coffee, coffee beans, and coffee machines for in-store experience and purchase—positioning itself as a “DIY experience shop” where customers can blend their own beans and immerse themselves in testing coffee machines.
As it turns out, the “experience” isn’t limited to the physical store. Yuan Jiafu, CEO of Coffee Bear, admits that the impact of JD Food Delivery’s kitchen live streams has exceeded his expectations.
Not only do regular in-store customers return to order via JD Food Delivery, but many new customers first discover the shop through the kitchen live streams. Guided by the principle that “seeing clearly means eating with confidence,” they choose to either visit the store or place an order.
“The main reason we joined was to tap into this new scenario. On opening day, we sold 300 cups of coffee; now we sell nearly 500 cups a day. Instant retail has exceeded all our expectations. We thought it would be a tough start, but surprisingly, we’re also selling coffee machines now—we even make tens of thousands of yuan a month from coffee bean sales in Harbin alone,” Yuan says.
With a large number of professional coffee machines available for in-store use, the shop handles peak orders with ease—producing 20 cups per minute on average. It also benefits from JD’s supply chain: when ingredients like sugar packets or milk run low, they can be delivered directly via JD.
“Our headquarters is in Guangdong, but many of our suppliers also have stores on JD. We can order whatever we need and have it delivered quickly—no inventory pressure. Under the traditional model, meeting this store’s demand would require an inventory investment of over a million yuan,” Yuan adds.
JD’s business moat has always lain in its invisible supply chain.
Even though it requires painstaking effort, the one minute it takes for a merchant to prepare an order relies on a decade of accumulated expertise in JD’s supply chain.
Zhang Yi of Liudinghuo Grilled Meat has also crunched the numbers: as a chain focusing on fresh ingredients and stable quality control, costs would rise significantly without relying on JD’s supply chain and cold chain logistics.
Liudinghuo’s main warehouse is in Beijing. Thanks to JD’s cold chain, ingredients can now be delivered from Beijing to Harbin in just one day—ensuring both efficiency and freshness.
“When we calculated transportation costs, we found that even with delivery fees included, it’s probably cheaper than sourcing locally in Harbin,” Zhang says.
In Zhang’s view, JD Food Delivery’s 100% kitchen live streams and strict merchant selection processes highlight a key value for quality-focused caterers: fairness.
All merchant kitchens are live-streamed 24/7 during business hours.
Under unified standards, only those who fail to meet requirements need to worry. By opening kitchens to public oversight, JD ensures fairness, impartiality, and transparency—this is both a constraint and a respect for caterers.
Merchants that excel gain visibility and trust, quickly building repeat customers. In contrast, “unlicensed ghost kitchens” and substandard food businesses are exposed and eliminated.
“Peace of mind” is not just a slogan—it’s a visible practice.
JD’s vision for food delivery goes beyond simply getting meals from merchants to diners. It aims to address food safety at the source, ensuring people eat with confidence while helping quality merchants break through growth bottlenecks.
The first Harbin store of 7Fresh Food MALL is JD’s first successful case of integrating “delivery + in-store dining”—but it won’t be the last.
Over 3x Foot Traffic Growth and Near 100% Purchase Rate: A Revolution in Market and Local Life
Since summer, residents of Harbin have noticed obvious changes in the city. A giant inflatable dog installed on Geming Street has become a new check-in landmark, and the once-underground Geming Market—now transformed—has become another gathering spot for young people to enjoy food.
Data tells a straightforward story: in the 60 days since its opening, foot traffic has grown by over 300%, and the purchase rate has reached nearly 100%—effectively driving collective growth for over 30 catering brands.
The emergence of new formats like 7Fresh Food MALL could mark a turning point in China’s food delivery industry. It signals a shift from the past 15 years of relying on traffic for growth to a future driven by quality supply chains. The final battle of food delivery is not about traffic—it’s about “revolutionizing” the kitchen.
Diversified and Younger Customer Base
Success is reflected not only in data but also in reshaped consumption habits. Once dominated by local residents aged 40-50, the customer base now includes a large number of young people aged 20-40—even attracting consumers from other districts and cities who come specifically to visit.
According to merchant observations and JD’s statistics, customers who visit the physical store often return to order delivery later, while delivery users are drawn to dine in-store. Delivery orders have exploded, with daily volume doubling since the opening.
For merchants, JD acts as a “strategic advisor,” providing comprehensive support in product design, operations, marketing, and supply chain management.
From the project’s early stages, JD’s team worked with merchants to brainstorm new coffee flavors. During operations, they helped merchants create internet-famous items like “coffee + Madier ice cream” that blend local characteristics. After 7Fresh Food MALL opened, JD continued to offer operational support—analyzing consumer preferences and feedback to help merchants adjust in a timely manner.
As JD’s first physical catering brand, 7Fresh Food MALL presented many unknowns for early merchants: some were opening their first physical store, others were expanding from southern to northern China, and still others were developing new products for the first time. Fortunately, with JD’s support, no merchant had to “cross the river by feeling the stones”—effectively reducing costs and improving efficiency.
Quality Catering Stands the Test of Foot Traffic
Today, as the food delivery war enters its second phase, JD is taking a different path.
Its deep layout in the catering supply chain shows that JD Food Delivery is moving toward “quality” as its goal, based on local consumer needs and market conditions.
In addition to introducing time-honored brands and internet-famous snacks, JD also customizes the inclusion of local specialty merchants. Instead of creating identical food malls, it aims to build a city-specific food landmark characterized by “diversified complementarity and shared traffic”—serving both locals and visitors.
The first Harbin store is just the first phase of the project. 7Fresh Food MALL plans to expand nationwide, with ongoing discussions with over 10 cities. In the future, it will experiment with “multiple stores per city” to make quality food delivery more accessible to consumers.
Merchants already in 7Fresh Food MALL have demonstrated how leveraging JD’s supply chain for resource sharing can significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Meanwhile, these early beneficiaries are eager to see JD’s 7Fresh Food MALL expand to more cities quickly.
For consumers, JD Food Delivery offers a new choice: upgraded experiences with high quality at reasonable prices.
Every step JD takes starts from the source of the catering industry, developing supply chain solutions to fundamentally drive changes and improve safety in catering—cutting off the market for “substandard food delivery.”
In the future, JD’s 7Fresh Food MALL will expand from China’s northernmost province to more cities, quietly putting in the painstaking effort behind the scenes—all to warm more people’s stomachs and hearts.
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