Leading Chinese e-tailer Alibaba has used Washington apples to promote its '11.11 Global Shopping Festival' that will take place on 11 November.
The US apples were the only fresh fruit on display at the opening ceremony for the shopping day, also known as Singles Day in China, that saw Alibaba founder Jack Ma joined by consuls from 39 countries at the even in Hangzhou.
China’s version of the US' ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Cyber Monday’ saw Alibaba’s sites including Tmall generate more than Rmb58bn (US$9bn) over the 24 hours of 11 November 2014.
Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival promotion in 2015 is running with a theme of traceability. For Washington apples, that means consumers will be able to purchase specially packaged apples on Singles Day that will include a QR code allowing consumers to scan the packages to find out more information on where in Washington state they were grown.
“With Chinese consumers increasingly concerned with food safety, this type of programme provides consumers with assurance that they are buying genuine Washington apples,” Washington Apple Commission president Todd Fryhover said in a company statement.
The 2014/15 Washington apple season saw 3.1m cartons shipped to China, valued at more than US$53m.
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