China warming up to online tea retail
The popularity of green tea, prized for centuries in China, is finally transitioning to the digital realm, as shoppers get more accustomed to purchasing leaves online. While e-commerce only accounted for 8% of tea purchases in China in 2014, the China Tea Marketing Association qualified its growth as remarkable since then, especially among young people. Major online marketplaces Alibaba, JD and Suning Commerce have recently introduced spring tea offerings with tens of thousands of orders reported for this years harvests. Differently than in Western markets, the teas are often purchased directly from growers and shipped direct from the respective plantations based on current demand.