Hema, Yonghui, and 7 Fresh Push Standardized Gourds and "Ugly Vegetables" as Supply Chain Transparency Play
Hema, Yonghui, and 7 Fresh are jointly selling standardized gourds and "ugly vegetables" backed by traceable, graded supply chains across online and offline channels.
Chinese fresh grocery retailers Hema (盒马), Yonghui, and 7 Fresh are jointly marketing standardized gourds (葫芦) through an end-to-end supply chain program covering source cultivation standards, graded harvesting, and cold chain logistics. The initiative, active from September 7, 2026, is promoted across Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and physical supermarket shelves.
The gourd campaign sits within a wider set of supply chain initiatives the retailers are pushing under the same umbrella. These include "ugly vegetables" (丑蔬菜) — produce sold under relaxed cosmetic standards that prioritize quality over appearance — and organic salads accompanied by traceability "identity cards" (身份证) that allow shoppers to verify the origin and handling of each product.
The three-brand coalition signals a structural approach to fresh produce that goes beyond marketing: standardization at the farm level, tiered grading, and documented cold chain handling address longstanding consumer anxiety about food safety and inconsistent quality in Chinese supermarkets. By making traceability visible — through printed identity cards and explicit grading — the campaign turns supply chain infrastructure into a consumer-facing differentiator rather than a back-end operational detail.
