Yiguo

Yiguo, operating as Shanghai Yiguo E-commerce Co., Ltd., was an early entrant into China's online fresh food market, having been established in 2005. The company was founded in Shanghai by Zhang Ye (张晔) and Jin Guanglei (金光磊). Yiguo initially focused on a direct-to-consumer (B2C) model, delivering a wide array of perishable goods, including fruits, vegetables, meat, and seafood, directly to households.

The company's business model evolved to encompass a vertically integrated platform. This structure was built on three main pillars: Win-Chain Supply Chain for global sourcing, ExFresh for cold chain logistics, and Yiguo New Retail, which covered various retail formats from B2C to O2O and partnerships with supermarkets. This model aimed to provide tailored fresh food solutions across different consumer scenarios. Revenue was generated through the sale of these perishable goods via its online platform and partnerships, including operating the fresh food channels for major e-commerce sites like Tmall and Suning.

A significant turning point in Yiguo's history was its partnership with Alibaba, which began in 2013 and included several rounds of substantial investment. This backing accelerated Yiguo's growth, giving it access to Tmall's vast e-commerce platform and significant capital to develop its proprietary cold-chain logistics system, Anxianbda (安鲜达). The platform offered a broad selection of nearly 4,000 SKUs and served millions of users. To enhance food safety and transparency, Yiguo launched an order-based tracking system that allowed customers to trace a product's origin and processing information.

Despite its initial success and substantial backing, Yiguo faced intense competition and high operational costs associated with cold chain logistics. A critical shift occurred in late 2018 when Alibaba transferred the operation of Tmall Supermarket's fresh food business from Yiguo to its own Hema Fresh chain, significantly impacting Yiguo's primary source of orders. Subsequently, the company encountered financial difficulties, leading to a voluntary bankruptcy and restructuring process in 2020. Keywords: Yiguo, fresh food e-commerce, online grocery China, cold chain logistics, Shanghai startup, Zhang Ye, Jin Guanglei, Alibaba e-commerce, Win-Chain Supply Chain, ExFresh, Anxianbda, Tmall Fresh, online produce, perishable goods delivery, Chinese food retail, e-commerce bankruptcy, food supply chain, B2C grocery, O2O retail