A food sector that clicks with buyers

Statistics from Beijing-based research firm Analysys International showed that sales of fresh and frozen food on business-to-customer online platforms in China have soared from 420 million yuan in 2010 to 4.05 billion yuan in 2012.

The National Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales of food and other groceries totaled 1.24 trillion yuan in 2012.

Mao Ajing, an e-commerce analyst with Analysys International, said that the potential of the market is indeed huge.

What makes fresh and frozen food such a strategic sector in China is the fact that online shoppers need to purchase such products more frequently than things like shampoo or consumer electronics.

"A successful fresh and frozen food delivery business can even boost the sales of other products online," Mao said.

Guo Dongdong, vice-president of Yhd, echoed Mao, saying that about 20 percent of the revenue of traditional supermarkets comes from fresh and frozen foods. "It is a market with the most growth potential out of all e-commerce players," Guo said.

But delivering fresh and frozen food is a capital-intensive business. If the goods are not properly handled, the attrition rate will weigh down margins, a consequence that has already bankrupted several small e-commerce companies.

Supported by its parent company as a leading courier in China, SF Express's sfbest.com doesn't have to worry, as its rivals do, about relying on couriers that may be reluctant to deliver perishable goods.

In fact, Guo from Yhd said the company may consider building its own cold-chain logistic infrastructures if the sales of fresh and frozen food reach certain size, along the lines of more than 10,000 orders a day. In Shanghai, the company receives an average of 1,200 orders a day. He didn't reveal the number of orders in Beijing.

Depending on third-party couriers usually comes with high delivery costs and poor user experience, said Mao, of Analysys International.