The milk is from Fonterra’s dairy farms in Hebei province and bottled in a New Hope plant in Hangzhou. It will sell for 19.5 renminbi for 750ml.
The retailer was Hema Fresh, a subsidiary of Alibaba, with its 14 stores in Shanghai and Suzhou.
Customers will be able to shop in-store using their mobile phones to browse and purchase or order online for a 30-minute delivery within a 3km radius.
Hema used the wealth of data it gathered to provide a tailored, personalised shopping experience for each customer.
Anchor UHT milk products and the Anchor Dairy Foods range of butter, cream and cheese items were also sold through Hema, Fonterra’s Greater China president Christine Zhu said.
The full strength fresh milk sold through Hema would be innovatively packaged with labels to match each day of the week to emphasise freshness, with stock being replenished overnight ready for each new day.
A Fonterra spokesperson said it was believed to be a first in fresh milk retailing around the world.
The labels would contain the Anchor symbol but no Fonterra or New Zealand identity.
Zhu said the new product range was aimed at the premiumisation of China’s consumer categories.
According to figures from McKinsey it is expected more than 75% of China’s urban consumers will earn RMB 60,000 to 229,000 (NZ$13,000 to $49,000) a year by 2022.
That would be up from just 4% in the year 2000, prompting a marked shift in consumer behaviour and buying power.
“No other multinational dairy company in China has a local milk pool to draw from so we are in an advantageous position,” Zhu said.
“This milestone with Hema is a sign of things to come and indicates that our push to shift more of our local milk into higher-yielding consumer and food service products is well and truly under way.”
