Management Review ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (12): 277-288.

• Case Studies • Previous Articles    

Quality and Safety Control Mechanism in Fresh Food E-commerce: A Case Study of JD Fresh

Chen Honghua1, Zhang Lei2, Xiang Nan3   

  1. 1. School of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083;
    2. School of Intelligent Engineering and Supply Chain Innovation, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149;
    3. School of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, Jilin 132021
  • Received:2022-06-10 Published:2026-01-15

Abstract: Against the backdrop of high-quality development, how fresh food e-commerce platforms can effectively implement quality and safety control to enhance product quality and the benefits of all stakeholders has garnered significant attention. Taking JD Fresh as a case study, this paper adopts a “motivation-action process-impact” logical framework to explore the dynamic process by which fresh food e-commerce enterprises achieve effective control at different development stages, thereby revealing the mechanisms of quality and safety control in this sector. The findings indicate: (1) The quality and safety control of fresh food e-commerce primarily progresses through three stages, namely, exploration and construction, deepened management, and capability accumulation, demonstrating a developmental trend from“quality assurance to quality improvement to quality innovation”; (2) Fresh food e-commerce platforms construct a full-chain quality and safety control system through a dynamic process involving “designing control processes-defining quality standards-enhancing signal transmission”; (3) The quality and safety control mechanism of fresh food e-commerceinfluences the behaviors of upstream and downstream stakeholders through quality interventions, signal transmission, and moderate control, thereby reducing the risk of substandard products entering the market, incentivizing manufacturers to improve product quality, promoting a better-quality, better-price market dynamic, achieving supply chain network equilibrium, and enhancing transaction efficiency. This study not only enriches and expands the application of supply chain quality management theory in platform governance but also provides practical insights for quality and safety control in fresh food e-commerce enterprises.

Key words: fresh food e-commerce, quality and safety, supply chain quality management, control mechanism