Strengthening ‘Premium’ Fresh Food with Top Priority on Freshness and Quality
Coupang announced on the 24th that it is launching ‘Premium Fresh’ to target the premium fresh food market.
Premium Fresh is a product line that prioritizes freshness and quality to meet consumers' demanding requirements. It offers over 500 products across 12 categories including fruits, seafood, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy, with plans to continuously expand the product range. The core principle of Premium Fresh is to provide only products selected as the highest quality ‘Best’ grade.
For fruits, seafood, and vegetables, products that meet Coupang’s premium quality standards such as quality and size are labeled as Premium Fresh and sold, ensuring the best quality for customers through a strict inspection process.
Fruits are carefully selected based on sweetness, quality, and size criteria, while seafood is chosen based on size and origin. In the meat category, top-tier high-end 1++ grade (two-bone) Korean beef brands such as ‘Seolloin’, ‘Bon & Bread’, ‘Umihak’, and ‘Umiu’ are offered, and eggs are provided under the ‘Free-range No.1 Eggs’ brand. For milk, organic brands with dedicated farms such as ‘Jeju Seong Isidol Farm’, ‘Beomsan Farm’, and ‘Youngjun Farm’ have been expanded.
Coupang manages Premium Fresh by applying strict standards from the production environment to the distribution process. Coupang’s fresh food Brand Managers (BM) and Quality Managers (QM) personally visit major production areas nationwide to secure the best products, thoroughly inspecting cultivation environments and quality control standards.
A representative product is the Premium Fresh apple. After visiting the production area more than 20 times, managers discovered top-grade apples from excellent farms located on the slopes of Sobaeksan in Yeongju, where apples have been cultivated for over 30 years. These apples, which passed Coupang’s meticulous quality inspection, boast a high sweetness level of over 14 Brix and feature a well-balanced sweet and tangy flavor that is expected to satisfy consumers’ palates.
Premium Fresh products undergo a five-step precise quality inspection before delivery to customers. First, weight and damage are checked during the product preparation process. Then, after a third round of selection, products are moved to Coupang’s logistics centers, where quality is inspected once more upon arrival. Finally, a last inspection is conducted before shipment, ensuring only carefully selected products are delivered to customers. The packaging has also been differentiated. The existing blue shipping label has been changed to a green Premium Fresh signature label for easy identification at a glance.
Rocket Fresh services, including Premium Fresh, are available to Wow members. The minimum order amount is 15,000 KRW, which the company says is one of the lowest in the country.
A Coupang representative stated, "Premium Fresh is not just fresh food, but a new standard to provide customers with the highest quality. We will enhance the Rocket Fresh brand value and lead innovation in the fresh food market through strict quality control and differentiated services."
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