Australian winemakers open for business in China with Alibaba and Australia Post

by Client News

Australia Post is helping home-grown businesses capitalise on the lucrative Chinese eCommerce market through its new partnership with the largest online wholesale website in China, 1688.com.

1688.com is a business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace, operating wholly in Chinese. It was established in 2010 by the Alibaba Group, operator of the largest online and mobile marketplaces in the world, to help foreign businesses sell their goods in China at wholesale prices.

Today’s official launch of Australia Post’s 1688.com “Australian pavilion” (auspost.1688.com) will provide a powerful online platform for Australian businesses to sell into China in bulk, reaching more than 100 million registered users and enticing Chinese importers to buy Australian products at more affordable, wholesale prices.

Australia Post will initially help sell wine through 1688.com because of the strong demand for Australian wine exports into China but, given the growing interest in high quality Australian products more generally, this will expand to include other categories in 2016.

Australia Post’s Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour says that as we enter a landmark era in China-Australia free trade, there has never been a better time for Australian businesses to access China’s flourishing eCommerce sector, which is set to become the world’s top import market for online goods by 2018.

“Australia Post is committed to supporting local businesses by breaking down barriers to selling overseas and delivering eCommerce solutions that make it easier to do business across the country and overseas,” Mr Fahour said.

“International expansion can be a daunting prospect for many Australian companies but Alibaba’s B2B platform, 1688.com, offers the perfect solution for small and medium businesses to drive more sales in China.”

“Our world-first partnership with 1688.com is a one-stop eCommerce, logistics and delivery solution that streamlines labelling, packaging, pallet consolidation, sea and air transport, customs clearance, warehousing and distribution.”

“Alongside our new storefront on Alibaba’s 1688.com, we already have an existing storefront on Alibaba’s Tmall Global business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace (auspost.tmall.hk). This means customers who want to sell their products into China can partner with us to sell directly to consumers in China via Tmall, as well as wholesale to Chinese businesses via 1688.com.”

“When you combine these two marketplaces and Australia Post’s role as AliPay’s exclusive agent in Australia, we now offer a complete eCommerce solution that can be tailored to any local business wanting to get into the Chinese market.”

Michael Mang, Head of International Marketing and Business Development for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, of Alibaba.com and 1688.com says, “Our ongoing partnership with Australia Post is a crucial part of our cross-border trade strategy. We are delighted that our agreement enables Australian exporters a direct sales channel to Chinese retailers with even greater wholesale opportunities.”

Flame TreeAustralia Post is today launching the online store in collaboration with the Margaret River Wine Association – the first wine region to sell via the Australian pavilion, showcasing wines from five premium wineries in Western Australia – EVOI Wines, Flametree Wines, Happs Wines, Laurance Wines and Rosily Vineyard.

Nick Power, CEO of Margaret River Wine Association said, “Our producers told us they needed a faster speed-to-market solution for Chinese exports, and Australia Post listened. The 1688.com Australian pavilion is the culmination of many years of work to solve a major obstacle for the Australian wine industry, offering a simple avenue to sell and ship to China in bulk.”

“We’re thrilled to be the first Australian wine region to showcase our premium wines on 1688.com. Ten different bottle varieties across the Margaret River region’s five participating wineries are now on sale to millions of Chinese people through this online store,” said Nick.

“Putting local competition aside, we hope our partnership with Australia Post and 1688.com will pave the way for other Australian wine regions to get on-board and take advantage of this huge opportunity to enter one of the world’s largest consumer markets.”

Over the coming months, Australia Post will work directly with other premium wine regions to broaden the range offered on the site.

Australian businesses looking for help to grow their business in China, can contact 1688@auspost.com.au

To visit the 1688.com Australian shopfront (in Chinese) go to auspost.1688.com.

alibaba

Australia Ranks Fifth Top Selling Market in Alibaba Group’s 2015 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

by Client News

Chinese rush to purchase Australian infant formula, adult milk powder and collagen products

Brisbane, Australia, December 1, 2015 – Chinese online e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has announced it generated more than US$14.3 billion of gross merchandise volume (GMV 1.) worth of goods from this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, an annual shopping event hosted by Alibaba Group also known as Single’s Day. With globalisation being one of the key main themes of the 24-hour shopping festival, Australia was ranked the fifth top selling country to China.

Throughout this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, infant formula, adult milk powder and collagen products from Australia have been the top three popular products that are well sought after by Chinese shoppers. Australian businesses have been selling its local products directly to Chinese consumers through Alibaba Group’s cross-border B2C platform, Tmall Global. Tmall Global is an overseas platform and an extension of Alibaba’s B2C Tmall business in China that allows international merchants and retailers to sell products to Chinese consumers without having a physical presence in China.

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Ken Ma, head of Australia, New Zealand and Japan regions for Tmall Global says the growing Chinese middle class has high demand for superior-quality products and services which Australian companies are able to provide.

“Chinese consumers are willing to spend money on imported goods in response to their concerns over product safety, while Australian products are known to be high in quality. Through Tmall Global, Chinese consumers are able to access a wide range of Australian goods which are not easily accessible to them in China unless they travel to the country,” says Ken.

“The demand of these products on Tmall Globall is a testament to the reliability of Australian brands and shows how easily Australian suppliers can connect to Chinese consumers and grow their businesseses.”

Chemist Warehouse was the first merchant on Tmall Global to reach RMB10 million in sales only 46 minutes after the sales launched after midnight on November 11.

Strong demand for infant formula in China saw Australian companies record high sales, with A2 having sold more than 43,000 cans of infant formula by 12pm noon during the sales day.

Adult milk powder was Australia’s second best selling product at the Global Shopping Festival, with Devondale selling 120,000 bags of full cream instant milk powder in the first 20 minutes. Collagen products was the third best selling product category from Australia.

Globally, the top five categories from this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival were women’s apparel, men’s apparel, maternity and baby care, large appliances and sports and outdoor equipment respectively.

Key highlights of 2015 11.11 Global Shopping Festival:
-Sales from Single’s Day 2015 were up 60 per cent on the 2014 event (2).
-Mobile transactions accounted for approximately US$9.8 billion or 68.7 per cent of total sales from the event  – an increase of 158 per cent compared to 2014.
-The total number of mobile buyers on Alibaba’s Tmall.com and Taobao Marketplace was 95 million.
-Alibaba’s Alipay processed a total of 710 million payment transactions and processed 85,900 transactions per second at peak.
-Alibaba’s AliCloud processed a total of 140,000 transactions per second at peak
-More than 16,000 international brands with completed transactions.
-33 per cent of total buyers purchased from international brands or merchants.
-Alibaba’s logistics partner and affiliate, Cainiao Logistics, received 467 million delivery orders during the 24-hour shopping period, more than 15 times the daily average of 30 million orders and representing a 68 per cent year-over-year increase form 278 million orders in 2014.
-Cainiao Logistics also generated more than 120 million e-waybills, a system created by Cainiao Logistics that shares shipping information among delivery firms, customers and merchants.

For more information and content about the event, please visit here:

1) Gross merchandise volume (“GMV”) is the total amount settled through Alipay on Alibaba’s China and international retail marketplaces. All 2015 11.11 GMV and other figures are subject to final auditing following conclusion of the event.
2) Alibaba Group’s operating results disclosed in this press release are denominated in RMB; year-over-year comparisons and growth rates are calculated on the basis of RMB amounts and are not affected by foreign exchange rate fluctuations.