A new e-commerce offshore centralized purchasing center was set up to better promote trade between Chinese enterprises and those from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in Hefei, Anhui province, on Tuesday.
Focusing on the trade of white household appliance, the center aims to cover the whole process that the cross-border e-commerce requires.
White household appliance refers washing machines, refrigerators, etc. Currently, Anhui is one of the leading white household appliance manufacture centers in China with famous brands including Royalstar and Meiling.
According to Feng Jianfeng, CEO of Osell, also the operator of the center, many foreign distributors and buyers still follow the traditional way of purchasing on the international market. Although they wish to transfer and update to the e-commerce way, the lack of information and resource hold them back.
The center, however, aims to help foreign distributors and buyers to connect to the local suppliers as well as provide personalized service the buyers need to finish the purchase process. The buyers will be able to search, compare and negotiate with target suppliers through the website.
It will offer services on finance, logistic, customer clearance and other aspects that may be involved in the business process, saving time and efforts of the buyers. And buyers are also welcome to set up offices in the center to get a direct service.
Cezary Filipowicz, president of Rota Group, a Polish channel distributor, said during the interview that more Polish buyers wish to import goods from China, especially after President Xi Jinping visited Poland in 2016. As a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Poland expects to promote trade between the two countries. He also hopes that the center could open the channel connecting to Chinese suppliers.
Another point is the center is small and medium-sized enterprises friendly. In the past, considering the cost, local suppliers may not accept small orders from abroad. Now the center will act as a platform gathering together those orders from small and medium, or even micro, sized companies as a big one and send to suppliers.
"The center will help us with quality control, paper work and other services we need in China," said Djunaidi Lie, CEO of an Indonesian home shopping company Paloma Shopway. "The most important aspect is that it can provide reliable suppliers that may be hard for us to find by ourselves."
By connecting foreign companies with Chinese suppliers, Yi Qing, executive president of Osell, said this will also help Chinese enterprise go out in the future. "Chinese brands should be not only those that are born and grow up in China, but also those that are acquired by Chinese companies," he said. "And we hope the center is a start and channel."
