Opportunities for NZ Businesses to Reach Rural China

Alibaba Platforms Provide Opportunities for New Zealand Businesses to Reach Rural China

Auckland, New Zealand, February 5, 2016 – An increasing number of New Zealand seafood retailers are using Alibaba Group’s B2C e-commerce platform, Tmall.com, China’s largest third-party platform for brands and retailers to sell fresh products directly to Chinese consumers to target a new consumer base in China’s rural villages. Where once it would have taken three months for food shipped from New Zealand to a consumer’s door in China, Tmall has shortened the delivery time to less than a week, enabling the food to be enjoyed fresh and opening up major opportunities for New Zealand’s seafood businesses.

China is New Zealand’s biggest export market for food and beverage products. Last year seafood exports to China topped NZ$484.9 million, an increase of 14.5% on the previous year. The availability of fresh seafood will help reinforce consumer preferences for New Zealand products.

Chinese residents in urban areas have taken advantage of the convenience of Alibaba’s platforms, and now Alibaba is working with New Zealand companies to access rural Chinese areas in order to cultivate new customers. To promote the availability of fresh seafood from New Zealand for Chinese New Year on Tmall, with the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), a family in the remote Wujiazhuang Village in Shaanxi Province in Northwest China won an early Chinese New Year meal of fresh New Zealand seafood shipped to their doorwithin 72 hours from being harvested from the sea in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The meal was cooked for the family by Shanghai-based New Zealand chef, Dion McGrath, consulting chef to NZTE, who helps promote New Zealand products in China.

See video on Alizila.com, Alibaba Group’s corporate news website, of how Tmall helps New Zealand seafood reach rural China at:http://bit.ly/1SF4CY0

Alibaba Group provides convenient access for overseas brands and products to expand their businesses into China’s rural communities and thereby cultivate new consumers through e-commerce. By establishing rural e-commerce infrastructures at various counties and villages in China, Alibaba enables rural consumers to access to a broader range of imported consumer goods at lower costs, benefits that are unavailable through offline channels.

New Zealand Ambassador to China, John McKinnon said: “New Zealand prides itself on the high quality food we produce and export around the world – this is an integral part of our economy and our reputation as a trusted food supplier. New Zealand seafood’s international reputation for excellence is based on the quality of its products, its high food safety standards and a world-leading fisheries management programme. E-commerce is an excellent platform that enables consumers to enjoy New Zealand’s high quality safe food without any geographical limits.”

New Zealand companies can reach Chinese consumers through these Alibaba’s platforms:

• Miao.tmall.com, Tmall.com’s international food channel

• Tmall Global, an extension of the Tmall.com business in China, which allows overseas-based retailers to sell products to Chinese consumers without having a physical presence in China.

• New Zealand country pavilion, a page dedicated into showcasing specialties from New Zealand merchants on Tmall’s platform

Tmall and Tmall Global are recognised not only in China but around the world for their online sales and logistics expertise that underpins their success as leading third party platforms in China for international brands and retailers.

Glen Murphy, NZTE China Regional Director said “With the rising demand of high quality and fresh produce from New Zealand we would like to supply to more areas in China other than just first and second-tier cities. With Alibaba’s enormous network, our products are now able to access some harder to reach parts of China, and we are so glad that people in those areas can have almost the same experience as those in the first-tier cities, of New Zealand’s pure, natural and premium fresh food products.”

As of December 2015, Alibaba Group has 407 million annual active buyers across its China retail marketplaces, and thus provides significant opportunities for more New Zealand businesses to gain access to the vast Chinese consumer market through the Tmall platforms.

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