在线平台节省出口成本

Yiwu in the east of China is the world's biggest export hub for small commodities, and it attracts purchasing agents from all over the world. From needles to treadmills, traders buy products in Yiwu and then ship large quantities abroad. But now the Internet is providing alternative avenues for expansion.

With limited space, even Cai Zhenghao's floor becomes a shop window. But on the Internet, his space is unlimited. Cai's companies was among the first to export home appliances through e-commerce platforms such as Yiwugou.com.

"It’s very convenient for our customers. They used to spend many hours flying to Yiwu so that they could look at so many products before placing order. That’s expensive. With e-commerce, their costs are greatly reduced," Cai Zhenghao, manager of Yiwu Gemei Electric Appliance Company, said.

There are also benefits for sellers.

"Since we are a traditional manufacturer, our biggest challenge is that logistic costs are becoming more and more expensive. The reason why we use e-commerce is because of its convenience. It cuts our costs and also increases our customers' profit," Su Runxiang, CEO of Yiwu Huijun Sports of China, said.

Many companies in Yiwu sell products to overseas wholesalers in quantities as large as several shipping containers. They earn profit from economy of scale while having to bear the costs of storage, customs clearance and shipping. But if they sell in small quantities, say, several boxes, traditional trading methods would not be economical.

"In global trading nowadays, buying agents tend to select products with more and more variety but in smaller quantities. This makes cross-border Business-to-Business platforms possible," Wang Jianjun, general manager of Yiwugou.com, said.

Wang Jianjun's company takes care of customs and shipping for small exports. All companies need to do is to deliver their products to a local collection center, pay the platform certain commission fees and wait for their customers to receive their products. But, exports can get even smaller.

Every day, about 50,000 packages go out from Yiwu's e-commerce supervision center to countries such as the United States, Russia, Japan and Brazil. They will arrive at individual customers' doorsteps. Unlike to traditional wholesale trading where products are sold in cargoes, small packages can now generate much more profit.

"Trading is becoming more and more fragmented. Instead of overseas companies, individual customers now become buyers. They purchase directly from our exporters, just like we shop on Taobao. Such trading therefore requires higher efficiency," Xu Kai, deputy section chief of Yiwu Cutoms, said.

Yiwu Customs says it only takes six seconds to process per package. So the goods will soon be on their way to their eager buyers.