China offers big opportunities for Aussie SMEs online, says Alibaba GM

Inside Small Business

22nd Nov 2022

Australian SMEs are being urged to take advantage of the tremendous business opportunities being offered by one of the world’s largest retail markets.

The nation’s 1.4 billion consumers are increasingly embracing international brands, says Pier Smulders, GM in Australia and New Zealand at Alibaba.

“Cross-border e-commerce has provided overseas brands with a simple and streamlined pathway to enter this huge market, without the need for physical operations in the country. Alibaba’s Tmall Global can facilitate Australian SMEs to kickstart their China e-commerce journey.”

The volume of China’s cross-border e-commerce jumped a record 18.6 per cent year-on-year to $426.8 billion last year, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce. And that increase continues the five-year momentum in the increase of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports that has made China a desirable place to trade.

The report Opportunity of Cross-Border E-Commerce published by global e-commerce accelerator Pattern reveals that 67 per cent of Chinese shoppers who shopped on Alibaba’s Tmall Global marketplace said they would spend more shopping online during the next year. The report also notes that China’s cross-border shoppers have proved remarkably resilient amidst the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Regarding their reasons for buying imported goods or from international brands, the top choice from respondents was product quality (60 per cent), closely followed by a sense of uniqueness and a match of their style or values (both 59 per cent), and then the value for money (57 per cent).

“Australian products have developed a global reputation for being high quality, healthy, and safe, and are rightfully loved by consumers worldwide, with China being no exception,” Smulders said. “With more than 1 billion annual active customers in the Alibaba ecosystem in China, this represents a vast opportunity for high-quality Australian brands and products.”

• The story was originally published on Inside Small Business.