E-commerce platform Tmall.com. (Image: tmall.com)
Online platform opens up new opportunities for New Zealand's seafood in China
NEW ZEALAND
Monday, February 08, 2016, 08:20 (GMT + 9)
New Zealand seafood retailers may now reach new consumers based in China’s rural villages through Alibaba Group’s B2C e-commerce platform, Tmall.com.
The site is China’s largest third-party platform for brands and retailers to sell fresh products directly to Chinese buyers.
When once it would have taken three months to send food from New Zealand to the door of a consumer in China, Tmall has shortened the delivery time to less than a week, making it possible to enjoy fresh food, and at the same time widening opportunities for fishing companies in New Zealand.
China is New Zealand’s biggest export market for food and beverage products. Last year seafood exports to China reached NZD 484.9 million (USD 324.5 million), an increase of 14.5 per cent over the previous year.
As an example, exports of unfrozen crayfish to China rose to NZD 288.8 million (USD 19.3 million) last year, while frozen fish exports were worth NZD 140 million (USD 93.6 million).
The availability of fresh seafood will help reinforce consumer preferences for New Zealand products.
This project to promote the sale of fish products in the country to consumers in rural areas of China has the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), the government agency for international business development.
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,” he added.
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