China General Interest
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has joined forces for the first time with China’s most popular business-to-consumer online shopping platform Tmall.com, to promote New Zealand seafood in a week-long campaign.
The promotion with Tmall.com will take place between 9-15 April, allowing Chinese shoppers to buy live seafood fresh from the sea in New Zealand, then have it packaged and air freighted to Shanghai within 36 hours. Within 72 hours, the seafood orders will be delivered to Chinese consumers across the country. The New Zealand products available for sale include paua, greenshell mussels and Bluff and Pacific oysters.
The ability to sell and deliver live seafood to Chinese consumers is a significant milestone. A similar Tmall.com campaign with Alaskan seafood last year resulted in a total of 50 metric tonnes supplied to Chinese consumers.
Online shopping is a major trend in China. In 2013, the number of online shoppers surged to 302 million, surpassing the number of American online shoppers for the third year. Capitalising on growing demand from China for imported food, Tmall.com is continuing to build its fresh food platform (http://miao.tmall.com/) through this joint promotion with NZTE.
Mike Arand, NZTE Trade Commissioner in Shanghai, said: “This channel gives New Zealand companies access to efficient and scalable ways to expand sales in China, so we are very excited to have our first New Zealand promotion with Tmall.com.
“Tmall.com is known not only in China, but around the world for their online sales and logistics expertise, and New Zealand is well known in China for fresh and safe seafood, so we think this is an excellent combination and look forward to a successful ongoing partnership.”
China is New Zealand’s largest seafood market. Last year, exports topped $376 million – up 19% on the previous year. Total international seafood sales have grown in the last 20 years from $500 million to $1.5 billion.
Head of International Business Development at Tmall.com, Janet Wang, said: “Through this collaboration with NZTE, Tmall.com hopes to provide the most authentic, fresh and nutritious food from New Zealand to China. We look forward to future cooperation to bring richer, affordable and tasty produce from New Zealand to Chinese consumers.”
The supply chain manager for this week-long promotion is Oceanus, who have been importing, promoting and distributing New Zealand seafood in China since 2011. It is their supply chain and logistics that make it possible to achieve the milestone of transporting and delivering live New Zealand seafood within 36 hours to Chinese consumers.
New Zealand companies taking part in the campaign include PauaCo, Pure New Zealand Greenshell Mussels, Ngāi Tahu Seafood, Pacific Marine Farms and Talley’s, as well as several wine companies.
Trade Minister Tim Groser gave his support to the cooperation while in China with the Prime Minister last month, saying a marriage between New Zealand’s food, seafood and wine and Tmall.com’s great e-commerce strength is a marriage made in heaven.
For more information and to obtain high-res imagery of the promotion, please contact:
Deirdre Robert
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
Tel +64 9 354 9139
Deirdre.Robert@nzte.govt.nz
The Live New Zealand seafood promotion on Tmall.com will launch 9 April 2014 and run until 15 April 2014. Key pre-launch information will go online between 5 – 8 April to build awareness for the promotion. Both can be accessed directly through Tmall.com or from http://miao.tmall.com/go/market/miao/xhxxl.php
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise is the Government’s international business development agency. Our purpose is to grow companies internationally – bigger, better, faster – for the benefit of New Zealand. We work to increase New Zealand companies’ international success, by helping them boost their global reach and build capability.
Tmall.com (www.tmall.com) is dedicated to providing a first-class shopping experience for increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers in search of top-quality branded merchandise. It was launched in April 2008 as part of Taobao Marketplace and became an independent platform in June 2011. Thousands of international and Chinese brands and retail merchants have established storefronts on Tmall.com. According to iResearch, Tmall.com was the largest B2C online retail platform in China based on the value of goods transacted as of September 2013. Tmall.com is a business within the Alibaba Group.
Oceanus International Trading Company Limited (www.oceanbest.en.alibaba.com) is a company dedicated to research and development, importing, promoting and distributing New Zealand seafood in China since 2011. Based in Shanghai, they specialise in live seafood, partnering with New Zealand suppliers of black abalone, geoduck, mussels, Bluff oysters, pacific oysters and clams. The company comprises of a young Kiwi-Chinese management team with over ten years study and work experience in New Zealand.
Apr 14, 2014