So-called daigou buyers, individuals and groups who buy infant formula and other consumables in Australia retail outlets selling them at huge mark-up prices in China, have been locked out of one China's fastest growing online malls.
Aomaijia (pronounced OW-MY-GEE-ARE) which boasts more than 30 million registered customers will not allow individuals or unauthorised distributors to set up online stores selling Australian products. The company instead offers a higher level of back-end services to its suppliers than many of its rivals, which it says is a far more sustainable business model.
Speaking in Sydney today, Aomaijia Group CEO, Maggie Liu, says, "Daigou have filled a market need in China; while they actively promote Australian brands, in reality they operate a rather unsophisticated and inefficient distribution network.
"The Aomaijia platform was created to give suppliers, like those in Australia, better control of their branding in China but also control over supply chain, distribution, sales volumes and ultimately their profits."
The company's global chief was in Sydney for the official opening of its Australasian procurement and supply chain office. It's the fifth such international office with other procurement centres in Paris, Los Angeles, Seoul and Tokyo.
Five Australian consumer product companies Sukin, Kids Smart, NESTLE Australia, b.box and TASMAN UGG, were at the Sydney event, where they signed supply agreements with Aomaijia. They will join a dozen other leading Australian brands, headed by Swisse and Blackmores, which are already available across the e-commerce platform. In total Aomaijia sells more than 100,000 product lines across 3,000 individual brands mainly from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
Aomaijia connects with its customers across three platforms, a mobile phone app; an online retail site (www.aomygod.com); and a mini sales program operated on the WeChat social media app, which has more than one billion users.
A unique part of its e-commerce model is that the company has 14 physical stores in key locations across all of China's major first-tier cities, with plans to open one hundred more over the next twelve months. They give customers the chance to test products also reassures them of authenticity, a key selling point in China where consumers are increasingly wary of fake products, particularly in supplements, vitamins and infant formulas where Australian and New Zealand brands are very highly regarded.
NESTLE Australia's Head of Cross Border Development, Matthiew-Nicolas Quentin says, these stores are a great competitive advantage, "Aomaijia does not just offer product displays, Chinese consumers are highly demanding, they want to know everything about our products and that's the role this platform plays."
