Chinese consumers will find it easier to buy fresh Australian produce and a wider range of other Australian goods and services following a ground-breaking agreement between Austrade and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The new agreement will create a dedicated promotional channel for Australian companies on youku.com, a video sharing website with 500 million active users.
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today joined Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma to witness the signing of the agreement.
Austrade’s Senior Trade Commissioner in China, Michael Clifton, said the strategic cooperation would help introduce new brands to Alibaba's 434 million online shoppers.
"It will allow more Chinese consumers to enjoy easy access to a wider variety of Australia’s premium products and fresh produce,” Mr Clifton said.
“Online delivery of imported fresh food in China is becoming increasingly viable as a result of improvements in last-mile cold chain logistics.
“This partnership also opens the door to future cooperation in some of Australia’s priority industries, including emerging digital service delivery areas such as e-health, financial services, sporting event management and assisting innovative startup companies.”
Today’s signing will build on the already substantial cooperation between China's largest online retailer of imported products and Australia's trade and investment promotion agency.
Australia currently ranks fourth in sales volume on Tmall Global, Alibaba’s international online platform that allows direct sales to Chinese consumers, behind the United States, Japan and Korea.
The majority of Australian products sold online in China are vitamins and supplements, dairy items, breakfast cereals and beauty products.
“Access to online distribution channels complements the benefits granted to business by the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which came into force on 20 December 2015, reducing tariffs and further strengthening business cooperation between Australia and China,” Mr Clifton said.
Alibaba launches online Aust wine store
Australian wines are set to get a big boost in China from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's latest venture.
An online "flagship store" featuring Australian wine has been launched on Alibaba's business-to-consumer platform Tmall.com.
Alibaba's online retail sites cater to 434 million Chinese consumers, and the group generates half of China's online wine sales.
The new store on Tmall, supported by Wine Australia and operated by Chinese online retailer Vinehoo.com, will initially stock 10 brands from eight Australian wine regions, followed by another 20 brands in coming months.
The first brands to be featured include Brokenwood, Coriole, John Duval, Pikes and Voyager Estate. Wine Australia does not select the brands.
Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark said Alibaba was a significant player in Chinese e-commerce - a massive company with great reach.
"The muscle they can bring, potentially, to further increasing Australian wine sales is vitally important," Mr Clark said.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has set up a "flagship" online store for Australian wine. (AAP) Source: AAP
China's food and wine culture is still evolving, he said, and more Chinese consumers are looking online for premium products.
"Our support of Tmall's flagship Australian wine store helps us capitalise on this growing interest in Australian wine and gives us the opportunity to further reinforce the message with consumers that wines of Australian provenance are of the highest quality," Mr Clark said.
Alibaba's managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Maggie Zhou, said Australian wines are considered world-class, and come at varied price points, so the opportunity to sell to China's growing middle class is significant.
Mainland China is now Australia's second most valuable export market after the US.
Total Australian wine exports to mainland China in 2015/16 rose 50 p
