Australia Post to Help Wineries Export to China

Australia Post has partnered with China’s largest online wholesale website, 1688.com as part of an initiative that will help Australian businesses capitalise on the free-trade agreement signed in June.

The launch of ‘Australian pavilion’ (auspost.1688.com) will provide a powerful online platform for Australian businesses to sell into China in bulk, reaching more than 100 million registered users and enticing Chinese importers to buy Australian products at more affordable, wholesale prices.

Initially, Australia Post will help local wineries sell their wine through Australian pavilion, before expanding into other categories in 2016. The Margaret River Wine Association is the first wine region to have partnered with Australia Post in the initiative and will be selling wines on the site from five premium wineries in Western Australia, including EVOI Wines, Flametree Wines, Happs Wines, Laurance Wines and Rosily Vineyard.

Nick Power, CEO of Margaret River Wine Association said: “Our producers told us they needed a faster speed-to-market solution for Chinese exports and Australia Post listened. The 1688.com Australian pavilion is the culmination of many years of work to solve a major obstacle for the Australian wine industry, offering a simple avenue to sell and ship to China in bulk.”

“We’re thrilled to be the first Australian wine region to showcase our premium wines on 1688.com. Ten different bottle varieties across the Margaret River region’s five participating wineries are now on sale to millions of Chinese people through this online store,” Power added.

Over the coming months, Australia Post will work directly with other premium wine regions to broaden the range offered on the site.

“International expansion can be a daunting prospect for many Australian companies but Alibaba’s B2B platform, 1688.com, offers the perfect solution for small and medium businesses to drive more sales in China”, Managing Director and CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour said.

“Our world-first partnership with 1688.com is a one-stop eCommerce, logistics and delivery solution that streamlines labelling, packaging, pallet consolidation, sea and air transport, customs clearance, warehousing and distribution.”

Fahour continued: “Alongside our new storefront on Alibaba’s 1688.com, we already have an existing storefront on Alibaba’s Tmall Global business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace (auspost.tmall.hk). This means customers who want to sell their products into China can partner with us to sell directly to consumers in China via Tmall, as well as wholesale to Chinese businesses via 1688.com.”

“When you combine these two marketplaces and Australia Post’s role as AliPay’s exclusive agent in Australia, we now offer a complete eCommerce solution that can be tailored to any local business wanting to get into the Chinese market.”

Australian businesses looking for help to grow their business in China, can contact [email protected]

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