With Singles Day fast approaching, custom officials are teaming up with several online commerce firms to fast-track the clearance and shipping of imported products as foreign sellers expect huge profits.
Alibaba Group, leading e-commerce giant in China, said that it is collaborating with Guangzhou and Hangzhou Ningbo custom officials to integrate the online orders on Tmall with the authorities' inventory management systems.
The customs' inventory management systems have the capability to organize delivery and levy fees and disseminate the data to locations covered by surveillance of Chinese customs.
Once customers settle their accounts on Alipay, Alibaba's payment program, they can easily track their order's delivery data on customs logistics facilities.
Nearly a hundred foreign online sellers from nine countries--including Japan, South Korea and the U.S.--have Tmall's Singles Day consumers in their sight. Alibaba intends to net at least 1 million online purchases of imported products in one day.
"Globalization is an important feature of this year's Singles Day online shopping campaign, and we hope to connect Chinese consumers with high-quality products from overseas vendors," said Zhang Yong, Tmall president.
Cainiao Network, logistics partner of Alibaba, is also expanding into international markets by selling Chinese goods overseas, and is currently planning on making the Singles Day an international shopping avalanche.
Yihaodian, a shopping website based in Shanghai, said that roughly 12,000 merchandise categories are covered by their imported products. U.S.-based Wal-Mart currently holds major shares of Yihaodian.
Alibaba is also cooperating with customs officials covering the free trade zone in Shanghai to reduce shipping processes to just two days. It is also collaborating with Easipay, a cross-border payment firm in Shanghai, to make payment process efficient and optimal.