Liu Qiangdong, CEO of e-commerce company JD.com, attends the launching ceremony of the French goods department of JD.com in Paris, France, Feb. 3, 2015. (Photo : www.en.people.cn)
Chinese online direct sales company JD.com Inc. (JD) has launched in Melbourne on June 29, Monday, its Australian Mall, a new platform where Chinese consumers can buy authentic Australian products, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the report, JD Group CEO Richard Liu saw the great value in Australian brands and products and observed that Australian brands are limited by the relatively small domestic market in Australia, with a population similar to the population to China's megacities like Beijing or Shanghai.
"Australian Mall on JD.com offers these Australian brands a market 70 times of the size of the Australian market," Liu said. " We hope JD.com can help the Australian brands achieve sustainable success, even 20 or 30 years later, Chinese consumers still enjoy Australian dairy and cosmetics."
Australian Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull had earlier said that he encouraged Australian businesses to support the innovative platform JD.com where Chinese consumers can get hold of Australian products in only two days.
"Australia will continue to be a high-wage, generous social welfare net developed country. We have to be more agile, more competitive, more technologically sophisticated than ever before. We have to relentlessly be innovative, we have to make sure that the culture of innovation is found in every part of our society," Turnbull was quoted as saying.
Bruce Billson, the Australian Minister for Small Business, also said that JD.com and JD Worldwide provide significant platforms for Australian small businesses where they can gain access to the massive Chinese market.
"This is an opportunity to change political achievements to business achievements," Billson said, as he referred to the Free Trade Agreement that was signed by China and Australia earlier this month.
At the launch ceremony, JD.com also announced its tie-up with Australia Post, which will provide the postal carrier's services, including package pick-up, air and sea transportation, overseas warehousing, and small package direct mail from Australia to China, including other potential services.
The company has also declared its cooperative agreement with Treasury Wine Estates as part of its Australian expansion plan. Under the agreement, JD.com will begin offering to its active customers the company's wines, including the well-known Penfolds wines.
Liu said that they will open more country malls this year, as JD.com expects to expand its JD Worldwide cross-border platform across the world.
The JD Group CEO expressed confidence in the sales of Australian goods in the Australian Mall that despite its late entry to the Chinese market, the Australian products will earn high sales due to their high quality.
