OSell offers global window for factories

OSell, a leading Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform, has developed a new service which it claims makes it easier for international industrial retailers to buy directly from Chinese factories.

The Chongqing business has opened interactive stores offline for key markets around the world, which will offer light industry products made in southwestern parts of the country.

After taking a close look at items, buyers at the offline stores can access detailed product information by scanning a two-dimensional barcode.

Clients can enter the stores wearing an identification badge, which helps track their location and sends information on what products they viewed back to the Chinese suppliers.

If buyers pass by an exhibition booth on the site, the relevant supplier will receive notification allowing the two parties to interact with each other, with the site also providing instant messaging and translation services.

OSell President Feng Jianfeng said: "In the past, in order to sell products to other countries, Chinese manufacturers had to go through a long chain of dealers, distributors and wholesalers, who often took a large part of the profit.

"Our solution will help international retailers buy directly from domestic firms so that it is the Chinese sellers who have a bigger say in terms of pricing."

Feng said Chinese factory prices are often 40 percent lower than the wholesale prices overseas.

Founded in 2010, the e-commerce platform has created interactive stores for Russia, Spain and Dubai. It has also built centralized warehouses in more than 10 Chinese cities, where information on products from various manufacturers is collected via a smart data collection system and reported to the customs.

Ordered products will be delivered to the customs for inspection and then transported onward to Europe using the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe international railway.

"We hope to set up 50 interactive overseas stores in two years in an effort to build a communication and trade barrier-free passageway between 50 international trading centers and 50 Chinese industrial cities, for businesses on both sides," Feng said.

OSell recorded more than 3.6 billion yuan ($555 million) worth of cross-border transactions last year, largely dominated by trade with Russia and Ukraine.