US rides China's e-commerce wave

3,700 categories

According to Chinese research firm CBN Data and Alibaba Group, Chinese consumers in 2016 can buy products on Tmall Global in 3,700 categories from big brands or retailers from 63 countries. Among the 14,500 brands now available on Tmall Global, 80 percent are newcomers to China's market.

Best-selling are foreign cosmetics products and food. Milk powder, baby food and dietary supplements are some of the most popular items on Tmall Global. Since 2014 when Alibaba initiated collaborations with the US Department of Agriculture and local farm produce organizations, Chinese consumers have been able to purchase directly through Tmall seasonal American fruits such as cherries and apples, and wild seafood caught from Alaska.

Keith Hu, director of international operations at Northwest Cherry Growers, an organization that represents growers in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Montana and Idaho, said Chinese shoppers consumed about 10 percent of the 200,000 metric tons of cherries from those states' in past years. "China is the largest overseas market for the Northwest cherry industry and will continue to be a key market," he said.

Hu works with major supermarket chains and specially fruit chains in China to market cherries from his organization, and he also teams with Tmall to promote the Northwest cherry brand.

China is also one of the top five export markets for Washington apples: It consumed roughly $30 million worth of Washington Red Delicious and Gala, two main varieties, between September 2015 and August 2016.

Growers, through an arrangement with the Washington Apple Commission and Alibaba, have launched e-commerce promotion for their apples.

"This past fall, they were able to show Tmall customers a Washington apple orchard and take them on a live tour of an apple-packing facility on the day before Singles Day," said Rebecca Lyons, international marketing director at the Washington Apple Commission. She said that more than 62,000 consumers watched the live broadcast at 2 am China time on Nov 10, and more than 245,000 saw the video on the Tmall website during the promotion.

Chinese consumers are very quality-conscious and care about the origin and safety of their food, which makes the Tmall market a perfect fit for Washington apples, said Lyons.

Exports for the current season, which will end on Aug 30, are projected to increase by 25 percent from last season. "We anticipate that China will continue to be a major market for the 2017 Washington apple harvest season (Sept 1, 2017－Aug 31, 2018)," said Lyons.

Kostick of 100% Pure echoed Kuperman's comments about creating jobs in the US.

"I need people to work here to manufacture the products. I need people to communicate with customers, to talk to Chinese factories. You also need to pay rent somewhere in the US, that creates jobs because someone has to build the building and hire people to work. The bigger the company grows, the bigger the responsibility it has for job creation."

McPheters saidss: "As they (Alibaba) look to bring on small businesses (in the US), that'll be a huge asset to drive their success."

In the US, Alibaba makes a very small minority investment in companies for one reason. "We want to support innovation and entrepreneurship here and we want to learn," said Kuperman, adding that Alibaba is offering educational assistance to US companies to promote "the integrated shopping experience", which she said is in much better shape in China.

Judy Zhu in New York contributed to this story.