OneTouch service offers exporters one-stop shop

The exporters have been trying to cut labor and materials costs. "But there is very small room to cut in terms of production costs. It is time they thought about how to cut costs in export services, such as shipping, warehousing and financing smaller orders, which usually account for 30 percent of the total cost in Chinese exports," said Wei Qiang, general manager of OneTouch, the export-services provider that was acquired by Alibaba.com earlier this year.

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Through outsourcing to integrated export-service platforms, such as OneTouch, exporters can reduce the expense of dealing with the various parties involved in the long export process.

"By combining the orders of more than 10,000 exporters on OneTouch, the online service platform has big bargaining power with banks, logistics firms and other parties involved in the export procedure, which means lower export costs and higher export efficiency for our customers," Wei said.

According to Wei, OneTouch provided export services to 14,070 customers and facilitated import and export transactions valued at more than $4 billion in 2013. "Statistically, we can help lower logistics costs by 20 percent and financing costs by 35 percent," he said. "For every $1 in value of export transactions handled through OneTouch, our company can earn 0.07 yuan, and we plan to give 0.03 yuan as subsidies to our customers."

Jin Hongjin, manager of Wamar Wine Co, a Yiwu-based export company, said that many trade agencies offer similar subsidies. "What OneTouch offers is not that special compared with its peers in China. However, its services can attract small companies, which experience more difficulties in successfully navigating the long export process," he said.