HANGZHOU, China & SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following a joint promotion in January hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) Shanghai and Tmall.com, China's most popular business-to-consumer online shopping website, the ATO Shanghai and Tmall.com today announced they would once again collaborate and strengthen ties by launching a pre-sale campaign from June 27th to July 8th to offer Chinese consumers with high quality American-made food products.
The promotion features more than 60 different products from the U.S. including wine, hard liquor, seafood, American pork and freshly-picked cherries from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah, major export states for cherries that produce between eight to nine thousand kilos of cherries each year, of which approximately one third is exported to the Chinese market for consumption. The promotion is being hosted on the Tmall.com pre-sale channel, yushou.tmall.com, which allows users to pay a small deposit on selected items for later delivery, therefore enabling the suppliers to accurately estimate consumer demand and ship only products that are ordered; it is estimated that approximately 50% of supply chain costs can be saved using the pre-sale model.
“The power and potential of e-commerce in China is unparalleled compared to any other country or region around the world and we are eager to watch its development; at this time, it has already become a new way of life in China, especially for younger consumers,” said Ambassador Gary Locke. “E-commerce is bringing about new opportunities for U.S. food suppliers and distributors and facilitating enhanced U.S.-China trade, and we are proud to be serving as a bridge for our businesses into the burgeoning Chinese consumer market.”
"This is the second time our office has joined with Tmall.com in launching an on-line American Food Promotion," said Keith Schneller, Director of the USDA Agricultural Trade Office Shanghai. "Tmall.com is offering an excellent new channel for small and medium sized American food and beverage producers to access millions of middle class consumers in China and our office will continue to introduce Tmall.com consumers to more and more products from the United States in the future."
“In the first half of 2013, we saw a 500% surge in sales of imported food on Tmall.com, and we are thrilled to be collaborating once again with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to meet the increasing needs of our users,” said Daniel Zhang, president of Tmall.com. “The pre-sale model has revolutionized the traditional imported food supply chain and not only returns cost savings to buyers and suppliers, but also ensures that consumers receive the freshest produce possible, direct from the source.”
Online shoppers can place orders from June 27th to July 8th and pay the balance to confirm their order between July 9th and 11th. Orders are then dispatched from July 12th onwards. The other American food products recommended by the Agricultural Trade Office Shanghai on offer include Sun-Maid raisins, Boston lobster, Alaskan wild salmon and cod, Snyder’s pretzels and so on. According to USDA statistics, agricultural exports from the U.S. to China reached US$546 billion in 2012, up by 34% from 2011.
About the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Trade Office Shanghai
ATO Shanghai is a trade assistance and promotion office under the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In addition to U.S. agricultural products export assistance and market research and development, ATO Shanghai coordinates promotional activities such as trade show, food service activities and retail campaigns. Working closely with importers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and trade promotion organization, ATO Shanghai introduces and promotes American agricultural products in East China and throughout the Yangzi River region.
About Tmall.com
Tmall.com (www.tmall.com) is an online shopping landmark in China with more than 70,000 major multinational and Chinese brands offered by more than 50,000 merchants. An open business-to-consumer (B2C) platform, Tmall.com has established itself as the leading shopping destination for quality, brand-name goods. It was launched by Taobao in April 2008 and became an independent platform in June 2011. According to Alexa, it is the most visited B2C online retail website in China. Tmall.com is a business within Alibaba Group.
