South Korean e-commerce companies are increasingly turning to Chinese platforms to help sellers tap rising demand for Korean products, offering a lower-cost route into China and other overseas markets without building local operations.
11street, one of South Korea’s major online marketplaces, recently opened a storefront on JD Worldwide, JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform, where about 700 million consumers have made at least one purchase over the past year.
The store carries products from about 350 Korean brands, led by beauty labels, processed foods, fashion items and health supplements. Sellers would only need to register their products, as logistics, marketing and other operations would be handled by platforms acting as intermediaries, the company said.
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“We hope the store will serve as a catalyst for revitalising e-commerce between Korea and China,” said Shin Hyun-ho, executive director of corporate strategy at 11street.
Musinsa, South Korea’s leading fashion platform, also said on June 8 that it had partnered with Tmall Global to help Korean fashion brands reach more Chinese consumers.
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The moves come as Chinese consumers account for an important share of South Korea’s cross-border e-commerce market, supported by the growing popularity of Korean products.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Data and Statistics, the country’s online direct overseas sales reached 1.06 trillion won (US$700 billion) in the first quarter, topping the 1 trillion won mark for the first time in about four and a half years. China was the largest market by country, accounting for 376.3 billion won.