Kaola aims at quality for less with new product platform

NetEase Kaola, the cross-border e-commerce platform of NetEase Inc, unveiled a global factory store project Thursday, aiming to bring Chinese customers quality items with lower prices.

Products covering six categories -- including apparel, maternity and infant care, household appliances, and personal care -- are among the first batch on the platform under the plan, said Yuan Foyu, marketing general manager of Kaola.

She said Kaola will monitor and score the manufacturing process in a bid to offer customers an array of reliable and traceable choices coming from China, Australia, Korea, Italy, New Zealand, Japan and France.

The initiative is also a gateway for manufacturers to tap into millions of sophisticated Chinese consumers who value quality over brands, according to Kaola. The platform promises to provide troves of consumer data to facilitate the participating manufacturer’s production, sales and branding efforts.

In the future merchants can also export to other markets through Kaola’s tie-in with supermarket partners worldwide, Yuan noted.

Earlier this year, the firm has pledged to source $11 billion worth of goods over the next three years from key overseas markets to satiate China's rising demand for quality imported items.