New platform for foreign brands urged

The Chinese mainland should build a "direct-purchase type of distribution platform" for foreign brands, so high-grade imported goods can smoothly enter the mainland and lower prices, said an official from the Ministry of Commerce.

With a direct-purchase distribution platform, producers sell their products directly to consumers without middlemen, cutting the cost of high-value products.

Many overseas brands have monopolistic intermediate suppliers on the mainland who largely determine the price of the article. If China introduces more overseas luxury brands to improve competition, intermediate suppliers would have to cut their prices, Wang Shouwen, director of the department of foreign trade at the ministry, told China National Radio.

Chinese tourists bought nearly 300 billion yuan ($47.4 billion) of goods overseas last year, China National Radio reported on Sunday.

If overseas luxury brands sell products directly on the mainland, local people will benefit, domestic consumption will be expanded and employment will be promoted, said Ma Guangyuan, an economy and finance observer.

Statistics show luxury goods on the mainland cost on average 70 percent more than in France, 50 percent more than in the United States and 45 percent more than in Hong Kong.