Change of channel brings opportunities

"Further down the track we see monthly sales revenue reaching 100 million yuan."

The platform has generated 40,000 more users for the company, half of whom have already placed orders, he says.

"For customers the biggest attraction is a sharp fall in shipping costs."

Through the traditional method of overseas shopping, customers are charged between 180 yuan and 200 yuan for shipping packages from Japan to China. With the Ningbo operation, those charges have in some cases all but evaporated, now being as low as 4 yuan.

The new mode will soon account for a large proportion of the company's sales revenue, Yin says.

"Apart from Japanese products, we plan to expand our business to cover products such as Australian milk and German cookware."

In April, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Ningbo free trade zone. The zone will become a transfer hub for Alibaba. Many products sold through tmall.hk, an Alibaba operation dedicated to overseas products, will be directly delivered through the Ningo free trade zone.

Zhao Chen, director of tmall.hk, says the sheer size of the Chinese market is highly attractive to foreign suppliers.