Traders embrace new concept in selling

"However, what is valuable for the group is the future this website can bring to it. If the new e-commerce operation performs as hoped, it will help transform the whole group, Song says. "We will establish overseas branches to get closer to our foreign suppliers, and the company will no longer be dependent on external demand."

State-owned Zhejiang Materials Industry Group, a Fortune 500 company, is using kjb2c.com, too, but is doing something a little different.

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Using its established foreign trade network, it is providing supplier services to small and medium-sized e-commerce companies that want to do business using the website.

"The Ningbo model is that all companies store the goods in warehouses before they are sold," says Zhang Guohua, chief operating officer of Zhejiang Materials Industry Free Trade E-Commerce Co. For small operators, this is very risky and costs a lot because they have to buy and store goods beforehand."

The company helps e-commerce startups to stock up, Zhang says. "As a State-owned merchandizing company with a history of almost 20 years, our company has a strong network with the best suppliers in the world."

E-commerce companies registered in the zone can go to the Zhejiang Materials warehouse to choose the goods they need and sell them on their own pages, or e-stores, on kjb2c.com. Zhejiang Material Industry Group makes money by charging service fees.

"E-commerce is an inevitable trend for companies to follow. As a Fortune 500 company, we attach great importance to this cross-border e-commerce platform," Zhang says

The company has no intention of becoming a retailer on the free trade zone website, Zhang says. Instead, it wants to grow into a specialized role in the business chain.