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Arch-rivals JD.com and Alibaba have big plans to get South Korean firms listed on their sites
It's no secret in Seoul when Chinese shoppers are in town.
High streets in the capital of South Korea erupt in October and fill the air with Putonghua chatter from salespeople, while hawkers madly wave Chinese-language fliers about the latest sales.
Chinese tourists taking advantage of the Oct 1 National Day break bring the big crowds, but other times of the year are busy too.
That can be seen by the overall numbers of Chinese visitors at 6.1 million last year, making them the top inbound travellers to South Korea, according to the Beijing-based China Tourism Academy.
E-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc have taken notice too. They are both aiming to convince South Korean firms to list products on their sites, so the cross-border dash to shop till you drop becomes a stampede of clicks on the computer screen.
Beijing-based JD.com reported that nearly 100 South Korean companies in March set up stores on its platform, leading to a jump in that sales category of more than 10 times by August.
"Brands from South Korea had transactions of over 10 billion yuan ($1.56 billion) on JD.com in 2014. The number is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in the next three years," the company said.
Not to be left behind, Alibaba's Zhang Jianfeng said cross-border e-commerce is a priority and products from South Korea play a key role.
"There are a lot of cultural similarities between China and South Korea. With the rising popularity of South Korea soap operas in China, fashionable products, such as clothes and cosmetic, are a great deal in China, especially among young people," said Zhang, who holds the post of president and is in charge of the retail business unit.
Zhang led a team to visit Seoul in September to attract more fashion-related brands to Alibaba's online shopping platforms and the group's widely used mobile Taobao application, which has more than 100 million visits daily.
"No matter if you are well-known brands, or up and coming designer labels, you can reach your target buyers via our online channels," he told South Korean vendors.
Alibaba said apparel is hot based on just two metrics.
One showed the term "clothes and accessories worn by South Korean actress Kong Hyo-jin" was searched for 2 million times per month on Taobao in the past year. The other big item was "Korean purchasing agent" that saw 430,000 searches in the same period.
To get the attention of more South Korean brands, Alibaba hosted its first overseas fashion shows in Seoul in September, inviting partners Samsung C&T Corp and Eland among others, to showcase apparel about to enter the Chinese market.
"We had two brands on Tmall in 2013, now we have 20 brands. You can see how good the market is from these figures," Lee Kyou Chang, head of Eland Group's global e-commerce business unit, said.
Samsung C&T, which already has three flagship stores for its clothes labels Beanpole, Rapido and Mvio on Tmall, said they want to make China its "second domestic market" and will debut brand 8 Seconds here in 2016.
Still, shops in Seoul offer 10 percent discounts in return for flashing the visas of often deep-pocket Chinese tourists and there is concern that the know-how to get into the Chinese online market is still a high hurdle for some.
"Offline stores in China contribute the majority of our sales in the country, but we think e-commerce is the way to go in the future," said Smile Kim, who is in charge of Samsung C&T's business in China.
Wang Xiaoxing, an analyst at Analysys International, said the promise of sales in China attracts every company, but standing out in an online crowd takes work.
"The fashion and cosmetic related products from South Korea are hot items in China especially after the broadcast of popular Korean soap operas. It would be foolish not to pursue this sector," he said.
"But it won't be easy for Korean vendors to run online stores in China. If they don't know how to play the e-commerce game here, which means they need to attract traffic online, their stores can be buried among the millions of vendors," he added.
Costs to set up brick-and-mortar shops in China, as well as industrial and commercial registration rules, make the e-commerce portals the way to go, Lee Kwan-sup, vice-minister of South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said at a press conference organized by Alibaba.
"It is very difficult for foreign brands to expand in China via brick-and-mortar stores. Big companies, such as Eland and Samsung are able to do that but for startups and designer labels, it is financially challenging for them to set up stores in China, which makes online channels their ideal choice to tap the China market," he said.
Zhang at Alibaba echoed that view on the best way to bring South Korean products directly to the doorsteps of Chinese consumers.
"In the old times, companies needed to complete industrial and commercial registration in China first before opening an online store.
"Especially for foreign cosmetic companies, they need to go through a time-consuming process to get all the licenses to prove their products are safe to sell in China," he said. "But if they choose to sell directly from South Korea online, they can avoid all these procedures, saving a lot of time and money."
Suk Ji Roh, managing director with the Cosmetic Strategy & Planning Department with South Korea's pharmaceutical, healthcare and cosmetic products company Celltrion Inc, said the plan for greater China sales of a popular foundation primer likely rests on cross-border e-commerce.
"So we are thinking launching our products in Tmall Global and selling to Chinese consumers as imported products. We will then decide our next move with feedback online," she said.
To be sure, Liu Qiangdong, chief executive officer of JD.com, Alibaba's arch rival, visited Seoul in March to announce the launch of Korean Mall on his company's online platform.
Liu promised vendors incentives as well, including discounts on commission fees and setting up warehouses in South Korea to help cut down logistic costs.
"Myeong-dong commercial area is one of the hottest shopping destinations in Seoul. With an improved customs clearance process and logistic services, we can replicate thousands of Myeong-dongs on JD," he said.
mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn
