More foreign goods to hit the shelves after new import center opens

Shenzhen's largest import product trading center will open on Friday to provide residents with affordable, quality goods from a wider range of countries and regions.

Located in the eastern part of the city, in Guangdong province, Elite Import City, which is 1 kilometer from Yantian Port and 2 km from an immigration checkpoint connecting to Hong Kong, is a 70,000-square-meter complex serving import businesses.

The operator, Shenzhen Elite Import Commodities Exhibition and Trade Center, will first launch its own shop, Citywish, which will have more than 10,000 import products in six categories on the shelves, including wines, daily necessities, cosmetics and skincare products, seafood and frozen goods.

"Even after paying the tariff, the prices of the goods in Citywish could be 15 to 20 percent lower than other similar products in Shenzhen," said Zhou Xuegen, deputy manager of the operator.

To keep the prices competitive and ensure quality, Zhou's company worked with manufacturers directly or used agents for import products.

The company plans to buy shares of some brands and even purchase some overseas manufacturers, Zhou said.

"We will set up our procurement centers or forge strategic partnerships in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand as well as Japan and South Korea gradually," he said.

"It's an essential step to ensure the products are safe, of good quality and meanwhile at a similar pricing level as overseas markets," he added.

Once the network is built, the company expects to open more Citywish shops in and outside of Shenzhen, according to Zhou.

Most of the products in Citywish are new to the market, he said.

For example, the shop stocks organic pork from Denmark and a new juice brand from South Africa.

"Unlike the traditional operational mode, the suppliers need not pay fees for entry, promotion, advertisement or bar codes. Our shop can save big costs for them," Zhou said.

Inside the 3,000-square-meter outlet, the operator has also set up dozens of computers for consumers to do their shopping online.

"The consumers can feel, try and see the products, especially the fruits, seafood and frozen foods in the physical store, but the virtual stores can provide them more options and convenient deliveries," Zhou said.

Bigger dreams

However, Citywish is just a small part of Elite Import City, which aims to aggregate foreign manufacturers and agents that would eventually set a pricing benchmark for imported consumer goods.

In the seven-story main building there is space for imported commodities suppliers, manufacturers and agents to register and set up offices or their own stores.

"It will be a small global village where people from different countries and regions develop their business with China," Zhou said.

Zhou's company will provide services, including registration, financing, customs clearance and logistics services to support growth.

It will also help newcomers find Chinese partners.

Located near Shatoujiao Bonded Zone, merchants in Elite Import City can import a large quantity of products in the bonded warehouse without paying a deposit.

The products could be sold in Elite Import City for a certain period then can apply to customs for clearance as a whole.

Elite Import City is equipped with catering services, hotels and apartments.

"We have seen a rising demand for imported commodities, which provides big opportunities for overseas brands," Zhou said.

"We expect to develop the Elite Import City into a national settlement center, an information exchange center and a pricing formation center for international products in three to five years," he added.

Ma Xingrui, Party chief of Shenzhen, inspected Elite Import City in late July and praised the project's innovation and operational mode.

He said he hopes the project will become better connected with Shenzhen's advanced e-commerce industry to turn the city into a regional imported commodities distribution center.

Three years ago, Elite Technology (Shenzhen) Co moved its manufacturing business for computer motherboards out of the Shatoujiao bonded area. The company's executives considered their options for what to do with the properties.

With the potential of a booming imported commodities market and attractive incentive policies from the district government to transform industries, the company decided to turn the factories into an exhibition and trading center for imported products.

The company invested more than 100 million yuan ($15.8 million) for the upgrade.

Shenzhen was one of seven pilot cities for cross-border online import trading, which gained approval from the central government in July 2014. Statistics show that online cross-border trading was active in the southern city as transactions accounted for more than 50 percent of the country's total.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/24/2015 page17)