E-commerce zone provides one-stop service

"It was such a wise decision to develop our business at the Science and Technology Business Park in Mianyang," said Liu Xuanmiao, chairman of Mianyang Futianxia E-Commerce.

The company moved into the Science and Technology Business Park, in Mianyang, Sichuan province in May 2015. Within one year, its annual transactions reached 1.5 billion yuan ($223 million).

Liu said the company's transaction volume is still rising at a speed of 30 to 50 percent monthly.

The business park in Mianyang aims to develop into a national e-commerce demonstration base. To do so, it is building two key platforms: an e-commerce industrial park and a warehouse logistics zone.

The industrial park covers a total area of 50,000 square meters, and has attracted 220 e-commerce companies, including Changhong IT, Sichuan Keyway Software, Suning Commerce and Sichuan Changhong DDB Technology.

On Sept 12, construction officially launched on the industry research and promotion center for cross-border e-commerce, the park's joint project with the National Human Resources Institute for Service Outsourcing, Tsinghua University. The center will focus on the incubation of cross-border e-commerce companies.

On the same day, the park also signed agreements to establish DHgate's Sichuan B2B cross-border e-commerce operation center, and Alibaba's cross-border location-based services center. The Alibaba LBS center was officially launched on Sept 27.

Another method the park is using to expand is by transforming local citizens' unused apartments. The Shangma community has embraced e-commerce, accommodating 40 small and micro-sized companies specializing in the industry.

Tian Bin, general manager of Mianyang Dianji Technology, said he is satisfied with the services provided by the e-commerce community.

His company was given an independent office area of 90 sq m and was offered assistance such as legal, financial and startup consulting services.

"All I need to pay is a 300-yuan service fee every month," he said. "Starting up a business here is low cost and makes me feel free from worry."

Behind the success of Mianyang Futianxia E-Commerce and the satisfaction of Mianyang Dianji Technology is the park's vibrant entrepreneurial atmosphere and strong policy support.

To support the development of e-commerce and other related industries, the park has increased funding from 3 million yuan to 10 million yuan. Also, last year, it carried out a series of supportive policies, covering fields including land, tax, finance, personnel training and logistics.

The park is also upgrading its infrastructure, with Gigabit Ethernet covering an increasing number of communities, creating a pilot zone for the "future network", which is much faster and safer than traditional networks.

IBM's first big data analytics competitiveness center in greater China, Inspur Group's cloud computing center in Mianyang, and CyPhy Technology's data center in western China have all settled in the park, providing a strong boost to its efforts.

To deliver "one-stop service", the park established the Mianyang E-commerce Maker Space, a city-level incubator and public service platform, through cooperation with the Mianyang E-commerce Association.

The maker space has gathered 800 companies, seven universities and colleges, 50 experts, and research institutes, providing personnel training, business promotions, resource integration, expert consulting and business meetings.

Local officials said the park has formed a complete ecosystem.

It has formed a five-year plan, aiming to create an industry cluster zone, a start-up incubation area and a collaborative innovation center.

The total area of these areas is due to reach 80,000 sq m by 2017, accommodating more than 300 companies, of which 10 companies' annual sales will reach 100 million yuan, according to the plan.

All of the traditional companies in the park will also be e-commercialized.

pengchao@chinadaily.com.cm

(China Daily 10/20/2016 page24)