New alliances to nurture Shanghai's retail capabilities

Shanghai has set up four alliances to better facilitate procurement and preparatory work for the inaugural China International Import Expo that will be held in the city in November.

The members of the alliance - Cross-border Import E-commerce Alliance, Large Retail Purchaser Alliance, Integrated Trade Service Provider Alliance and Exhibition and Trade Service Alliance - announced their proposals at a news conference hosted by the Shanghai government on Thursday.

Xia Shifeng, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cross-border E-commerce Association, said the new alliance will help introduce foreign goods on the country's popular cross-border e-commerce platforms, such as Tmall, JD, Xiaohongshu and Ymatou.