GIGA Korea’s business partner Guodunjuyi, a Shenzhen-based Chinese company, looks to build branches of GD GIGA China in 32 provinces and 300 cities in China. While expanding its online and offline shopping business, Guodunjuyi has made a move to break into the medical sector: it signed an agreement with Zhong Guan Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Center to build the research center’s branch in Shenzhen.
At the same time, it is busy hammering out a plan to assist Korean SMEs selling goods at GD GIGA’s online shopping mall or Citic City Plaza Shenzhen in entering overseas markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
GD GIGA China is a joint venture set up by GIGA Korea Chairman Kwon-Oh-seok and CEO of Guodunjuyi Zhaohzhang, CEO of Guodunjuyi. The CEO of Guodunjuyi was deeply moved by the products that the CEOs of Korean SMEs personally brought with them from S. Korea.
“In China where counterfeit goods are overflowing, Chinese consumers highly favor Korean products. In cooperation with GIGA Korea, We will launch GD GIGA China’s shopping mall, based on GIGA Korea’s unique platform technology, on April 1. And with the scheduled launch of the online shopping mall, we will spearhead President Xi Jinping’s new Silk Road initiative by marketing Korean products,” the CEO of Guodunjuyi said.
The following is an excerpt from the CEO of Guodunjuyi’s interview with the Korea IT Times. What makes GD GIGA China’s online shopping mall different from other existing online shopping malls GD GIGA China’s online shopping mall is the first of its kind. This is a new-concept online shopping mall that no one has ever seen before.
Existing online marketplaces, like Alibaba and Taobao, allow sellers to sell and buyers to buy. People are so familiar with such a dichotomous way of online trade that they would question the need for adopting another way of running an online shopping mall. However, once you have had a taste of GD GIGA China’s online shopping mall system, you will find a whole different world on the Internet.
GD GIGA China is a multi-settlement, personalized shopping mall, where producers, sellers and buyers can easily build their own online shops by simply dragging and clicking. All you need to do is sign up. It lets selling and buying take place simultaneously without drawing a clear line between the two. For example, suppose that seller Tom puts a refrigerator up for sale on his online shop. Shopper Jim looking for consumer electronics happens to visit seller Tom’s online shop and drags the refrigerator to his online shop.
Then, another shopper Jane buys the refrigerator on Jim’s online shop. Jim will receive some commission from seller Tom since the transaction was made thanks to Jim. It may sound complicated, but if you do it by yourself on our online mall, you will find it easy.
GIGA Korea’s tie-up with Guodunjuyi has fueled expectations for Korean SMEs’ robust entry into the Chinese market.
That’s true. I think things are looking up for Korean SMEs’ entry into China. Nearly 180 Korean businesses are to open shops on GD GIGA China’s online shopping mall. Most Korean businesses will sell consumer goods, beauty products and healthcare products, which are expected to find favor with China’s growing elderly population and young Chinese people loving the Korean Wave (or Hallyu).
Besides, the tariff barrier that had blocked trade of goods between the two nations has been lowered thanks to S. Korea-China FTA. What’s more, the Chinese government has been encouraging the expansion of domestic demand and middle-class consumption, so the exports of Korean products to China will be made much easier.
What are Guodunjuyi’s future plans
We struck a partnership with GIGA Korea more than a year ago. We have thus far made preparations for the successful launch of GD GIGA China. The official launch date for GD GIGA China’s online shopping mall is April 1. A signal flare to trumpet the beginning of a new paradigm of online shopping will be fired on the day. Later, 300 Chinese cities will fire signal flares for the same reason, followed by Southeast Asian nations (e.g. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, etc.), Southwest Asian nations (e.g. Turkey and Saudi Arabia), North Africa and then the Middle East.
By Yeon Choul-woong
