Australia Post signs, seals and delivers with e-commerce giant

Australia Post has extended its relationship with China's Alibaba Group in a new partnership involving the online giant's wholesale website 1688.com.

1688.com is a business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace operating wholly in Chinese.

Established in 2010 by online and mobile marketplace operator The Alibaba Group, the site helps foreign businesses sell their goods in China at wholesale prices.

“Our world-first partnership with 1688.com is a one-stop e-commerce, logistics and delivery solution that streamlines labelling, packaging, pallet consolidation, sea and air transport, customs clearance, warehousing and distribution,” Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour said.

“Alongside our new storefront on Alibaba’s 1688.com, we already have an existing storefront on Alibaba’s Tmall Global business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace (auspost.tmall.hk).

" This means customers who want to sell their products into China can partner with us to sell directly to consumers in China via Tmall, as well as wholesale to Chinese businesses via 1688.com.

“When you combine these two marketplaces and Australia Post’s role as AliPay’s exclusive agent in Australia, we now offer a complete e-commerce solution that can be tailored to any local business wanting to get into the Chinese market.”

Australia Post will initially help sell wine through 1688.com because of the strong demand for Australian wine exports into China, but, given the growing interest in high-quality Australian products more generally, the business will expand to include other categories in 2016.