Singapore shop launched on China's Tmall

Singapore has launched its first country-led transaction page on Tmall, a Chinese website for business-to-consumer online retail owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Sim Ann, who is Senior Minister of State (SMS) for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth as well as the Ministry of Finance,  launched the Tasty Singapore shop in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on April 28.

The page has received over 45 sign-ups from Singapore brands since its soft launch in July 2015.

The platform was built by IE Singapore and the Singapore Food Manufacturers' Association (SFMA) to help Singapore food companies access China's vast consumer market.

Following Tmall, IE Singapore and SFMA will roll out the Singapore shop on other Chinese e-commerce marketplaces, such as jD.com, Suning.com and Yihaodian.

Non-food sectors like maternity/baby products and cosmetics will also be included.

In 2015, e-commerce transactions in China totalled a whopping US$540 billion (S$725.4 billion). By the year 2020, China's e-commerce market is projected to be larger than the US, Britain, Japan, Germany and France combined.

On her introductory trip as the Co-Chairman of the Singapore-Zhejiang Economic and Trade Council (SZETC), Ms Sim visited the Hangzhou Yunqi Cloud Town, an initiative to develop a cloud ecosystem in Hangzhou, and Netease, China's leading Internet technology company.

ljessica@sph.com.sg