CJ O Shopping targets Chinese

CJ O Shopping, Korea’s top cable home-shopping channel by sales, is gearing up to target China’s burgeoning e-commerce market by opening a flagship store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall Global platform, an extension of Tmall.com, this month.

Tmall is China’s largest online shopping platform for brands and retailers and has posted record sales in recent days. Tmall Global exclusively carries foreign brands, allowing merchants around the world to access Chinese consumers without the need for a physical presence in China.

The move is the latest in a series of efforts by domestic retailers to reach out to overseas consumers in a push to offset the losses incurred by the growing number of Korean shoppers purchasing products on foreign online shopping malls.

Initially, the TV home-shopping channel will sell more than 1,000 items, comprised of cosmetic and beauty products and various goods made for children. Chinese people especially look for products of this kind that are made outside of China because they are less confident about the safety and quality of domestic brands.

The popularity of Korean dramas and celebrities in China also boosts the appeal of Korean-made products. In the global division mall, 20 stores out of the top 50 originated in Korea.

CJ O plans to gradually increase its range of products on the online store to 10,000 if the items it has chosen for the initial release are popular.

The retailer said its 10 years of experience in China will help it to do well on the new platform.

“We’ve done business here for 10 years in different Chinese cites - Shanghai, Guangzhou,” said Yoon Byung-joon, a director of CJ O’s e-commerce division.

“We have knowledge about Chinese people’s lifestyle and developed insights into what kind of services and products Chinese people are looking for.”

In 2004, CJ O launched a home-shopping channel called Dongbang CJ with its Chinese partner Shanghai Media Group. It also opened a joint venture in 2008 with Tiantian CJ Home Shopping in the northern city of Tianjin.

“We already have the infrastructure across China, so it is easy to increase efficiency, because we can make use of existing distribution centers and consumer management system.”

The retailer will also offer a new purchase service on its official online shopping mall Dongbang CJ to help Chinese consumers buy directly from overseas.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]