Chinese purchasing agents have always been an important group in Australia.
However, the fact that purchasing agents are also divided into different "small groups", compared to the most common overseas students purchasing agents and babysitting agents, some of the gift shops and warehouses of the Chinese purchasing agents appear to be more "mysterious".
Recently, a video website video spread on the Internet, sharing stories of several Chinese who run "purchasing agents" business in Australia.
The video interviewed three Chinese who were engaged in purchasing agents in Australia.
Liu Yilin, a Xi'an native, came to Australia in 2015 because of his wife and opened his first gift shop in Burwood, Sydney, in 2016, targeting local students in Sydney.
At the beginning of the video came Liu Yilin's voice: "it is painful and happy to be a purchasing agent. It is very hard, but there are also some profits."
Subsequently, the camera shot Liu Yilin's purchasing agent warehouse.
Domestic demand is large, foreign students are also slowly increasing, Liu Yilin rented a warehouse, has been expanded by the gift shop retail, under more than 10 people. Responsible for customer service, and warehouse delivery.
"the monthly sales amount is about 10 million yuan. In this industry, I bought two houses and four cars in Australia in two years. "
As can be seen from the camera, Liu Yilin's warehouse is stocked with large quantities of baby milk powder. He said that purchasing agents would sign their mothers' names on milk powder cans in order to prevent domestic express delivery swaps.
He also revealed that if the delivery received is not the same, which must be in the domestic package, the future plans to make the form of a supply chain, allowing consumers to place orders directly on the platform, skipping the gift shop. He predicts that purchasing agents will become even harder in the next year or two.
Vivian, a 34-year-old Tianjin native who had come to Australia for a master's degree in computer science, was asked by relatives and friends to help buy milk powder.
She said her Taobao store was stable, but she also paid a lot of it.
While management costs have increased, the returns have been impressive: "if Taobao stores do it well, they can earn between one hundred and fifty thousand and two hundred thousand Australian dollars a year." She said.
As an "old purchasing agent" with ten years' experience, Vivian laughed: it is painful and happy to be a purchasing agent.
"the happy thing is: seeing relatives and friends in the country, your clients, their babies, really grew up drinking the milk powder you bought for them, and it's really a great encouragement to our store [to see these buyers show]."
Vicky, a 30-year-old Shandong native, is the owner of a Chinese gift shop in Sydney Chinatown.
The shopkeeper, Vicky, led the cameraman into the shop and smiled and picked up a bottle of air freshener. "isn't that a little weird?" he said with a smile. This is the air of Australia. "
Like Liu Yilin and Vivian, Vicky started "getting started" by introduction from relatives and friends in China. She now runs a Chinese gift shop that runs 11 hours a day and has a lot of guests in summer evenings.
From the video can be seen, many are packed with the express package.
Vivian said: "there are foreign students in the shop, as well as some local Chinese in Sydney, the competition is fierce." "there are factories, pharmacies, wholesalers," Vicky said, adding that her clients rarely question her.
Australian media have published a large number of negative reports about purchasing agents in recent years, questioning the legality of purchasing agents, whether there are suspected tax evasion, and accusing purchasing agents of "emptying shopping malls", leaving local children without milk to drink.
Chinese purchasing agents are still a huge but controversial group between China and Australia; but slowly, people's perceptions are changing.