According to Ms. (Livia Wang) Wang, director of Access CN, Australia's purchasing agents are increasingly important in selling Australian food to Chinese consumers.
Ms Wang will speak at the Australian Global Food Forum (The Australian's Global Food Forum) in Sydney March 27. She estimates that as many as 80,000 Chinese in Australia are doing specialized purchasing services.
She said the real figure would be much larger if the occasional purchasing agents, such as Chinese students, were included.
"the Australian purchasing market is growing dramatically," the Sydney consultant said in an interview before the forum.
"it has also become more and more complicated. In the past, they might go to drugstores or supermarkets to buy their products and resell them to Chinese friends and family. Now they will go to professional wholesalers or buy online through apps like ours. "
Ms. Wang said the Chinese market has a wide range of interests in Australian food brands.
This includes baby formula, regular milk powder, honey and other products, such as barley and wheat straw, as well as food substitutes, she said.
Access CN consults a range of small Australian brands that sell products to China and has connections to the Australian purchasing network.
Last July, the company opened its own online portal, called Access Brand Management, which allows Australian food and consumer brands to market goods to Australian-based Chinese purchasing agents.
At present, 50, 000 Australian purchasing agents have registered with the site, which is estimated to reach as many as 30 million Chinese consumers, Ms. Wang said.
The site has a monthly shopping day, similar to Alibaba's double Eleventh Day, offering special offers 24 hours a day.
Ms. Wang said China's interest in different types of Australian food has "great potential", especially if Chinese people in Australia can help promote the advantages of these products.
"purchasing agents play a very important role in the market because they are good at promoting every brand to customers." "they are also interested in promoting healthy foods for Chinese consumers," she said.
Australian companies can't compete in China on a price-based basis, but they can compete on product quality, Ms. Wang said.
But she cautioned that Australian food and consumer goods companies that want to sell products to Chinese consumers must understand the importance of brand stories. "the brand itself is very important," Ms. Wang said. "Chinese consumers want to know what your brand is and why it is different from other brands on the market. Australian companies need to create a story for their brands. "
Even small businesses in Australia can now sell products to China through purchasing agents, she said. "Australian companies can market to local Chinese who can then promote their products to their friends in China."
Ms. Wang said Australia's Chinese purchasing agents have become eager promoters of Australian food and consumer goods in China. "they are becoming important exporters of Australian products." She said.