“It would be difficult for any importer if their purchase cannot fill one container. Even if the sellers are OK to sell you a…

“

“It would be difficult for any importer if their purchase cannot fill one container. Even if the sellers are OK to sell you a half-container of products, you still need to pay for the shipping cost for the half-empty container, which would drive up the cost of importers,” he says.

But in the Yiwu market, people can easily select and pick up hundreds of different products, put them in one container and ship them back to their home countries together, according to Jin.

Selling less than container loads is increasingly popular in Yiwu as importers are not confident about selling a large amount of products when their countries have been hit by an economic slowdown.

The situation actually boosts Yiwu’s business because the market sells close to 2 million different types of small commodities, says Chang Xiaolei, CEO of Master Base International E-Commerce Co Ltd, an Australian trade agent.

“The business model of Yiwu fits the demand of Australian importers very well because it is a country with a small population. Many of the importers cannot buy a container of one type of products,” says Chang, whose company has been offering trade services to Australian importers in Yiwu for 20 years.

–E-commerce brings new business to China Commodities City|Cover Story|chinadaily.com.cn (viaiamdanw)