One of the biggest hurdles in exporting to China is their customs at the border. Hermes BorderGuru has attempted to help tackle this by partnering with Alibaba and arranging all the formalities in delivering goods to Chinese customers through the Chinese delivery company Cainaio.
Martin Kreiter, the person responsible for e-commerce business development at Hermes and MD of BorderGuru said of the partnership, “We are really proud to have become Alibaba’s contractual partner – the number one in China and consequently in global web sales.”
Through Alibaba’s Tmail Global, Chinese online shoppers have the opportunity to buy goods from abroad, including international brands from Europe, the US and elsewhere. 5400 brands from over 53 countries are being offered on Tmail Global. People buying from Germany tend to import nutritional supplements, pharmaceutical products, children’s clothing and luxury items.
As part of the deal with Alibaba, BorderGuru is providing IT assisted management of the whole logistics chain between Europe and China – from the pick up at the retailer’s warehouse in Europe through to the transfer to the ‘last mile’ in China. International transport, including all customs clearance formalities, will be processed through Hermes.
Once over the border, Cainiao is responsible for the import clearance and last mile distribution to the Chinese end consumer.A number of retailers in a a variety of sectors are already using BorderGuru and sell goods via Tmail.
Alongside this collaboration with Cainiao, BorderGuru offers other opportunities to tap the Chinese market. Retailers looking to expand globally can also sell to Chinese customers directly from their local webshop and have them delivered through BorderGuru.
“With its integrative services, BorderGuru is really optimising Hermes’ existing portfolio in global e-commerce. The partnership between Alibaba, Cainiao and BorderGuru is now showing that we are on the right path with our e-commerce services and that we are helping satisfy growing demand,” commented Kreiter.
