China-- BASF has opened a store on local website 1688.com which focuse on Chinese business to business trade. BASF claims to be the only global chemical company which officially resides on Alibaba with multiple businesses and product lines, offering product information, contact, online price negotiation, offline logistics and technical support.
1688.com is a strong B2B wholesale counterpart to eBay that houses over 10m companies and 120 m registered business accounts. The website is part of NYSE-listed Alibaba Group Holdings
BASF hopes to reach out to small and midsized customers throughout China.
Current product offerings include Ultramid nylon, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and other chemicals. While the nylon pricing information can be obtained via a quick online quote form, the MDI M20S listing includes a suggested price that is open for negotiation.
“More mid and small companies can get to know about BASF products and purchase them here [in the online store]. They can benefit from it, no matter they are located on the coast or in the inland, and regardless of their company size,” BASF said in a social media post.
“Ninety-nine percent of Chinese companies are small and midsized business, and they contribute 60 percent of China’s GDP,” noted Zheng Daqing, senior vice president, business & market development, Greater China. “They can receive information and support faster than the Alibaba platform and purchase BASF products more conveniently and efficiently.”
“This is BASF’s first time to work with an ecommerce [platform] in China, and we hope to expand our business through Alibaba’s vast user base, and better understand customer needs,” he added.
By Nina YingSun.
