MeetChina.com, China’s largest cross-border e-commerce service provider, is partnering with US-based Kinzan.com to enable direct Web-based sales by Chinese merchants in global markets.
MeetChina.com will use Kinzan.com’s SiteMan software and services to
launch the second phase of its business-to-business e-commerce portal.
The portal, co-produced by MeetChina.com and the Electronic Information
Center of China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), gives China’s
small business merchants the opportunity to create their own Web
storefronts and conduct transactions online directly with overseas
businesses.
The Siteman technology will be available to Chinese merchants
in the first quarter of 2000. The MeetChina.com e-commerce portal,
China’s largest cross-border trade site, has been designated China’s
official online gateway to international business.
MeetChina.com co-hosted an official summit conference, the “Future of
e-Commerce China 1999 Summit”, November 18 with China’s MII at Beijing’s
Great Hall of the People. Garland Wong, Kinzan.com’s chief technology
officer, previously a founder of CommerceWave and a principal
technologist in the development of CyberCash, spoke on “Building the Net:
The Technology of E-Commerce.”
“For the first
time, Chinese merchants will be able to bypass traditional middlemen and
sell wholesale directly to businesses in the U.S. and worldwide,
dramatically changing the nature of trade with China,” declared Ken Leonard, chairman and CEO of MeetChina.com.
“The Internet opens up new markets for all businesses and gives them a
low-cost, highly efficient sales opportunity. But that opportunity can
really only be realized for smaller businesses, particularly those in
emerging markets such as China, when it’s made easy and affordable,” said
Gari Cheever, president of Kinzan.com.
With the new setup, a merchant simply accesses the site-building page on
the MeetChina.com portal, and through a standard browser completes an
easy process to add their own content and create a professional, high
quality, e-commerce transaction site in just a few hours.
Merchants gain
an affordable means of establishing a personalized Web storefront
complete with graphics and text, will be able to provide a simple
interface for neophytes and gain control over the creation and
maintenance of their own site. The merchant has everything needed to
create a virtual storefront, including control over pricing, transactions
and inventory; credit card payment support; creation of online catalogs,
virtual shopping basket functions, product departments, etc.; and the
ability to contract with their own advertisers and control ad banners and
revenues.
In addition to the Ministry of Information Industry, MeetChina.com has
signed strategic agreements with each of the following key ministries as
their exclusive e-commerce partner: Ministry of Light Industry; Ministry
of Machinery Industry; Ministry of Chemical Industry; Ministry of
Textile; Ministry of Broadcasting, TV and Film Industry.
