E-commerce supply chain platform brings made-in-Italy to China

From next month, an innovative cross-border B2B e-commerce supply chain platform, CCIG Mall, which was presented in Italy's business capital Milan on Wednesday, will serve as an important link between Italian-made products and Chinese consumers.

The strong pursuit of Chinese consumers for Italian products has made some simple cross-border purchasing methods very popular, yet problems related to quality, custom duties, logistics and after sale service have emerged.

"Therefore we decided to give life to a solid, ethical and transparent platform" to meet the rapid growth of consumer demand in a country with 1.3 billion people, who have more disposable income than ever with booming e-commerce, said Guo Hong, chairperson of Century International Group, parent company of Century Fortunet Limited which created the project with an Italian media group Class Editori and other actors.

Guaranteeing high quality and safety is what makes the difference between CCIG Mall and its competitors, Guo explained to Xinhua.

CCIG Mall will also keep a thorough track of consumer data in order to match the parts accurately, she added.

She noted that traditional B2C or C2C e-commerce models have disadvantages such as non-strict quality control, poor experience and low payment security, whereas CCIG Mall's purpose is to supervise the entire sale process, from the selection of best products to logistics services.

Italy was the first out of eight countries where CCIG Mall will be launched with a target turnover in 2020 of around 100 billion U.S. dollars, of which the Mediterranean country is expected to account for up to 15 percent, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Class Editori Panerai told Xinhua.

He explained that authentic Italian producers will be strictly selected based on high quality and price competitive criteria.

The platform will be operative from Oct. 27 and is expected to serve more than 3 million retail stores including traditional shopping centers as well as hotels, restaurants and sports clubs across China.

The project was made official in June when Guo signed a collaboration agreement in Beijing with Panerai in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

China's Unionpay and Bank of China also agreed to provide financial cooperation to CCIG Mall project.

"CCIG Mall is a huge step towards China's policies that favor the quality of people who set their heart on doing something," Panerai said, adding that the project perfectly fits Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which especially need help with communication, he highlighted.

The CEO, whose group will mainly manage information and advertising activities in the project, told Xinhua that the media have a key role "in providing the storytelling which has always been the cultural pillar of business exchanges between China and Italy."