Export Now Brings U.S Businesses To China Via Taobao Mall

Export Now was founded in 2010 by Frank Lavin, former U.S. Ambassador and Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade. Its purpose is simple. It helps U.S. businesses place their products in China via Taoball Mall, China’s leading B2C shopping site. Export Now has an exclusive store at Taoball Mall to do exactly that. Here are the five steps involved:

1. Companies pay a minimal startup fee, which grants access to Export Now’s exporter portal and covers the first trans-ocean shipment.
2. Exporters fill out a basic company profile online, including payment information to transfer revenues from their Chinese sales back to the companies.
3. Exporters develop a product page template that Export Now will use to translate and list products on Export Now’s exclusive Tmall.com store.
4. Exporters create shipments, choosing volume by the pallet or container, and ship to Export Now’s west coast distribution portal.
5. Export Now ships the products to China and lists them in its exclusive Tmall.com superstore. Export Now fulfills orders, collects payment and remits the money to the exporters.

At the end of last year, Taobao had more than 370 million users and was receiving 50 million unique visitors each day. The figure is probably higher now. To our knowledge, only big American brands like Gap and Levi’s have online stores at Taobao Mall. So Export Now really helps streamline the process for U.S. companies to leverage on the platform. But of course, businesses that place their products through the service will not receive a dedicated page on Tmall.com. But hey, it is still a pretty great service, especially for businesses who want to give the China market a try without having to spend too much resources to handle the process.

Frank Lavin said it best in the statement:

Export Now

Traditionally, doing business in a foreign country has presented U.S.-based businesses with an array of logistical and practical challenges. We created Export Now to help businesses of any size tackle these challenges such as language, currency, shipping, duties, tariffs and compliance with local regulations, and grow by reaching an untapped audience clamoring for American goods.

If you’re interested, head over here to sign up for the service. And check here if you want to find out more about Alibaba’s (Taobao’s parent company) history.