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Feature: Vip.com looks for Italian partners in Milan

Xinhua, November 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dozens of Italian companies have met with representatives of Vip.com, the third e-commerce operator in China and the largest flash sale operator in the world, in business capital Milan earlier last week.

Participants were able to learn more about the Chinese platform of e-commerce and interact with the company's leaders during a Q&A session and in the networking time.

"This year Vip.com has established its representative office in Milan, in order to start profitable collaborations with Italian companies," Maggie Mei Chuan Hung, senior Vice President of Merchandising, said at the meeting.

She said the group wants to bring Chinese consumers the best Italian products both in quality and in style, so that Chinese customers can fully understand and appreciate fashion, culture and lifestyle of the Mediterranean country.

"Italy is like China, a nation with a long history and ancient traditions. And Milan is recognized internationally as one of the world's most important fashion capitals," she added.

A selected number of Italian companies had also the chance to participate in a B2B session for visioning new possibilities and forms of cooperation with the Chinese e-commerce giant.

In fact Vip.com, organizers added, now attract more than 618 million internet users, 400 of which are practicing online shopping. Transactions have reached 600 billion U.S. dollars this year.

Last year, 10.7 percent of goods purchased by Chinese consumers were sold on the Internet. And the flash sale, or time-limited sales of products at heavily discounted prices, is the fastest growing market sector in the e-commerce market, having grown from 0.06 percent in 2008 to 17.32 percent in 2015.

Fashion, gifts, home system, health and childcare products and cosmetics are the most popular items on which Vip.com has focused its attention.

Franco Chiang, General Manager, Europe Business Development, explained to Xinhua that there is no restriction to any specific category. "But we think products that can represent Italian culture and lifestyle will have better chances in China," he added.

"We want to expand the sales channels and provide more opportunities to Italian brands in China through free trade and e-commerce," he pointed out.

"We are now focusing on providing Italian products to Chinese consumers, so there are no direct competitors in Italy," Chiang also told Xinhua.

Born in 2008 as Vipshop.com, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, and a year later launched the new domain, Vip.com.

In 2014 Vip.com reached 100 million subscribers and 107.3 million of on-line orders, with earnings up to 3.7 billion U.S. dollars. Vip.com today has 14 million unique visitors active daily, 76 percent of which place orders through mobile devices and apps. Endit