KITA (Chairman: Jin Sik Yoon) and JD.com* from China co-organised a lecture and consultation on Chinese direct sourcing platforms and Korean exports on Tuesday, 31 March at COEX in Seoul.
* JingDong.com (JD.com) is one of three key Chinese e-commerce platforms along with Alibaba and Pinduoduo. It has a competitive edge as JD.com is equipped with its own logistics system, which allows distribution of goods through direct sourcing. In 2025, JD.com was ranked 44th out of all Fortune Global 500 companies.
This lecture was broken down into two parts: a) presentations on engaging in export business through direct sourcing, aimed at supporting exports by utilising large-scale Chinese online distribution channels and b) a consultation session for attendees. A total of approximately 450 business representatives attended this lecture who came from consumer goods manufacturing companies with a plan to expand their business into China.
The first part of the lecture included key strategies needed for expanding business into China by different sectors of consumer goods. Presentations were delivered by JD.com experts specialising in respective areas who focus on a) collaborative models of direct sourcing, b) fashion marketing strategies by combining online and offline strategies, c) up-to-date beauty trends in China and success stories of the Chinese beauty market and d) tailored logistics solutions that are aligned with the nature of each business.
Min Hwa Kim, the head of JD.com Korea office scheduled to kick off soon, appeared as the first presenter and released plans to concentrate on the exports of Korean products through direct sourcing by the Korean office. Ms Kim mentioned, "JD.com boasts high customer satisfaction and trust primarily contributed by reliable shipping through its own logistic system and inventory management of it direct-sourced products". She expressed high expectations for mutually beneficial collaboration between JD.com's distribution networks of large-scale direct sourcing and Korean-made consumer goods renowned for exceptional quality.
After Ms Kim's presentation, Michelle Xu, the head of luxuary fasion section at JD.com, appeared as the second presenter and introduced marketing strategies of mixing offline strategies, including instalation of pop-up stores, and online strategies, including social media. Ruby Liu, a manager at beauty section at JD.com appeared as the third presenter and shared up-to-date trends of the Chinese beauty market and brand marketing strategies. The last presenter, Hyeon Taek Jeong, a director at Jingdong Logistics Korea proposed logistics models that fit company's capabilities and size along with companies' past experience of performing business activities in China.
After these presentations, a consultation session was held for individual meetings, which was attended by JD.com employees in charge of purchasing and business representatives from 72 Korean companies*. Companies that struck a deal with JD.com through these meetings can enjoy a double benefit of of exporting to China by taking advantage of JD.com's direct sourcing system and securing an opportunity to gain entry to reliable local distribution networks. These companies are expected to alleviate the burden of injecting resources for local marketing, inventory management and avoiding unnecessarily complex distribution procedures, which will all contribute to efficient and timely entry to the Chinese market.
** Out of a total of 300 applicant companies, 72 companies were selected through preliminary screening. 72 companies can be broken down into seven business sector categories - 16 from the beauty sector, 16 from the fashion sector, 8 from the food sector, 8 from the home appliances sector, 4 from the personal care sector, 4 from baby & children products sector and 16 representing other miscellaneous sectors.
Seok Min Jang, the Senior Executive Director at KITA, said, "We hope this event will serve as an opportunity for Korean companies to gain a better understanding of the Chinese e-commerce market and enjoy tangible benefits by securing new and reliable export and distribution channels through direct sourcing." He added, "We are committed to discovering a wide range of region-specific projects aligned with up-to-date local distribution trends and support K-consumer goods exports worldwide."