New shipping service makes buying a breeze

Chinese shoppers who are buying US products online will soon have a cheaper and faster shipping option, thanks to a new service offered by SF Express, one of the largest couriersinChina.

SF Express announced that it will shortly launch SFBuy, a professional service platform that allows online shoppers in China to ship their US purchases to designated warehouses and from there ship to China.

According to the SF Express website, packages forwarded from the US will arrive in China in seven to 10 work days. In addition, the company will offer up to 75 percent off international freight rates and a 30-day free storage service, which will "not only save customers costs, but also give them more flexibility in organizing their shipments".

Founded in 1993, Shenzhen-based SF Express has built a service network all over China. The company started to expand that network to the US by setting up an office there in 2012.

SF Express announced last year that the company is testing the SFBuy platform by having company staff use the service.

According to SF Express, once people have successfully registered, they will get an overseas address, as well as a number of a proprietary storage boxes for free, and be allowed to use the address and box numbers for shopping.

Employees from SF Express USA will be responsible for receiving the product and sending out an e-mail notification. The company also takes care of the cross-border transportation, customs clearance services and domestic distribution.

Online sales in China soared to an estimated $190 billion to $210 billion in 2012, according to McKinseyconsultants, who also predicted that by 2020, the country's Internet retailers may reach $420 billion to $650 billion in sales.

Justin Ren, an associate professor at Boston University's School of Management, said the China market seems quite large, considering Chinese consumers' overwhelming appetite for Western brands and products.

"SFBuy is making money by making it easier for domestic consumers to gain access to the vast online market outside of China," Ren said, adding that if the market is lucrative enough, there will be many similar agencies like SFBuy cropping up and competing with each other.

"It is also likely big players like Alibaba or TenCent may want to incorporate such businesses in their operations as well," he added.

Han Xue, a 27-year-old Beijing native who works in PR, said she shops at least twice a month at online overseas websites, mostly for clothing and skincare products.

Han said she usually gets her branded products through people called daigou (or buyers on behalf of). "I pay them a 7-to-10 percent commission, depending on the tax, freight and price of the goods purchased," she said, adding that even with the commission, the price is still much cheaper than the same merchandise purchased in China.

"I'm glad to hear that SF Express will offer the SFBuy service," Han said. "I will definitely use it."

yuwei12@chinadailyusa.com