A household organic apple cider vinegar brand in the U.S., Bragg was a virtual stranger to Chinese consumers. But even those craving its appetizingly sweet and sour flavor would have to spend a lot of time and money sourcing the product from abroad. That is until early 2019 when the glass bottles entered the Chinese market.  

Apple cider vinegar wasn’t exactly a mass consumer product in China. But with a growing number of young consumers pursuing a healthier lifestyle, similar products started going viral on social media. And when pop singer Katy Perry acquired 50 percent of Bragg’s stock shares in 2019, transforming it from just a cider vinegar brand into one producing soy sauce, olive oil, yeast, vinaigrette and coconut water… Bragg attained celebrity status in the U.S. 

Yueyanglegou, a Hong Kong-based cross-border trade company that had already catapulted to Chinese market fame Swisse, the Australian market leader in vitamins, herbal and mineral supplements, and Blackmores, Australia’s leading natural health company, spotted Bragg’s potential. And in April 2019, JD.com, China’s e-commerce giant, added the brand to its already extensive seller list. A new dark horse was born. 

Bragg’s transaction volume through the platform in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019 increased 56 times quarter on quarter. The number of its online store followers surged by 787 percent in Q3 from Q2, and monthly transactions continue to grow, according to JD.com. 

“Quality-oriented consumption has become the theme of China’s import consumption market,” Luke Liu, Senior Director of Business Development Department at JD Worldwide, told Beijing Review. “China’s consumption upgrade is characterized by personalized, diversified and quality-based demand.” 

Liu also mentioned the consumer’s novelty-seeking nature. Apart from niche brands like Bragg that come from countries people are more familiar with as China’s major import sources, including the U.S., Britain, Japan and South Korea, rising sources like Malaysia, Denmark and Italy thrive in the Chinese market, he added. “If only going by the growth rate, imports from those countries grew faster than those from traditional ones.” 

Brands from the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, too, feature great potential. This year JD’s 618 Grand Promotion, an annual mid-year online shopping festival, saw the “dark horse” of Cuba, whose honey and rum products sold very well, Liu said, adding that countries such as Chile, Peru and Columbia also have room for growth.  

Cross-border transactions of the products from the Cuba Pavilion, one of the 60 plus online national pavilions at JD.com, ranked third during the shopping carnival right after Finland and Singapore. In addition, goods from the France, Hungary and Singapore pavilions surged by a year-on-year 194 percent, 147 percent and 141 percent increase, respectively, according to JD.com.  

“The national pavilion program lowered the threshold for overseas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enter the Chinese market,” Liu said. It is a cooperative program with foreign embassies and consulates across China. “In recent years, the Central Government has issued preferential policies on tax and logistics to cut their costs for entering the market.” 

Liu further raised the example of Pakistan. During a conference on Pakistani SMEs entering China, he realized many of these companies know very little about cross-border e-commerce and the Chinese market by large. The country has exported mines and textiles to China, but many suppliers—of, e.g., handcrafts—also aspire to seek new opportunities in China. 

Liu suggested the companies enter the Pakistan Pavilion and offered a lower charge for using the platform and a quality guarantee deposit. In doing so, more niche brands will be able to “meet” Chinese consumers.  

Liu has also organized an international team to explore goods from all over the world. “Some brands with geographical advantages and unique raw materials are of high-quality and popular in local markets, but fail to gain wider recognition, so we team up with the local government organs, associations, consulting firms, and so on, to fulfill our mission to ‘purchase the world’ for Chinese consumers,” Liu said. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon  

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