- Perth Airport pulled a surprise move today, teaming up with e-commerce company OpenDNA to join in on the booming ‘Daigou’ market
- Daigou is the practice of merchants, or a group of merchants, selling foreign products to online shoppers at home in China or travelling abroad – this is particularly popular with Australian products such as baby milk formula
- Announced today, OpenDNA will power a newly branded online Daigou platform to sell Perth Airport’s Aussie-centric products to Chinese travellers touching down in WA and their families back home
- OpenDNA’s ‘RooLife’ platform will power the online shopping experience, using artificial intelligence to assess purchasing behaviour by site users
Perth Airport is the latest to join in on a booming Chinese-Australian online industry, known as the ‘Daigou’ marketplace.
Daigou is the practice of a singular merchant, or a group, selling bulk products from a foreign country to online shoppers back home in China. The practice is particularly popular with Australian products, such as baby milk formula.
Today, e-commerce company OpenDNA announced it’s teaming up with Perth Airport to sell the travel hub’s retail products online to Chinese tourists both in Australia and back home.
Chinese shoppers at home, in the airport or travelling down under will have a user-friendly marketplace to purchase high-quality authentic Aussie goods using their mobile phones.
OpenDNA will be using its already established ‘RooLife’ Daigou platform to assist the airport in growing sales of its products to Chinese shoppers.
This means OpenDNA will provide licencing, system hosting, marketing design, translation, sales promotion, management services and customer support.
“We are excited to be working with Perth Airport to enhance the airport’s service and retail offering to Chinese tourists and travellers,” OpenDNA Managing Director Bryan Carr said.
However, the RooLife platform will come with a twist. This time, it will be a special and uniquely designed version decked out with Perth Airport branding.
OpenDNA will also utilise its flagship business of an artificial intelligence powered personalised shopping experience. The upcoming venture will also use WeChat Pay and Alipay – popular payment methods in Chinese markets.
“Perth Airport is perfectly placed to be a trusted supplier of high-quality and authentic Australian goods to Chinese shoppers both when travelling to Australia, but also at home in China,” Bryan added.
Today, Chinese visitors make up Australia’s largest inbound tourism sector of roughly 1.43 million travellers. This demographic is assessed to spend over $10 billion a year.
As well, the number of Chinese tourists in Australia is expected to grow annually by 11.9 per cent over the next 10 years – reaching 3.9 million travellers spending $26 billion a year by 2026.
Perth Airport Chief Commercial Officer, Kate Holsgrove, says the travel hub is the first and last impression for visitors coming to WA
“This partnership will not only be great for our Chinese customers but will also deliver benefits for our retail partners who can look to diversify their business for the China market by promoting and selling local Australian goods,” she said.
Per year, the airport sees roughly 14 million passengers coming through its doors. Approximately 14 of the flights per week are coming directly from China and Hong Kong.
“Perth Airport is working strategically with its airline partners to enhance Western Australia’s connectivity to the Chinese market which offers great growth potential, not only from a tourism perspective, but also by attracting business travellers, international students and a number of export opportunities,” Kate added.
The RooLife artificial intelligence-powered platform will continue to assess and refine product offerings on the upcoming Perth Airport platform. This will learn customer preferences and buying habits.
Share prices in OpenDNA are steady today, sitting at four cents in a $10.33 million market cap.