SAN FRANCISCO, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- DHgate.com, a leading e-commerce marketplace focused on cross-border trade of Chinese goods, has begun an aggressive campaign to further grow its presence in the U.S. market. Kicked-off by strategic North American hires with industry experts in online retail, DHgate expects to drive brand awareness and trust amongst consumers and small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). The first-to-market platform has steadily become the leading gateway for emerging and popular Chinese brands that are otherwise difficult to source in American retail stores and sites.
China is the world's manufacturer, but currently most merchandise sourced from China has a substantial mark-up thanks to extensive middlemen across the supply chain. These leading manufacturers also don't spend a large amount of money on brand marketing. Traditionally, there was a larger risk in factory-direct sourcing. Driven by Chinese e-commerce visionary Diane Wang, DHgate provides direct, transactional access to China goods for small-to-medium enterprises and consumers – significantly reducing costs for a wide variety of products coming straight from leading manufacturers.
"DHgate aims to be the platform that connects Americans to the exploding Chinese marketplace, where they can find a significant selection of products at prices that match any budget," said Ms. Wang. "By going through DHgate, buyers can avoid the high mark-up that often comes with sourcing goods domestically."
DHgate has methodically amassed a global customer base across both sides of the sales channel, with 4.5 million buyers in more than 200 countries, and 1 million sellers from across 33 China provinces that use DHgate as their storefront. The U.S. is the top market for both sales and total customer base, with organic growth in the market accounting for 50 percent of total merchandise sales for the company. Top categories include cell phones and accessories, electronics, computers and networking, health and beauty, and fashion and bridal.
"Both U.S. and Chinese shopping sites have raised the bar for satisfying customer experiences within their own countries," said Noah Herschman, chief operating officer. "DHgate's mission is to provide that same level of service within a cross-border model by striving to always improve product, listing, and shipping quality for every transaction."
Over the last several months, DHgate has hired key e-commerce executives from the top competitive platforms to help drive its buyer-focused strategy and company advancement including Mr. Herschman, who brings 30 years of retail, e-commerce and CE experience from roles at Amazon, eBay, Staples China, Groupon Asia and Tweeter.
In addition to Mr. Herschman, the newly tapped executive team includes: Jimmy Lau, VP, international marketing of Alibaba and eBay Private Marketplace; Carolyn Scott, senior director, brand marketing, bringing experience from Texas Instruments (TI) and Starbucks; Tony Li, senior director, site marketing, formerly of Google, EA and YouTube; and Jenny Chen, head of search, hailing from CafePress.
About DHgate
Founded in 2004, DHgate is the first-to-market, transactional e-commerce platform focused on cross-border trading China goods. More than 4.5 million enterprise and consumer buyers from more than 200 countries source goods through DHgate, including consumer electronics, cell phones accessories, health and beauty, and fashion and bridal. DHgate is the second online retail company founded by Diane Wang - she previously sold joyo.com to Amazon in 2004, today known as Amazon China. The company is headquartered in Beijing and has teams and offices across the globe.
SOURCE DHgate