CANBERRA, June 29 -- Chinese online direct sales company JD.com, Inc. (JD) on Monday launched in Melbourne its Australian Mall, a new platform for Chinese consumers to buy authentic Australian products.

Seeing great value in Australian brands and products, JD Group CEO Richard Liu said it is a pity that the Australian brands are limited by the relatively small domestic market in Australia, which has a population similar to the population of a mega city in China like Beijing or Shanghai.

"Australian Mall on JD.com offers these Australian brands a market 70 times of the size of the Australian market," Liu said, " We hope JD.com can help the Australian brands achieve sustainable success, even 20 or 30 years later, Chinese consumers still enjoy Australian dairy and cosmetics."

Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull encouraged Australian businesses to embrace the innovative platform JD.com offers where Australian products reach Chinese consumers in only two days.

"Australia will continue to be a high-wage, generous social welfare net developed country. We have to be more agile, more competitive, more technologically sophisticated than ever before .. . We have to relentlessly innovative, we have to make sure that the culture of innovation is found in every part of our society," Turnbull said.

Bruce Billson, minister for small business, also said that JD. com and JD Worldwide are significant platforms for Australian small businesses to gain an access to the enormous Chinese market.

"This is an opportunity to change political achievements to business achievements," Billson said, referring to the Free Trade Agreement between China and Australia signed earlier this month.

JD.com also announced at the launch ceremony a partnership with Australia Post to leverage the postal carrier's services, including package pick up, overseas warehousing, air and sea transportation, and small package direct mail from Australia to China, among other potential services.

The company also announced cooperative agreement with Treasury Wine Estates as part of its Australia push. Under the agreement, JD.com will begin offering the company's wines, including the well- known Penfolds wines, to its active customers.

Liu said JD.com expects to expand its JD Worldwide cross-border platform by opening more country malls later this year.

He also saw great potential in the sales of Australian goods in the Australian Mall, saying that despite a relatively late entry to the Chinese market, the Australian products will prevail thanks to their high qualities.