E-commerce to Help Revitalize China's WestChina's massive efforts to develop its economically-backward western regions can not dispense with expansion of electronic commerce, according to a senior e-commerce practitioner.To aid western regions in closing the gap with the more developed coastal provinces, Sparkice.com, a State-level e-commerce pilot enterprise, yesterday launched a special website to leverage conduct of on-line business and information traffic, according to sources with the "2000 China Western Development Economic and Cultural Exposition Week," which opened yesterday in Beijing. The Internet site, www.21cwn.com, will also be built as a virtual platform for the international co-operation alliance for development of China's western regions. Establishment of the alliance was proposed at the "2000 China Western Development Summit" during the exposition week. Edward Zeng, CEO and founder of the Sparkice.com, yesterday said accelerating deployment of e-commerce in the country's west will pave the way for the region to gain getting-rich information, as well as wider access to the outside world. E-commerce has become a key link in the global economic development, Zeng said. From the perspective of globalization, China's western regions need to redefine and revitalize their existing markets and embrace emerging markets. In this case, they should count on e-commerce to help remove the snags that bottleneck economic expansion and cause the regions to miss out on business opportunities, according to Zeng. E-commerce will contribute to translating the western region's abundant resources into an engine powering the local economy, he said. Dedicating a website to China's western development has further fulfilled Sparkice's commitment to combine traditional businesses with leading business models, and become an interactive marketplace for global e-commerce to, from and within China, Zeng said. The Sparkice marketplace already has received a flurry of orders, calling for porcelain, sugar, clothing, computer monitors and other everyday goods made in China, according to company sources. Sparkice has forged a strategic partnership with Metro, one of the largest retailers in Europe, which will place procurement orders via Sparkice's One Source business-to-business (B2B) platform, according to Zeng. The trademarked One Source service, combines Asia's most powerful commercially oriented marketplace platform, Sparkice ITN, with a complete suite of value-added trading services and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week customer support. As a result, international buyers can now source, evaluate, negotiate and conclude transactions with China-based manufacturers - all via a single Sparkice point of contact. The platform reciprocally allows China-based suppliers to sell their products on the Internet in the most effective method, according to Zeng. |
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