Livia Wang the "Daigou Queen" and founder of Access Corporate Group represents 20 leading Australian lifestyle, food, beverage and beauty brands.
With many logistical and supply-chain challenges during COVID-19, Livia and Access Corporate Group pivoted their operations and utilised Zoom to connect daigous and brands to ensure training, education and overall awareness of the brands were still being communicated effectively.
“The daigou title has morphed to one of brand ambassador and influencer, and it isn’t just a Chinese thing, it is a global trend,’’ says Wang. “The influencers can have a close connection with their consumers. They can talk to them at any time. It is not offline or online. That is much more powerful in this (lockdown) environment. To be able to share their stories, inspire their consumers, and pick and choose the right products for them.”
DHL and other freight partners still shipped 7.5 million parcels for Access Corporate Group in the March quarter. While Livia's company spent $850,000 on airfreight, a fivefold increase on their usual airfreight bill, the company's instrumental pivot during COVID-19 generated $300m in revenue.
While Livia is concerned for the future of trade with Australia and China she is optimistic.
“We worry about the travel ban,” says Wang. “I think it is temporary. But I think our business must be strong enough to go through this time. It is a great test of time to see how much resilience we have in the business.”
All opinions are of the author, Daniel Kitay. Daniel has previously worked as the Head of Sales & Marketing for China's #1 Vitamin and Supplement (VMS) brand BY-HEALTH with a market capitalisation of $6.5b. Daniel is a lawyer and runs DMK Consulting, offering support to food and VMS companies who are looking to grow their business in domestic and export markets.
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