Founder of Chinese online baby goods emporium rides wave of desire for foreign-made products
Liu Nan wanted the best for her child, and built an online empire
Like any new mother, Liu Nan wanted to give the best in the world to her new daughter five years ago. After researching products online, the Beijing housewife selected Japanese diapers, Australian baby formula, British feeding bottles and many more foreign branded products for her little girl.
While sharing her shopping experience with other mothers, Liu found the demand for imported mother and baby products was growing rapidly in the mainland as more parents believed they were better, safer and often cheaper than local goods. But inconvenient delivery services, language barriers, relatively high retail prices and counterfeits still placed barriers for mainland buyers.
"When I started my business four years ago, imported mother and baby goods were only popular among a small number of wealthy families in China," said Liu, 31.
"But this market is changing so fast. Today a lot of big foreign brands have become household names in China's biggest cities. An increasing number of middle-class families now regard imported diapers and infant formula as the only option for their babies.
"It won't take long for us to see the shopping fever for foreign products to expand from big cities to smaller cities or even counties."
