Aus Post opens China-export only store

Photo: Reddit @TimAus
Photo: Reddit @TimAus
Reddit @TimAus

Australia Post has opened a concept store in Sydney dedicated to exporting health, beauty and baby formula products into China.

Unlike most traditional Australia Post outlets, the new location in Chatswood doesn’t provide postal services, but will instead target growing demand for locally produced products in China.

An Australia Post spokesperson said the store is a limited trial and that there were no plans to expansion beyond one store currently.

“This store is not a post office. It will sell a limited number of lines, such as health and beauty products, in conjunction with international freight options,” the spokesperson said.

The postie hopes to test demand for “select products to be sent into China” with the trial.

Shoppers can walk into the store and purchase products that will then be sent-on into China directly from the store.

The move is likely to appeal to Australia’s growing community of daigou shoppers, who buy products in Australia for re-sale into China.

Its a tumultuous time for Australian daigou, with major supermarket Coles restricting the sale of baby formula products in some of its NSW stores earlier this month.

Local customers have expressed anger at retailers over complaints that Australian mothers aren’t able to purchase enough baby formula to feed their children.

It is expected that daigou shoppers will increasingly look to dedicated retail channels in Australia as major supermarkets and pharmacists crack down.

Formula manufacturers have taken steps to increase supply of Australian-made formula, but industry stakeholders say Australian retail channels were not designed to cope with Chinese demand.

In response the likes of AuMake, which sells directly to daigou, and now Australia Post, are stepping in to fill the market gap.

“Coles and other major retailers were never set up to cope with Chinese demand,” AuMake  Keong told Inside Retail earlier this month. “There’s this huge market that’s developed and it just so happened that the [major supermarkets] were there.”

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