Gyeonggi Business Center Leads $38 Million Export Despite COVID-19

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] The Gyeonggi Business Center (GBC), which has strengthened non-face-to-face and online functions to open export channels blocked by COVID-19, is becoming a solid pillar for companies in the province seeking to develop overseas markets.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 30th, through 14 overseas Gyeonggi Business Centers including Shanghai, China and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this year, a total of 1,162 online export consultations were conducted, resulting in export contracts worth approximately $38 million (as of end of October 2020).

From the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, the centers actively reflected companies' opinions and introduced an 'online video conferencing system' enabling round-the-clock export consultations, providing comprehensive support to smoothly conduct all transaction processes from buyer negotiations to product demonstrations and contract execution.

Additionally, center offices were utilized as 'smart offices' to enable entrepreneurs whose movements were restricted locally due to lockdown measures in various countries to conduct business swiftly without disruption, while providing the latest market trends.

Furthermore, based on the capabilities of GBC staff who are local marketing experts, the centers identified company and product characteristics and provided constant support in consulting and interpretation services.

In April, the centers supported export development for fiber companies in the province that began producing 'fashion masks' to turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity, playing a solid role in crisis response.

Particularly reflecting the trend that the export landscape is diversifying into direct sales forms combined with online distribution following COVID-19, the centers are focusing on capturing the attention of overseas consumers through listings on major local online shopping malls such as Amazon, Tmall, and Shopee.

For example, Company 'ㅊ,' an air purifier manufacturer based in Gwangju, successfully listed on 'Taobao,' the online platform of Alibaba Group, China's largest shopping enterprise, with support from GBC Chongqing, signaling its entry into the Chinese market.

The Gyeonggi Business Center plans to focus on developing diverse online sales channels including live commerce and support for listings on famous overseas online malls.

Through this, the center aims to further activate not only existing buyer-centered marketing support but also online business-to-customer (B2C) marketing targeting local consumers.

In particular, the center plans to accelerate diversification of export channels by pioneering the Chinese live commerce market, which is showing explosive growth with a market size of 971.2 billion yuan (approximately 165 trillion won in Korean currency) and 370 million viewers.

Ryu Gwang-yeol, Director of the Economic Affairs Bureau, said, "We are mobilizing all capabilities to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the province overcome the crisis by proactively responding to the changing export environment due to COVID-19," adding "Based on GBC's export network and expertise, we will perform the role of a company's local branch and do our best to pioneer markets at the frontlines of exports."