China to build a “digital Silk Road” in the Middle East

Beijing. Jul 24. Silkroadnews - Chinese companies working in the field of e-commerce boost a cooperation with local business in the Middle East to build a “digital Silk Road”, China Plus reports.
E.g., JollyChic is one of those Chinese cross-border e-companies that have proved popular in the oil-rich Arab countries that do not have their own textile production.
JollyChic entered the market of Saudi Arabia in 2013. Since then, it has become the largest local online trading platform for e-commerce. The company also expanded its business to neighboring countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain.
“Our key to success is building warehouses locally,” the agency cited JollyChic CEO Li Haiyan. The company’s warehouse in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, helped reduce the delivery time from 10 to 15 days to 2 days on average.
It is reported that Chinese companies accounted for half of the top ten best cross-border e-commerce applications in the Middle East in 2016.
E-commerce in China contributed to the creation of more than 5,000 jobs for local residents at the end of 2017.
China’s e-commerce also stimulated the development of local e-businesses. U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon purchased the Middle East brand Souq in 2017. In addition, UAE real estate developer who own Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping center, announced that they would invest 1 billion U.S. dollars to build the Middle Eastern version of Alibaba, the report reads.