A Chinese IT entrepreneur seeking to revolutionize his country’s seafood market is calling on foreign seafood sellers to list their products on his trading platform, a paid-for app.
Yang Zong Yi was honored recently with a “National Economic Leaders” award for Xiaoliu Online Fish Market, a business-to-business e-commerce app developed by Nanjing-based Fuzhong Information Group Co., the firm Yang runs. It matches buyers and sellers and offers trade finance and clearing services to the Chinese seafood market.
With an easy-to-use interface, the app allows buyers to track seafood volumes and prices for product nationally, while also bidding for lots. Users can choose from various categories such as “river fish,” “sea fish” and “shellfish” while there’s a separate section for “imported seafood.”
Speaking on a visit to Beijing to receive his award as one of the China Economic Leaders for 2016, Yang said his firm’s goal is to “integrate traditional fishermen, vendors and logistics into one online market, to create a quick, interactive online trading channel.”
Yang said his firm developed the app because of several “bottlenecks” in Chinese seafood trade such as demand instability and high costs of purchase due to a complex and inconsistent logistics network.
Chinese aquaculture also suffers from “homogeneity” and poor branding, according to Yang. He said he believes the internet can stimulate the sector by increasing competition and “improving price transparency, allowing traders to accept more risk.”
With activities in real estate and finance as well as IT, Fuzhong also claims to have operations in Canada and the U.S.
