Chinese company taps into Moroccan market by promoting group-buying to farmers

MEKNES, Morocco - A Chinese company is introducing the concept of "group-buying" to Moroccan farmers for buying fertilizers online, as it mulls exploring the African country's market.

Hangzhou Alpha Technology (OKCHEM), an e-commerce platform specializing on chemical product trade, set up a booth at Morocco's annual International Agriculture Exhibition, held in the northern city of Meknes, to promote the "fertilizer group-buying" to local farmers.

"Group-buying" offers a product at a considerably reduced price on the condition that a minimum number of customers buy the product.

"For Moroccan market, we introduced the group-buying of quality fertilizers at low cost to local farmers, which we assume will be the best way to explain and promote our platform," Xu Wei, vice president of OKCHEM, told Xinhua at the exhibition.

The advanced telecommunications infrastructure in Morocco and the widespread use of smart phones create a huge potential in the local e-commerce market, said Xu.

At the agricultural fair, OKCHEM's booth attracted many local visitors, including Mustapha Chakir, a local farmer in his 40s.

Chakir was very impressed by the OKCHEM booth. "That is really smart," he smiled, after being told how to group-buy fertilizers and pesticides online to save money.

With the help of Chinese staff, Chakir logged onto the website of the platform on his phone and registered as a new client.

More than 100 Moroccans have now registered as users of the Chinese platform. Xu believed that the number of new customers will further increase as the exhibition is still ongoing.

Xu's company attaches great importance to exploring the African market where the demand for fertilizers is strong.

After setting up its first African office in Egypt, OKCHEM is to open its second African office in South Africa this year.

The company has also sent representatives to Algeria and Kenya to participate in related exhibitions to promote its services in Africa.

"The e-economy is a global trend. My colleague told me that he had seen a 70-year-old woman shopping online on her mobile phone," Xu said.

"We hope that Moroccan people can purchase high-quality chemical products with low prices through our e-commerce platform," he said.

The 13th International Agriculture Fair in Morocco kicked off on Tuesday with the participation of nearly 70 countries.

About 10 Chinese companies participated in the exhibition in order to promote their products or services including e-commerce platform, tractors, biological pesticides and irrigation systems.