By Kim Tae-gyu
Idee Sports thought of tapping into overseas markets in order to crank up its sales but there were so many barriers such as a lack of in-house specialists to deal with intricate trading processes and language problems.
Yet the Seoul-based firm selling baseball equipment did not sit around but found a way to become an exporter through Cross-Border Trade (CBT) system offered by Gmarket, the country’s top-tier online retailer acquired by eBay in 2009.
CBT refers to an international scheme, which eBay provides to galvanize cross-border transactions at regional eBay sites or eBay itself.
``Two of our employees received training from Gmarket this April and we started exporting our products the same month based on CBT,’’ Idee Sports President Ahn Seok-jun said in a telephone interview Monday.
``We have become an exporter based on the impressive support of Gmarket, which has been there to help with any hitches. Our outbound shipments are expected to reach $10,000 in 2011. Next year’s target is $100,000, which would be more than 10 percent of our overall turnover.’’
CBT comes to the rescue not only for Ahn but also for many other small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea after Gmarket embraced the system last year.
In 2010, merchandise worth about $7 million was exported to offshore buyers through CBT and Gmarket expects the amount would more than double this year to approach the $20 million mark.
``We help the country’s competitive SMEs gain access to global consumers. Upside of 10,000 participated in our CBT workshop last year and 60 percent of them are working as global sellers,’’ a Gmarket official said.
``Currently, they are distributing various items in 40-plus countries. The figure is projected to jump sharply down the road as an increasing number of domestic SMEs and merchants are getting interested in CBT,’’ he added.
In another initiative of Gmarket aimed at assisting those who had less opportunity to take advantage of online marketing, the outfit came up with a premium section dedicated to provincial merchants
``Unlike sellers in Seoul, regional companies often struggle to find consumers despite having quality items. We set up distribution channels for them,’’ the official said.
``A total of 55 regional governments are members of the premium section, chalking up 8.5 billion won in turnover so far this year, up 20 percent from a year ago. For 2011, revenue is expected to surpass 20 billion won.’’
Gmarket has also maintained a tailor-made service for merchants of traditional markets, which have faced waning fortunes due to the advent of department stores and large retail chains.
On the back of Gmarket activities, they have racked up substantial revenue online as well as in overseas markets.