the only point i will make about the corporate diagou is that they buy from Australian distributors at similar prices to Aust retailers like Woolworths, Coles & Chemist warehouse. They actually compete with these Aust retailers to sell products locally to their Chinese Australian constituency.
so, lets say stage 3 retails at $38 a tin. They buy at circa $30 a tin and sell their products direct to the Chinese household at $40- $50 a tin delivered to their door. During Covid, the delivery cost was $5 a tin but I understand today with 7 of the major Chinese airlines flying daily to Sydney/Melbourne, this cost has dropped down to $3 a tin.
These diagou operators advertise their products through WeChat, CBEC channels and now again through their ever expanding network of Chinese students.
When Chinese tourists come back to Australia later this year, this will also provide another sales channel although I don’t think this will be a major factor anymore.
Ultimately, the only real advantage the diagou channel has over online is that personal connection and trust of authenticity of product.
Personally, the rise of offline to online channel (OSO) where English label formula can be bought at a Chinese physical mother and baby store by ordering online from the store provides the parents with sufficient comfort of authenticity if they trust their local shop operator to eventually make the diagou channel redundant.
A2M Price at posting:
$5.03 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)