AmeriChinaB2B launches web site
Region’s small to midsized firms seek to tap China’s growing buying power
A Fitchburg State College professor and a Hudson-based marketing expert have teamed up with a Palo Alto engineer/entrepreneur to launch a made-in-the-USA web site to help small and midsized industrial businesses sell their products in China.
AmeriChinaB2B’s newly-launched bilingual web portal platform is designed to function as a sales lead generation tool for small and midsized U.S. businesses. The company has offices in Hudson, Fitchburg, Palo Alto and Beijing. Its principals are Ben Lee, based in Palo Alto and Helen Lee Murphy, Ben’s sister, a native of China and now a U.S. citizen, who is vice president of global sales for the company. Other partners are Fitchburg State college educator James Noonan, and WenCia Chang, COO, based in Beijing.
Helen Lee Murphy keeps the company’s multi-state bases as an advantage for local companies that would rather initiate their marketing efforts from the U.S. China, now the world’s leading exporter is trying to reduce the trade imbalance with the U.S. "In the long run, it’s not good for China," she says, because of the country’s high unemployment. The nation has buying power and an emerging middle class, but is limited in the ways it can put people to work and increase productivity, resulting in job scarcity. Businesses on both sides of the Pacific are eager to change that.
In the beginning, AmeriChinaB2B is focusing on two industry segments that are both very strong in Massachusetts – environmental protection equipment and medical devices. Helen Lee Murphy says China doesn’t have enough dental services or dental insurance to serve a needy population with more buying power than they’ve had in the past. She also notes the emerging middle class puts a high premium on U.S. consumer goods – even clothes – because owning a recognized U.S. brand product has become a mark of status.
A quick search of the U.S. web site brings up a few nationally-known names seeking the China trade – Koehler, Calgon, and Magic Carpet World. It also brings up many regional business to business firms, virtually all of them seeking to sell rather than buy.
Environmental protection technology is in high demand because of China’s high level of pollution, Ben Lee says, but as of earlier this month, the fledgling firm, which just launched the web site Jan. 1, didn’t have enough data - inquiries have yet to translate into actual sales, he says.
AmeriChinaB2B provides free posting services and fee-based membership services and project-based services. Individualized services include on-line and off-line marketing promotion, language training, market research, website and documentation. The company also includes Chinese translation, local domain hosting services, sales assistance and off-shore feasibility research.
In addition AmeriChinaB2B is trying to help U.S. companies recruit sales representatives and form partnerships in China. The site features dozens of companies posting what appears to be a generic help-wanted ad seeking sales or distribution representatives for U.S. companies in China.
WBJ Web Partners
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