Although it has been nearly a year after Mexico's government began recruiting local exporters to sell avocados, tequila and other goods wholesale with Alibaba, this company -China's biggest e-commerce site- still needs to sign up dozens more to meet its goal.
Twenty-four companies are now approved to export to businesses in China and other countries as paying members on business-to-business platform Alibaba.com, says Carlos Alvarez, a project coordinator at government trade and investment group Promexico.
Part of Promexico's work is convincing companies that gaining access to Alibaba is worth taking on complex logistics and high shipping and insurance costs, Alvarez said. "They're scared of coming because it's expensive. But once they're there, they can take off.”
Meanwhile, Alibaba is waiting for a total of 100 Mexican vendors before launching on its wholesale platform a country-specific site known as a "pavilion" that would showcase Mexican products on a single webpage.
According to nasdaq.com, Promexico offers resources to cover the rest of membership costs, and Alvarez said the group is negotiating with Alibaba to renew the promotion.