Edinburgh Natural Skincare Co. joins forces with Commercial Cross to assist UK retail businesses expand into China 

31/01/2023
Tommy Crooks and Wei Fu

THE EDINBURGH Natural Skincare Company Ltd (ENSC) is delighted to announce that they have joined forces with Edinburgh export management solutions specialists Commercial Cross (CC) to facilitate entry into the Chinese business to consumer (B2C) market for UK retail brands via the TMall-Global Platform.

Tommy Crooks, founder of ENSC, first met Wei Fu, Director of CC in 2015 at Edinburgh’s Christmas market. Wei Fu had just started importing and exporting goods to and from China. Wei initially sourced packaging for ENSC which was still in its infancy. Discussions later took place about various ways of entering the Chinese market and in 2022, CC launched its ‘EE2C’ (Expanding E-commerce to China) service in the UK. It successfully helped The ENSC to open and operate THE FIRST SCOTTISH-BRAND OWNED BUSINESS IN ANY SECTOR to open a Chinese TMall-Global Flagship Store without the use of a distributor. ENCS’s ‘Gardeners Solid Hand Cream Bar’ is now the 7th bestselling hand cream on the TMall-Global platform.  

Following years of dedication, the team at CC honed their experience in offering solutions to clients in logistics, supply chain, and sales. They believe that borderless retail is the future, and that selling western products in China remains an underdeveloped market. Their new partnership with ENSC pinpointed their ultimate mission; to make exporting to China a simple and routine process for all UK brands, simplifying what can ultimately be a hugely complex process.

The partnership, between CC and the ENSC, holds a unique intercultural understanding bridging both China and the UK. They are both dedicated to sharing with Chinese consumers why UK products are truly exceptional, high-quality and culturally unique. 

Looking ahead, the partnership’s primary goal is to introduce more UK brands to Chinese customers: building up the reputation and commercial success of a diverse range of UK brands in China. The partnership is able to share their wealth of experience with UK retail brands, guiding them on their export journey and facilitate the processes. 

Tommy Crooks, former guitarist in the most prolific cult band of the British post-punk movement ‘The Fall’, self-taught Mandarin speaker, and founder of ENSC commented: “As a business who experienced a relatively frictionless onboarding process to the TMall Global platform, we are very well placed to help others reach this market and turn their export ambitions into reality. Cultural differences frighten many companies into committing to export. I suggested to Wei I come on board as a facilitator to narrow this cultural bridge and share my experience opening a TMall Global Flagship store. We now have a fully functioning Chinese income stream, managed by a team of 9 staff in China and four Chinese staff in the UK.”

“CC oversaw the entire onboarding process from exporting to opening up our Alipay bank account in Hong Kong. The whole process took around two months from inception to the actual store opening. The expert team in China work seven days per week and have a hugely talented in-house design team. They offer a split shift 16 hour day live customer care service as part of the management package alongside ‘Little Red Book’ and ‘Tik Tok’ exposure. We are very excited at the thought of helping enable UK retail brands to enter the Chinese market exposing them to around 500 million active users of TMall Global in China. The reaction to our brand in China has been highly positive and sales have exceeded our expectations and continue on an upward curve.”

The partnership is holding an ‘EE2C’ information event during March at Scottish Development International headquarters in Edinburgh, offering UK retail Brands the opportunity to find out more about how the B2C marketplace Tmall-Global can help them sell into the Chinese market. Businesses interested in attending the event should contact Wei Fu at fuwei@commercialcross.co.uk or Tommy Crooks for more information via  info@edinburghskincare.com.

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