Traditional S.Korea trading company chooses to go digital

The 25-year journey of a traditional global trading company

CEO Jongchul Sim established Arin Trading Co., Ltd. on November 1, 1996, with the dream of conducting export trade as a civil officer. Overseeing exports by air and imports by sea, Mr. Sim began importing raw materials at the beginning of the company's establishment, entering the Chinese market in 2004 and exporting kitchenware, Korean food, and Korean cosmetics. By stepping into the Chinese market, his business continued to grow and expand, and in 2016, Arin Trading started exporting its own-brand shampoo to China, gaining great popularity. At the same time, the business gradually stabilized through offline marketing endeavors such as export consultations and corporate exchange meetings, as well as by participating in exhibitions to grow the business.

Digital trade challenges with Alibaba.com

In 2017, as its offline business slowed but online sales increased, Arin Trading realized the importance of online marketing. As such, they joined the global online marketplace using Alibaba.com, supported by the South Korea Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. In the early days after joining Alibaba.com, none of the Arin Trading staff had experience in online trading, so they had a hard time navigating the range of functions such as product uploads and replying to inquiries. Driven by his wish to succeed in digital trade and expand to markets outside of China, Mr. Sim and his staff started to find the buyers they were looking for and achieved rapid business growth one year after joining Alibaba.com.

"Alibaba.com is a professional international online platform that saves time, improves efficiency, and enables many various diverse global buyers to contact and export quickly.”

Into the world beyond China

Currently, Arin Trading specializes in exporting Korean beauty products, which, through Alibaba.com, it is now exporting to countries and regions such as Cambodia, Dubai, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as China. In 2019, their exports exceeded the US $3.3 million. Additionally, in order to fully utilize Alibaba.com and create more business opportunities, Arin Trading formed a dedicated Alibaba.com operation team consisting of one Alibaba.com professional manager and three executives. In 2020, when the global impact of COVID-19 was at its most severe, Mr. Sim and Arin Trading set their minds to further refining their business know-how, such as understanding and responding to each buyer's needs, optimizing exposure, and replying quickly and on time. The work paid off, and by the end of the year, they had exported the US $1.86 million worth of goods.

Explaining how Alibaba.com helped him achieve this, CEO Jongchul Sim said: "Alibaba.com is a professional international online platform that saves time, improves efficiency, and enables many various diverse global buyers to contact and export quickly. In particular, this year's offline exports stagnated worldwide due to COVID-19, but online export demand surged. Through Alibaba.com, I was able to seize business opportunities by communicating with buyers from all over the world. Now, Arin Trading has the confidence to achieve greater growth with Alibaba.com."

South Korea, as a beauty product powerhouse, is well suited to e-commerce thanks to a strong base market for the standardization and customization of products as well as fast delivery. The fact that production and processing can be undertaken at the place of origin also puts Korean companies at a significant advantage. Through these benefits, Mr. Sim hopes to continue to expand his business opportunities on Alibaba.com and see more small and medium-sized companies in South Korea realize their global reach.