Kiwi online fashion venture in China push

Online fashion entrepreneur Jane Li and partner Simon Page.

A young Auckland maths student has combined her entrepreneurial spirit and sense of fashion to create an e-commerce store she hopes will one day be a market leader.

Jane Li's online store - mode92.co.nz - went live in November 2009, and offers a range of women's clothing and accessories.

Li is in her final year of a maths degree at the University of Auckland, and says she first started online trading with eBay.

"Before I knew it I had built up a group of customers [on eBay] who kept asking me if I had my own website so they could buy from me directly - so I thought 'why not?'"

Li says one of her main inspirations for opening her business was Europe's leading fashion site - asos.com.

"Most of the online stores in New Zealand or Australia sell designer brands but there wasn't really much here where people could buy affordable fashion clothing through a user-friendly e-commerce store," says Li.

"Originally I based my selections on what popular celebrities were wearing but now I am taking a more personal approach to sourcing styles from suppliers that make good clothes at reasonable prices."

Li uses Chinese business-to-business trading website alibaba.com and online retail shopping platform taobao.com to get in touch with factory suppliers in China.

She then imports the clothing directly from China to her warehouse, which also doubles as her office and home, in Penrose.

Li hopes to do "a deal" with alibaba.com that will allow her to sell her products through the Chinese website.

Alibaba.com, the world's largest online business-to-business platform, already hosts 5 million virtual storefronts and has 40 million - mostly Chinese - registered users

Li says the website's founder, Jack Ma, has declared small businesspeople will be able to compete with the big players through trading on alibaba.com.

The Chinese are streets ahead of New Zealand in terms of online shopping, Li says, while many New Zealanders are still suspicious of giving their credit details online.

In terms of the day-to-day running of the business, Li's partner Simon Page helps with the technical side of things, while two part time staff members pack orders for delivery, leaving Li free to source the latest fashion from overseas.

Most of her customers are in New Zealand and Australia, with some orders coming from as far afield as the United States.

The Free Trade Agreement signed between New Zealand and China in 2008 has helped her business immensely, Li says.

"All New Zealand businesses should take advantage of the FTA and the huge market in China."

Li says her Chinese background - she was born in Sichuan province and moved to New Zealand nine years ago - makes doing business with China much easier than it would be for other New Zealanders.

She says she would like to use her background to help other New Zealand businesspeople to start doing business with China.

"I am hoping to build up some kind of deal to help other New Zealand businesses trade with China, because it's a huge market, and New Zealand should benefit from it."