JAL helps Japan firms sell specialties to Chinese consumers

Japan Airlines has launched a service to help Japanese companies sell their products online to Chinese consumers, using the WeChat messaging app owned by China's IT giant Tencent. JAL set up a dedicated channel in WeChat, soliciting Japanese firms to participate in the program. The airline assists participating businesses with putting up their products for sale on the website, transporting products to China, and sales promotion. While demand for air travel has plunged amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for Japanese specialties among Chinese people remains strong. JAL hopes the new service helps lure Chinese consumers to visit Japan once COVID-19 winds down. JAL's cross-border e-commerce support service began on Jan. 27, when the official mini-channel JAL Youxuan (select) opened on WeChat. For the service, the airline tied up with Youzan, a large Chinese e-commerce company offering unique sales promotion tools such as live commerce. The JAL service deals with Japanese cosmetics, sake and other products which have been highly popular among Chinese tourists to Japan. Among them are vegetable sauce provided by the Furano agricultural cooperative in Hokkaido and "awamori" distilled spirits from an Okinawa Prefecture brewing cooperative. The service is part of the airline's JAL Furusato (hometown) Project, in which the company joins other firms, municipalities and organizations in efforts to revitalize regions. Companies and cooperatives in four prefectures, including Hokkaido and Okinawa, have become the first group of participants in the JAL-backed online sale of Japanese specialties to Chinese consumers. JAL intends to sign up businesses in other prefectures as well.<br/>