OEX wanted to sell Chinese AliExpress sellers a consignment warehouse service in Poland with EU delivery in 48h. To sell it effectively, we needed someone on the ground. We hired them. The project was halted by the COVID pandemic.
OEX — one of the largest players in Polish business process outsourcing — had a concrete product idea for the Chinese e-commerce market. Chinese sellers operating on AliExpress faced one fundamental problem: long delivery times to Europe. Standard shipping from China to a customer in Poland or Germany took weeks.
The value proposition was simple and strong: ship your goods to our warehouse in Poland once in a while, and we'll handle distribution to customers across the EU within 48 hours. Consignment warehousing as a competitive advantage for sellers fighting for European customers.
We hired a local salesperson in China — someone on the ground who understood the AliExpress market from the inside, knew the business culture, and could sell the way Chinese partners expect: directly, in Chinese, with local credibility.
The salesperson ran targeted outreach to medium and large AliExpress sellers in product categories where EU demand was strong: electronics accessories, home goods, fashion. The pitch was always the same: your EU customers will get their order in 48 hours. That's your competitive edge.
We also helped OEX adapt their sales materials and pricing structure to the Chinese market — adjusting the proposition for sellers who think in RMB and care about integration with AliExpress fulfilment systems.
The project generated initial interest and first prospect conversations within the first 6 months. Then COVID hit — international logistics collapsed, AliExpress seller behaviour shifted dramatically, and the project was suspended.
Despite the outcome, the project demonstrated the model: selling European logistics services in China requires local presence, local language, and local cultural understanding. The approach was right — the timing was simply unlucky.