A Chinese commercial group launches a virtual store in Cuba
HAVANA, June 28 The online wholesale trade platform Nihao 53, the most recent proposal from China’s Leke Holding Group.It constitutes an experience in constant adaptability and change based on better skills and services for its clients in Cuba, and an essential connection with the needs of entrepreneurship in the Caribbean nation.
The name of the wholesale sales platform refers to the greeting ni hao —“hello” in Chinese— as well as the international code of the Cuban telephone service (53).
The decision shows the interest in remaining in the Caribbean nation and receiving local businessmen.
During the launch of the brand, the general manager of Nihao 53, Yeline Ramos, explained that it is a website accessible by categories, where you can find machinery and products from the automotive industry, construction, raw materials, cleaning and gastronomic line.
“We think of Cuba: we do not bet on a cold relationship where it is only about selling,” she said.
In addition to the multiplicity of proposals, it has several payment options through international transfers and other gateways. It also has 24-hour online assistance.
“Added to the collection in our warehouse, we developed a strategy for the next quarter, with deliveries not only to Havana but also to other provinces, which have a market that is quite short of supplies,” said Ramos, who is also director of Business Development of Leke Holding Group.
Leke Holding Group is a group of companies based in Panama, Spain, Hong Kong and China. It provides a variety of toiletries, electric cars, batteries, solar panels, office supplies and sublimation supplies.
This importer and exporter —with 13 years of experience in international trade to and from the Asian giant— has been present on the Antillean island for a decade, with the purpose of offering local businesses a wide range of possibilities.
The new proposal of the Chinese conglomerate, Nihao 53, contributes to the best commercial performance and facilitates the supply to Cuban self-employed workers in the face of the complex work of importing, in a reliable way, with preferential prices and quality preparations.
Is a wholesale store necessary?
For the Nihao 53 Business Development Director, Mario Luis Ríos Vidal, wholesale supply is an underexploited sphere on the island. Hence the current commitment of the suppliers of the Asian nation, added to the novelty of electronic commerce, consolidated and expanded as a strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Once this tool was used as an alternative solution, from the comfort of home and access to any product by clicking on a digital page, we did a study of the economic scenario, we analyzed the competition, what we could offer the Cuban market and what are their fundamental needs. That’s why it’s the broad portfolio of the store,” he said.
In this sense, one of the central areas of the group is sublimation, “our youngest child, a virgin sphere on the island”. They also carry out a constant evaluation of prices, behaviors, indicators, renewal of payment methods and ways to get supplies to the largest number of customers, “as diverse as our offers”.
Hence, consumers are, among others, micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) associated with construction, gastronomy, and food processing, self-employed workers “in search of access to raw materials to which it was almost impossible or very difficult to reach, the existence of attractive prices and direct contact”.
“We not only place the merchandise on the online platform; from the user’s acquisition, we follow up on their purchase, we intervene in the process and in the after-sales because we want to provide feedback and know their feelings if they are satisfied, pleased, we meet their expectations or any problem identified to reinvent ourselves and improve,” he argued.
Entrepreneurs
The KeDetalles shop workshop, created in 2021, has as its main service the customization of promotional items and gifts using the sublimation technique. Precisely, the search for inputs for their business brought them closer to Leke’s representatives in the largest of the Antilles.
“The first approach was with Yeline Ramos and knowing that she is Cuban gave us more confidence in what we were doing,” the owners, Alexander Alarcón and Allen González, told Sputnik.
Ramos explained the characteristics of this wholesale e-commerce platform focused on the private sector. “She motivated us to offer our ideas and support the process and, as China is one of the world’s largest producers of inputs and raw materials, this alliance has been of vital importance for us,” the businessmen said.
“They have made us participants in their development, they take us by the hand towards our growth and it has meant lower costs,” they said.
Manualidades María, initially dedicated to crafts, recently included sublimation work (personalized items, jars, and pullovers) in its proposals, based on the connection with Leke Holding Group, at an Entrepreneurship Fair held at the Cuba Pavilion in Havana.
“With Nihao 53 we knew that we had found a supplier, with good prices, without intermediaries, and good quality. Until now, there was no company that gave us the possibility of buying here, without the need to import, a very cumbersome process for our small business,” he said.
