South Korea’s largest discount chain, E-mart, is to start selling on Alibaba’s T-mall in a fresh attempt to break into China’s seemingly impenetrable online market.

The Korean company believes the Alibaba-powered online shopping mall is the key to success after previous attempts to crack the China market flopped.

From mid-March, E-mart will sell about 100 food and electronic products, including rice cookers and soybean paste on Tmall Global.

E-mart would be joining other South Korean retailers including Interpark and G-market.

E-mart said in a release that it plans to broaden its product offer to about 500 lines by June 30, focusing on products which have proven popular among Chinese tourists visiting Korea.

It will use sales figures from its Jeju and Incheon stores – both popular destinations for Chinese tourists – to build its Tmall product offer.

“We believe the move will enhance access to a new segment of customers, besides tourists, that are interested in Korean products,” said Kim Nam-gon, a PR executive with E-mart’s parent Shinsegae.

E-mart will sell goods in China at a slightly higher price than in Korean stores, reflecting the distribution cost of getting the products to Chinese consumers.

The retailer has struggled to gain any momentum in the China market to date through physical stores. Last December it closed five stores in Tianjin province, reducing its bricks and mortar network to just 10 from a peak of 27 at one time.

*Image: E-mart Yongin branch (photo: Seiga Miyako)