The on-going China International Electronic Commerce Expo, which is being held in eastern China's Yiwu City from Monday to Wednesday, has attracted 1,185 e-commerce companies from 12 countries including Canada, France and Germany.[Photo/Xinhua]

HANGZHOU - For the first time, major e-commerce platforms from the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany are recruiting quality brands and seeking experienced online partners in China.

The on-going China International Electronic Commerce Expo, which is being held in eastern China's Yiwu city from Monday to Wednesday, has attracted 1,185 e-commerce companies from 12 countries including Canada, France and Germany.

China's Alibaba, JD and GOME are at the expo, of course, but it is the appearance of European companies that has drawn most attention.

Bol is the largest online retailer in the Netherlands, with more than five million customers there and in Belgium. Ricardo is the number one online shopping mall in Switzerland and Zalando is a popular German shoe and fashion site.

"Due to language barriers and limited knowledge of local markets, very few Chinese sellers have opened shops at European platforms," said Li Mingtao, vice president of a research institute affiliated to China E-commerce Research Center (CECRC).

Li said the expo is a good opportunity for Chinese retailers to explore segmented markets in non-English speaking countries while avoiding the highly competitive English markets.

A visitor tries a VR virtual reality headset during the 2016 China International Electronic Commerce Expo in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

On the other hand, in the eyes of Zhu Xiaoliang, director of the CECRC, the Europeans are there because of their huge demand for Chinese products.

By Monday afternoon, the three exhibition booths had received applications from over 60 Chinese retailers.

"All of these retailers have independent operating teams, their own brands and sound logistics and storage systems," an expo organizer said.

The expo center, covering an area of 50,000 square meters, is divided into eight areas including e-commerce platforms, cross-border business, mobile Internet and Internet financing.

Cloud computing, Internet of Things, mobile payment and wearable devices are also on show.

Yiwu is the world's largest wholesale market for small consumer goods. The city attracts 10 million domestic and 500,000 foreign buyers every year, and around 13,000 merchants have offices here.