ESTABLISHED in Shenzhen in 1997, Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management Ltd. was initially known as a commercial importer.

In 2004, the firm made the bold decision to transform into a supply chain service provider and has now earned its title as one of China’s top 500 firms for three consecutive years.

“As information becomes more symmetrical, we find it difficult to continue to gain profits through price margins. Looking back, many of the big traders at the time were already struggling. So in 2004, we decided to shift our business into providing efficient and transparent supply chain services,” said Qiu Pu, vice president of Eternal Asia.

Qiu said the operational efficiency of spare parts procurement and the circulation of end products are particularly important for electronic manufacturing firms, and a supply chain service provider can provide perfect solutions. Therefore, Eternal Asia gradually accumulated the ability to integrate resources over the course of its growth.

In 2007, Eternal Asia listed shares in Shenzhen and became the first listed supply chain service firm in China. However, in 2008, competition in the import supply chain service market began to intensify.

“After listing, we found it difficult to survive in the price war, so we launched a business platform and aimed to establish our own distribution channels in 380 major cities across the country,” Qiu said.

Up to now, Eternal Asia has more than 500 branches and 30,000 employees. Meanwhile, its service network covers 320 major cities in China as well as countries including the United States, Japan and Australia.

Its businesses cover the fast-moving consumer goods, IT, communications, medical, chemical, household appliance, clothing, cold chain logistics, fresh food industries and more, serving more than two million stores in China.

On the basis of an existing distribution network, Eternal Asia put forward a new business model in 2016. By adopting the “supply chain plus Internet” growth pathway, the company proposed to upgrade its multifarious services to help retailers solve the problems of inventory, logistics, customer flow and shopping experience.

In 2017, the business volume of Eternal Asia amounted to 98.5 billion yuan (US$14.19 billion). In addition, a ceremony was held last year to mark the ground-breaking construction of the company’s headquarters in Bao’an.

“Bao’an has always been at the forefront regarding the transformation and upgrading of China’s manufacturing industry. A primary task lies in the upgrading of enterprises’ supply chain systems, a shared mission with Eternal Asia and the supply chain industry,” said Qiu.

He said that national policies play a very positive role in promoting China’s supply chain innovation.

“It is difficult to succeed if one only adopts an online or offline supply chain model. Therefore, we integrate various links of the supply chain to build a fully integrated supply chain ecosystem to cope with the increasingly complex market environment,” said Qiu. (Zhang Yu)