Chinese shopping army reboots Australian retail

Sydney

IN 2013, student Na Wang began shipping fish oil capsules to China from Sydney to help pay the rent. Now, she's in business, part of a growing army of Chinese shopping agents sending Australian food and diet pills home to feed rampant demand.

Ms Wang, 33, is one of up to 40,000 Chinese daigou in Australia, retail consultants say, using social media and mobile payment apps to buy goods to order for mainland China customers. While daigou first made waves in the West shipping luxuries from Europe like Gucci handbags, the new Australia breed deals in "white gold" - baby milk formula - and other consumer staples.

More affluent, health-conscious Chinese shoppers want safe Australian goods, a trend stoked by tainted China food supply scandals. This year, brands like formula maker A2 Milk have begun exploring ways to harness the growth of daigou, rather than compete with them, targeting cross-bor…