What is EC21? EC21 Review, Features

EC21 was founded in Korea in 1997 and is one of the top ten online B2B platforms in the world. Like Alibaba International Station, it is a global market. It was originally the online trading committee of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), and in 2000, EC21 became independent.

About EC21

EC21 is headquartered in the World Trade Center in Seoul, South Korea, and its servers are in the United States. Although EC21 is a platform headquartered in South Korea, it is positioned to develop global buyers and is an overseas comprehensive trade platform, not just for the Korean market.

EC21 is headquartered in Seoul, with eight regional sales offices in mainland China, and offices in Vietnam, Turkey, India, Italy, Russia and Pakistan.

EC21 currently has 3 sites, including EC21 China, EC21 Korea and EC21 Global, supporting 8 different languages.

EC21, like Alibaba International Station, provides basic and advanced membership services, allowing sellers to easily create their own homepages, display products, respond to quotation requests and contact buyers.

EC21 has multiple categories of products, and South Korea is the largest market on the platform. There are more than 2 million suppliers, 7 million products, 3.5 million buyers, and 5 million visitors per month on the platform. Suppliers can register for free and can list up to 15 products.

Business Scope

· Global buyers purchasing;

·Global B2B market;

Online Marketing - SMM (Social Media Marketing);

SEM (search engine marketing);

SEO (search engine optimization);

International market research;

Trade consulting and education;

Overseas trade missions;

Trade show promotions;

·Website development and hosting.

Advantages

1. EC21 has 2,500,000 members worldwide, with more than 5 million visits per month and 15 million page views. EC21 provides millions of product listings and purchase/sales leads in more than 5,300 product categories, exchanging more than 1,100,000 inquiries per month.

2. EC21 provides mobile homepage and SNS marketing.

Final goal

Providing a prosperous trading platform for all companies in the world, committed to promoting world trade exchanges, economic exchanges, and cultural exchanges.

Development History

-In March 1986, the Korea Trade Information Service (KOTIS) was launched with the support of the Korea International Trade Association.

-In November 1995, KOTIS began its international services.

-In May 1996, ISP business was launched.

-In October 1997, KOTIS started trading in English, leading the Internet service.

-In March 1998, the English version of TradeLeaders.com was renamed EC21.COM.

-In July 1999, a new digital trade system was launched (EC21).

-EC21 Inc. was spun off from KITA in 2000. Since then, EC21 has provided comprehensive trade support services and global business opportunities to local small and medium-sized export companies.

-In May 2000, the Korea Trade Association invested in EC21, which marked a major step forward in the globalization of e-commerce.

-In July 2000, EC21 signed a memorandum of understanding with 19 global trade support service companies.

-In December 2000, EC21 signed cooperation agreements with seven global e-commerce market partners.

-In March 2001, EC21 was named an e-Trust company in the e-commerce field by the Korea E-Commerce Association.

-In May 2002, the Trade Guide information release and search system, product catalog and company catalog were completed and updated.

-In March 2003, the data volume of trade information, product catalogs and company catalogs was confirmed by a third party.

-In December 2003, in order to better serve EC21's senior members in China, EC21 registered and established a Chinese branch in China on December 16, 2003, officially entering the Chinese market.

-In February 2004, EC21 Chinese website service was launched.

-In December 2004, we established sales network in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Ningbo, China.

-In May 2005, EC21 established a branch in Tainan and launched a traditional Chinese website; EC21 established a branch in Konya, Türkiye.

-In 2006, the company participated in the China Canton Fair.

-In 2007, the company developed the world's first "credit investigation report" service for a B2B company and invested 25 million to develop the Chinese market and improve Google search.

-In 2007, sales networks were established in India (July), Italy (March) and Pakistan (April).

-In July 2008, the company established the only strategic partnership with European Yellow Pages in China and South Korea; in October, the company initiated the world's first supplier enterprise certification service, which was quickly imitated by competitors.

-In October 2008, the EU selected Korea as the Korean partner of the EU Gateway Program.

-In November 2008, we established a sales network in Vietnam.

-In February 2009, EC21 established a strategic partnership with EU Gateway Programme 2009.

-In January 2009, we established the partner service PIERS Trade Profiles to provide U.S. import and export information.

-In May 2010, the company designed a new corporate logo; in December, the company launched a charity event with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

-In September 2010, we established a sales network in Qingdao, China.

-In January 2011, the company established a strategic partnership with a Russian agent and entered the Russian market.

-In July 2012, the company established a sales network in Brazil.

-In August 2012, we established a sales network in Beijing, China.

-February 2013, media cooperation with COEX.

-In June 2013, EC21 new messenger service was launched.

-In November 2013, a sales network was established in Berlin, Germany.

- In July 2014, the EC21 mobile app was launched on Google Play.

-In February 2016, the company was awarded a contract by the European Commission for the EU Gateway to Korea.

-In August 2016, we partnered with Payoneer to provide managed payment services.

-In November 2016, a new query system supporting custody was launched.

-From October to December 2016, we established sales networks in India, Türkiye and Cameroon.