Turnaround for Tmall as luxury brands change their minds
07/10/2019
Research group Gartner said at the start of October that, according to data it has compiled, Alibaba-owned Tmall’s luxury efforts “have paid off big time in the past few months”.
More than half of luxury brands in Gartner’s Luxury China Index now operate official flagships on the platform, up from only 27% a year ago.
Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Coach and Kate Spade all launched Tmall flagships in July. Then, at the end of September, Net-a-Porter’s Tmall flagship launched with a roster of more than 130 luxury brands.
“Several of the brands opening flagships are demonstrating a newfound enthusiasm for Tmall,” Gartner said. “Coach, for example, has had an on-again, off-again relationship with the platform, exiting Tmall in 2011, opening a new shop in 2015, and then leaving again in 2016.”
For its part, Michael Kors has had what Gartner called “a dramatic change of heart about Tmall”, after calling Alibaba its “most dangerous and damaging adversary” in a 2016 letter to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.
This success owes much to counterfeit-fighting measures that Tmall has added in recent years and to the features it has added to its Luxury Pavilion section, such as more content and a loyalty programme.
Some big names in luxury are selling on Tmall now, including Bottega Veneta, Burberry and Valentino. Others, including Gucci, Fendi and Saint Laurent, are still holding back.
Gartner has said online luxury market share in China is still “up for grabs” because it estimates that only 10% of Chinese luxury purchases in 2020 will take place online.
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