In “Chinese Whispers,” we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that haven’t yet made it into the English language.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- Tiffany's e-commerce strategy in China,
- Ralph Lauren adding an official e-commerce store, and
- A record number of Chinese fashion designers on display at SS/19 New York Fashion Week.
1. Tiffany's SVP Philippe Galtié said the brand is ready to open an e-commerce store in China next year - Jiemian#
American prestige jewelry brand Tiffany is likely to open its first e-commerce store in China in 2019, said a senior executive during an interview with Chinese media outlet Jiemian. The brand just debuted its millennial-focused Paper Flowers collection via a pop-up store on Alibaba's Luxury Pavilion last month.
"I cannot disclose the exact time yet, but we hope it is next year," said Philippe Galtié, senior vice president of Tiffany. "In terms of the format, it can be done in collaboration with a third party or operated by Tiffany itself." The company currently has 34 retail stores in China, and Galtié believes an e-commerce store would help to extend Tiffany's offerings to more affluent consumers.
2. Ralph Lauren expands online sales channel by launching an official e-commerce site and WeChat mini-program store - Fashion Network#
On September 5, Ralph Lauren announced the launch of its first official Chinese e-commerce store, following in the footsteps of other luxury players like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. The American high fashion label also released a mirror-like online store via WeChat's mini-program.
Mobile-savvy consumers can directly place orders on their phones. If they want to return or exchange, they can go to one of the brand's offline stores nearby. Buyers in Shanghai will receive their orders within 24 hours.
3. Thirty-three Chinese fashion designers will showcase designs at SS/19 NYFW - luxe.co#
According to luxe.co's calculations based on publicly available information, there are 33 designers from China who will host runway shows and presentations at Spring/Summer 2019 New York Fashion Show. The figure is up from 25 in Autumn/Winter 2019 NYFW in February 2018.
In addition to well-known designers like Jason Wu, Taoray Wang, Calvin Luo and LANYU, many emerging young talents like Claudia Li, Angel Chen and PH5 are set to debut their collections this year.
