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:
- Alibaba's 10th annual Singles' Day celebration,
- Chinese jewelry brand's financial earnings results, and
- Secoo's deal with Liberty London.
1. Alibaba inaugurates this year's Singles’ Day Global Shopping Festival - Alibaba press release#
On October 19, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba officially kicked off the Singles' Day Global Shopping Festival. As the company that invented the concept of Singles' Day and succeeded in developing it into a nationwide retail holiday, 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of this annual event.
According to the press release, 180,000 brands from both China and overseas will be involved this time, with 500,000 items being available for pre-order on its B2C (business-to-consumer) marketplace Tmall, starting from October 20.
As usual, Alibaba will host another "See Now Buy Now" online fashion show on the eve of the Singles' Day (on November 10), a tradition that it started in 2016. The show will be live-streamed on major channels like Taobao app, Youku, Weibo and news aggregator Toutiao, allowing consumers to view, interact and place orders on products that are featured during the four-hour session.
Alibaba will continue to use its "New Retail" technologies to enable global brands to create an omnichannel shopping experience for Chinese consumers.
2. Chow Tai Fook scored rapid growth in fiscal year 2019 Q2 - Winsang#
The past week saw China's leading jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook release their Q2 financial results in the fiscal year 2019, showing positive signs for Chinese jewelry consumption.
Chow Tai Fook, the Hong Kong-based luxury brand that made it into Deloitte's annual global luxury goods power ranking top 10 list, witnessed a double-digit growth in retail sales from the year before in both the mainland (up 15 percent) and Hong Kong & Macau regions (up 25 percent). During the second quarter, Chow Tai Fook opened 162 retail spots in mainland China.
3. Secoo signs an exclusive deal with British luxury brand Liberty London - East Money#
China's luxury e-commerce platform Secoo established an exclusive partnership with British brand Liberty London, which offers a variety of accessory goods from luxury bags to stationery. Through this partnership, Liberty London will direct sell products to Secoo's over 20 million luxury shoppers.
