Tag Heuer Opens E-Commerce Flagship on Tmall.com in Chinese Youth Bid

Editor’s note: A version of this post first appeared on Luxury Daily, the leading luxury business publication covering strategy, tactics, execution and results for luxury marketing, retail, media, digital and geopolitics across all mediums and channels. LVMH-owned watchmaker Tag Heuer is increasing its e-commerce footprint in China through a partnership with Alibaba Group’s Tmall.com. Tmall.com was established in 2008 to provide Chinese consumers a premium shopping experience online. According to iResearch, Tmall.com is China’s largest third-party e-commerce platform for brands and retailers based on active monthly users in 2015. Tag Heuer’s e-commerce partnership with Tmall.com will offer Chinese consumers a new platform to shop its Swiss-made timepieces. Also, being present on Tmall.com will aid Tag Heuer’s visibility among younger, digital-native consumers. For its Tmall.com debut, Tag Heuer looked to its Tag Heuer Carrera collection as a representation of its speed, passion and mantra of #DontCrackUnderPressure. Tag Heuer has selected watches with “metropolitan charm” to introduce itself to Tmall.com consumers. For men, Tag Heuer will feature the Heuer 01 Chronography and for women, the Carrera Lady. “As the leading Chinese online shopping platform, Tmall.com is the ideal partner for Tag Heuer,” said Leo Poon, Tag Heuer general manager of Greater China, in a brand statement. “In the celebration of the grand opening of Tag Heuer Tmall.com flagship store, we would like to thank all the Chinese consumers for their support of Tag Heuer,” he said. “We will continue to promote the avant-garde spirit in our unique and innovative manner to provide the younger generation with more products and service that is of greater energy.” Seen as a “bold and innovative move” by a timepiece maker, Tag Heuer’s partnership with Tmall.com signals watchmakers' ease into online selling. In the past, watchmakers have shied away from e-commerce due to the in-store experience and high ticket prices of many timepieces, but recently, a few have developed on-brand approaches to online selling. For example, Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin experimented with online ordering for the first time through a partnership with horology publication Hodinkee. Vacheron Constantin and Hodinkee teamed up for the project back in 2015, which resulted in the creation of the Vacheron Constantin Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955 Limited-Edition for Hodinkee. Due to the watchmaker’s lack of e-commerce on its own website, Hodinkee served as the selling platform for the collaboration.

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Tag Heuer Opens E-Commerce Flagship on Tmall.com in Chinese Youth Bid