French luxury house Chanel next month will open a flagship store for its fragrance and beauty lines on Tmall and the e-commerce platform’s dedicated site for premium and luxury goods, Tmall Luxury Pavilion.
Pre-sales launched last Friday, giving Chinese shoppers access to Chanel’s full assortment of skincare, make-up and perfume products offered offline, including its new Rouge Coco Flash lipstick and popular fragrances, such as Coco Mademoiselle and Bleu de Chanel. The stores will be the only official online shopping channels in China to get the products other than Chanel’s own online store.
“In the past two years, we’ve seen significant growth in high-end beauty brands on our platform, from Givenchy, Giorgio Armani and YSL to Tom Ford, which joined us in April. And today, to welcome Chanel, one of the world’s most luxurious brands, to our platform is of paramount significance,” said Mike Hu, general manager of Tmall Fast-Moving Consumer Goods.
“In only three days of launching its pre-sales campaign, Chanel’s store has attracted thousands of followers. We look forward to partnering with this world-class luxury brand, to explore even more digital innovations at the forefront of luxury e-commerce,” said Hu.
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Chanel mentioned in its press release that the new store “once again pushes the limits of luxurious and meaningful shopping experiences,” creating a space where “clients can enjoy shopping while discovering about the brand’s heritage, as well as new, innovative product ranges” – experiences previously reserved for its own online store. Chanel said that bringing those features to Tmall would allow the brand to provide a “unique and convenient shopping experience for clients.”
Chanel is introducing a suite of services on Tmall to bring the same premium experience that customers can enjoy in brick-and-mortar stores, from real-time consultation by online beauty advisors to free shipping for all purchases in the store. Consumers can also sign up to join the brand’s membership program, allowing them to receive the same privileges as offline members, such as being the first to sample new products and attend exclusive offline events.
The features are part of a revamped Luxury Pavilion site that launched last month to offer more personalized recommendations and greater content variety, including a brand-generated content feed and new sections highlighting trends and each week’s new product debuts.
“We want to step up our offerings in terms of creative experiences, trending product feeds and style tips from fashion editors to help young users find items and brands they love,” Lili Chen, head of Tmall Luxury Pavilion, said when the new site launched. “The Pavilion revamp enhances the discovery journey and shopping experience for our customers, while helping luxury brands better express their brand vision, aesthetics and new creations.”
Launched in 2017, Tmall Luxury Pavilion now offers 114 brands, ranging from apparel and beauty items to watches and luxury cars, including Bottega Veneta, Valentino, Burberry, Tod’s, Versace, Stella McCartney, Moschino, Gentle Monster, Giuseppe Zanotti, MCM, Maserati, LVMH-owned Rimowa, Guerlain, Givenchy, Tag Heuer and Zenith. Tmall said it wants to double that number by the end of the fiscal year next March.
Chanel is among the latest brands to launch its beauty lines on Tmall, which also include prestige labels such as Tom Ford Beauty, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Givenchy, YSL Beaut√© and La Mer. Their arrival is part of Alibaba’s plan to bring another 1,000 beauty-focused virtual stores to Tmall platforms this year, with a focus on recruiting more international brands. Tmall said it was responding to a surge in sales of beauty products, which jumped more than 60% last year, and bringing higher-end brands onto the site was part of its efforts to meet that demand.
