The International Olympic Committee on Saturday launched its first-ever online store on Tmall, China’s largest B2C marketplace operated by Alibaba Group, marking another milestone of the ongoing partnership between the IOC and the Hangzhou-based technology company.
The Olympic store on Tmall was launched as part of the new IOC Global Licensing Strategy, which aims to engage and connect with fans seeking official Olympic-branded merchandise, in line with the Olympic Agenda 2020.
Visitors to the online store can choose from an array of Olympic products from three Olympic core licensing collections. The Olympic Games Collection celebrates the upcoming Olympic Games with products ranging from fashion apparel to pins and other memorabilia. The store will also offer the Olympic Heritage Collection – a line of products with art and design elements from previous Games editions, such as postcards of historical Olympic posters. Connecting fans with the heritage of the Games, the Olympic Collection will aim at a young, active audience through branded products, mainly sports equipment and toys.
The new Olympic store will be initially available to Chinese fans on Tmall, with plans to eventually create a global ecommerce platform for fans in other parts of the world.
“We are delighted to launch our first Olympic store on Alibaba’s Tmall in China, one of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplaces,” said Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC TMS.
Chris Tung, Alibaba’s CMO, said the launch on Tmall was “an important milestone in our long-term partnership with the IOC.”
“We are proud to leverage Alibaba’s technology and ecosystem to provide more opportunities for Chinese fans to celebrate the heritage of the Games and join in the excitement for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. We look forward to our continued collaboration with the IOC to connect more fans in China and from around the world to the Olympic Movement in the digital era,” he added.
In January 2017, Alibaba and IOC reached a long-term strategic partnership to help transform the Olympic Games in the digital era. As a Worldwide TOP Partner, Alibaba is the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” partner of the IOC. It is also a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel through the 2028 Games.
The launch of the IOC store coincided with the second annual Tmall Winter Festival, an online and offline retail event that ran from December 16 to 18 to stoke excitement for winter sports among Chinese consumer. Several local Chinese celebrities and sports stars were present at the Saturday kick-off event that took place at Fulong Snow Park resort in Zhangjiakou.
Visitors to the Winter Festival page on Tmall can check out thousands of winter essentials and winter sports gear. Merchandise from other Olympic partners such as Worldwide Olympic Partner (TOP) Panasonic and Beijing 2022 partner Yili Milk are also available for purchase.
