French fashion brand Isabel Marant has launched a flagship store on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, Alibaba Group’s dedicated platform for luxury and premium brands, the site said on Wednesday. The Pavilion is the only third-party shopping site in China to carry the Paris-based label.
To celebrate its grand opening on May 15, Isabel Marant offered 42 items exclusively for Pavilion shoppers, including its Binkoo lace-up sneakers, Yenky shopper bag and Tyron baseball cap. There are plans to bring more exclusive items to Tmall in the future, the Pavilion said.
“We are very pleased to welcome Isabel Marant to the Tmall Luxury Pavilion. We believe Isabel Marant’s unique and fashion-forward design will resonate well with today’s young Chinese consumers who are not only shopping for premium quality but also looking to express their personalities,” said Jessica Liu, general manager of Tmall Fashion and Luxury.
“We look forward to working with Isabel Marant to provide the best shopping experience and more exclusive products to the more than 700 million shoppers on Alibaba’s platforms,” said Liu.
Isabel Marant currently operates 37 stores globally, including four brick-and-mortar boutiques in China, in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. All new items it launches in physical boutiques will also make their debut on Tmall at the same time.
Leather belts, jeans and suits have been particularly popular in the virtual store in its first week online, the Pavilion said. Isabel Marant has also listed more items from its runway collections on the Pavilion than it offers offline, a move to draw the attention of young Chinese consumers, who are known for purchasing more experimental pieces.
Chinese shoppers represented one-third of global spending on luxury items last year, according to McKinsey & Co. The consultancy firm estimated that Chinese luxury consumption will nearly double to about RMB 1.2 trillion ($175 billion) by 2025, up from RMB 770 billion today.
Isabel Marant now joins the growing number of premium brands on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, which launched in 2017. The Pavilion counts over 100 brands, ranging from apparel and beauty items to watches and luxury cars, including Alexander McQueen, Gentle Monster, Bottega Veneta, Valentino, Burberry, Versace, Stella McCartney, MCM, La Mer, Maserati, LVMH-owned Rimowa, Guerlain, Givenchy, Tag Heuer and Zenith.
To enhance its services for luxury brands, Alibaba recently set up a new Tmall Luxury Division to oversee luxury strategies across the group, including Tmall Luxury Pavilion and Mei.com, Alibaba’s online outlet for off-season luxury and designer goods.
