Martha Stewart, the woman who built an empire in the U.S. on cookbooks, catering tips and cake stands, is coming to China.
Speaking at Tmall’s Super Kitchen event, an offline expo of home goods held by Alibaba Group’s business-to-consumer site, Stewart said she saw an opportunity to expand her brand into the world’s second-largest economy as rising incomes in the middle class there were increasingly being spent on lifestyle and experiential purchases rather than staple goods.
“In this dynamic time there is an expanding wealth, and that is in turn creating a growing, young middle-class with unprecedented purchasing power,” Stewart said. “They have the opportunity to focus on quality of life within their homes, using all the wonderful new products that you can get a glimpse of here at this show today.”
Stewart did not offer specifics on how she would sell her products in China. However, during a press conference after the event, the domestic diva said she would “certainly” sell online and most likely through Tmall. E-commerce “is a very appealing way to sell products these days, and that’s why we are with Alibaba, to discover how we can do that efficiently as well as to promote our brands and products,” she said. Stewart plans to meet Alibaba executives, including CEO Daniel Zhang, in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Stewart has been synonymous with the home and gardening market in the U.S. for over three decades, publishing 87 books—67 of them cookbooks—since her 1982 debut, titled Entertaining. She went on to publish magazines such as Martha Stewart Living and Everyday Food, launch a 24-hour radio channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and multiple television shows, as well as establish her brand on the internet. Over 70 million households in the U.S. have Martha Stewart-branded products, she said. Her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, was acquired by Sequential Brands Group last year.
“Martha Stewart has forever changed the way Americans think and feel about their homes,” Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said in a statement. “Her involvement in Alibaba’s Super Kitchen event will help educate and stimulate Chinese consumers, who want high-quality home products and healthy lifestyle choices for their families.”
Alibaba opened home decor and home furnishing channels on Tmall when the site first launched in 2008. The two channels were merged into one, Tmall Home, last month. Today’s inaugural Super Kitchen promotion is part of a two-week Tmall Global Home Festival with 1,200 participating brands, including Germany’s Fissler, Italy’s De’Longhi and American appliance maker Kenwood.
Stewart’s keynote address at the Super Kitchen event, which served as an introduction of her brand to Chinese consumers, was live-streamed on the Tmall mobile app and Alibaba-owned online video hub Youku.com. During the talk, she said she wanted to transform China’s traditionally small kitchen, which is set off from the rest of a house, into one that opened up into a home’s larger living space.
Of course, many international brands have tried to establish a footprint in China only to never catch on and ultimately fail. And there would be no guarantee that what worked for Stewart in the U.S. would easily translate to Chinese consumers as well.
At the press conference, Stewart said that she had already built a presence in foreign markets thatis demonstrably different than its U.S. profile by tailoring popular products to suit local tastes. In Japan, she reduced the size of dishes and cookware, as well as bed and bath linens, in order to fit the country’s smaller dishwashers and washing machines. She said she will employ a similar strategy for China.
“Our company is very good at adapting to different lifestyles,” she said.
