Trend-setting Chinese consumers challenge brands to keep up with quickly evolving tastes, but help is at hand.

Alibaba Group’s product incubator Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) has partnered with brands, including Swiss food group Nestlé, German skincare company Nivea and Dutch health technology conglomerate Philips to create items, test new lines and accelerate product development.

European brands spend 12 to 18 months on average launching a product from start to finish, compared with as little as three months for most domestic consumer goods companies.

In a recent webinar, retail executives came together to share how TMIC is helping streamline development and more than halve product launch time.

 Key Quotes

“TMIC could really help us to validate and search for the right target, and pilot some really breakthrough new launches,” said Fion Zhou, Business Marketing Leader of male grooming for Philips in China. 

“Innovation in China means speed,” said Rebecca Wang, Vice President and Head of Omni Grocery Retail and eBusiness at Nestlé China.

“TMIC empowers you to easily get the market and the growth opportunity…Always focus on the big opportunities and the ones that are suitable for your brand,”  Max Zhang, Head of Consumer Insight at Nivea in China.