Courrèges, the French fashion house, this month officially inaugurated its flagship store on the Tmall Luxury Pavilion online luxury goods sales platform. By entering the digital arena, the label is integrating the attractive Chinese market and seeking to get closer to its new consumers.
Renowned French fashion house Courrèges has officially inaugurated its flagship store on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, as revealed in a post published by The Wall Street Journal Magazine China on Chinese social network Weibo on August 17.
The move marks the opening of the brand’s first online boutique in China. Courrèges thus enters the digital arena alongside the world’s leading luxury brands via the powerful platform established by the Alibaba e-commerce empire.
At the same time, the brand has lifted the veil on its early Autumn 2023 Collection as well as iconic pieces such as the Reedition series. The launch of the boutique follows visits to the metropolis of Shanghai last April, shortly after the reopening of China, by the brand’s CEO, Adrien Da Maia, and Matthieu Boissonnet, General Manager of Fragrances.
Positioning in the Chinese market
The trip was also marked by the brand’s first-ever music festival in China, “Bonjour, Courrèges”. This initiative aligned itself with the country’s growing infatuation with live music, while paving the way for the brand in this emerging market. This festive event was rounded off by the launch of a new fragrance in partnership with Sephora China, unveiling the first series of fragrances comprising five notes, exclusively available at this LVMH-owned cosmetics retailer.
Opting for the Chinese name “古未界” (gǔ wèi jiè), which translates as “Past, Future and World”, Da Maia explains, “We wanted to connect the brand’s history with the present, as well as with our projections for the future. This means bringing Courrèges’ heritage to today’s Chinese market, while continuing to convey the ‘open and inclusive’ values that are synonymous with Courrèges to our Chinese consumers.”
Adopting a “digital-first” strategy for China, Da Maia commented on the launch of the Tmall flagship store as an opportunity to engage in “deeper cultural interaction” with Chinese communities. He also suggested that increased efforts would strengthen the brand’s digital presence by leveraging various social media platforms, including Weibo and Xiaohongshu. It has already attracted around 5,000 and 6,000 subscribers respectively since its arrival in February.
An expanding platform
The pandemic has accelerated the digitization of China’s luxury goods market, with online sales of luxury goods increasing by over 150% and online penetration almost doubling to 23% by 2023. Part of this growth will be driven by an increasing number of luxury brands planning to launch their online stores this year. However, to ensure their success, these brands will need to harness innovative technologies that enhance engagement and enable a totally new experience for online consumers.
On Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion platform, the future of online luxury retail is already unfolding. The platform, which is China’s largest online destination for luxury brands, offers the opportunity to create comprehensive and innovative digital shopping experiences to attract new consumers and satisfy existing ones. Over the past five years, Tmall Luxury Pavilion has recorded significant growth, helping hundreds of luxury brands to open flagship stores in China.
The platform currently boasts over 200 prestigious names worldwide, including brands from the five major luxury groups, namely LVMH, Kering, Chanel, Richemont and Hermès. Tmall Luxury Pavilion plays a key role in helping these brands to understand Chinese consumers by leveraging rich consumer insights and data analytics from the Alibaba ecosystem.
The overall aim of Tmall Luxury Pavilion is to bridge the gap between luxury, online retail and the commercial sector in general. To achieve this, the platform relies on the use of innovative technologies and cutting-edge innovations to enable brands to design a 360-degree ecommerce experience for consumers that is fluid, immersive and highly personalized. Internally, Alibaba’s proprietary models leverage insights from across the ecosystem to support brands on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, strengthening their ability to build even deeper connections with their customers.
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Featured photo : ©Courrèges
