Luxury accessories and lifestyle house Tapestry has entered a strategic partnership with Alibaba’s Tmall.
Tapestry will be one of the first companies to collaborate with Tmall in adopting the recently unveiled Flagship Store 2.0, beginning later this month. The upgraded platform will provide Tapestry’s brands with tools to feature customised content and enhance shopping experiences for customers. In addition, the platform will allow Tapestry’s Data Labs team to gain deeper insights into the local market as the firm continues to focus on driving growth in the region.
As part of this partnership, the Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands will all have flagship stores on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, Alibaba’s dedicated platform for luxury and premium brands. These flagships will not only feature products exclusive to Tmall, but also offer personalised content and services according to customer preferences.
Additionally, Tapestry and Alibaba will continue to strengthen their collaboration on intellectual property rights protection. Tapestry’s Coach is a member of the Alibaba Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance (AACA), leveraging Alibaba’s tools, technology and cooperation initiatives to protect its brand.
“Tapestry is committed to the Chinese market,” said Tapestry chairman and CEO Jide Zeitlin. “We have a leadership position in China and all of our brands have tremendous opportunity for further growth. Given Tapestry’s focus on customer experience, creating innovative strategic partnerships with leaders such as Tmall helps us to connect our unique lifestyle brands with the important fashion and digitally savvy Chinese consumer.
“Tmall is at the forefront of the fast-paced digital ecosystem in China, highlighted by their innovative approach and consumer-centric attitude.”
This partnership advances two of Tapestry’s key strategic initiatives: driving digital innovation and growing its business with Chinese consumers. Sales to Chinese consumers globally represents less than 20 per cent of Tapestry’s revenue, with e-commerce still in a nascent phase of growth in this market.
“Coach has been in China for over 20 years and has been an early digital pioneer,” said Tapestry chief digital officer Noam Paransky. “Building on that success, this partnership signifies the first step in our new ChinaNext digital innovation agenda, which will not only drive local engagement, but will provide learnings that we can leverage on a global scale.
“We are committed to offering a compelling experience for Chinese consumers wherever they choose to shop: our stores, direct brand and third party websites or social platforms. Our partnership with Tmall is a foundational part of this strategy, which allows our brands to connect with a broader audience.”
