Santander UK has partnered with Chinese retailer JD.com to give British brands access to China’s massive retail and consumer market.
As part of the agreement, small and medium-sized business customers at Santander with turnover of at least £10 million and international trading experience will be able to launch stores on JD.com, which is known as one of China’s largest B2C online retailers.
The online marketplace has a customer base of over 266 million people, and its extensive delivery network has attracted top European and American brands. Luxury brand Saint Lauren was the latest to join the platform this week as it announced its launch on JD.com’s Toplife.
The Santander/JD announcement comes after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2016.
Deputy general manager of JD.com worldwide Kaisi Li commented: “This partnership with Santander opens up many more opportunities to small and medium-size enterprises across the UK. Demand for imported products in China is strong and growing rapidly, and we’re excited to work with Santander to enable more UK-based brands to benefit from the growth of this huge market.”
JD rival ecommerce site Alibaba features brands such as Burberry, Hugo Boss and Gucci.