Tmall, China’s largest B2C platform under Alibaba Group, has formed a strategic partnership with VF Corporation (“VF”) to expand the global leader’s offerings of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories in China.
Under the agreement, Tmall Innovation Center (“TMIC”), the dedicated retail innovation arm of Tmall, will provide VF data-driven consumer analytics from the 654 million annual active consumers across Alibaba’s marketplaces, enabling it to tailor products for Chinese consumers. VF is the parent company of apparel brands Vans, The North Face and Timberland and is the first TMIC high-level partner in the apparel category.
“With Tmall’s unparalleled customer insights, strong technical support and in-depth market knowledge, we are eager to work with the world’s leading companies to help them bring their best products into the China market in the most-effective and efficient way. Through our partnership with VF, we are committed to helping VF create products that can precisely match the appetite of the Chinese consumer,” said Liu Bo, general manager of Alibaba’s Marketing Platform Business.
The partnership will focus on identifying new consumption trends, pre-launch testing, consumer profiling, and post-launch tracking to optimize product design, range and assortment to uncover unmet needs of Chinese consumers.