Chanel Swallows Its Pride to Start Tmall Online Store for More Growth in Chinese Market
- Chaileedo Press
- Oct 20, 2021
- 3 min read
In the Chinese market, Chanel, which has been on the opposite side of the third-party e-commerce platform, seems to have turned around its decision. It have had to make changes to cater more to the preferences of Chinese Gen-Z consumers.
Iconic logo of Chanel is made up of two capital "C"s overlapping back to back, embodying a minimalist design concept that seems to be endlessly evocative at the same time. The logo was designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925 and has been used ever since. There are three different theories about the inspiration of this logo and the last one is the most accepted one over the years.
In the early years of Coco Chanel's life, a man named Capel once came into her life who deeply loved her and was very supportive of her career and offered a lot of help. As The writer Justine Picardie once said that the double C symbol in the Chanel logo was a metaphor for the fact that although Coco Chanel and Capelle did not end up getting married, they had a good time together. They did experienced a lot together with overlapping but also being separated from each other at the end.
In the Chinese market, Chanel, which has been on the opposite side of the third-party e-commerce platform, seems to have turned around its decision. In July 2019, Chanel beauty opened a pre-sale on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall and launched the full range of perfume and beauty products of the brand. In August 2019, Chanel perfume and beauty Tmall official flagship store was officially launched and was settled on the Tmall luxury platform Luxury Pavilion. It was the third international luxury beauty brand that settled on Tmall to open a flagship store after Givenchy and Tom Ford.
Chanel Beauty stressed in a statement that Tmall is the only officially recognized third-party e-commerce platform in China for Chanel, which will provide Chinese consumers with a convenient and comprehensive shopping experience. Previously, the official website was the only one online sales channel Chanel Beauty in China, .
In the past two years, international luxury beauty brands have become a trend in e-commerce platforms. Givenchy, Armani, YSL and Tom Ford have all opened their official flagship stores in Tmall and achieved good performance. Take Givenchy as an example, its followers exceeded 820,000 on the opening day with the sales of 58,000 pieces of its hot-selling lipstick, which reflects the transformation of the entire Chinese luxury market.
For international luxury beauty brands, they have to swallow her pride, do what’s necessary, reduce scarcity and provide an active online and offline experience in an omnichannel approach in the Chinese market. That is somehow at odds with the tone of luxury brands .
But today, these luxury brands have had to make changes to cater more to the preferences of Chinese consumers, especially those of the Gen-Z consumers in China, which is the source of their growth.
Unlike European and American consumers, young Chinese consumers would rather use their mobile devices to shop on e-commerce platforms than shop on brand’s official websites. For the digital natives of China's Gen-Z, e-commerce shopping experience with smooth and comfortable process is more attractive and time-saving than shopping in offline stores. It also will be more competitive and advantageous.
Chanel has opened online purchasing channels such as Tmall in the Chinese market to provide convenient access to the brand's products to reach consumers in different regions of China. In addition, Chanel will also choose to open brand counters offline in China in order to maintain the its image and high-end luxury positioning to a certain extent.
In recent years, Chanel has opened several beauty stores in China's second and third-tier cities one after another. Behind the strategy of the opening more stores, it shows its brand's overall strategy of laying out to second and third-tier cities in China. In addition to China's traditional first-tier cities, many emerging and late-comer second- and third-tier cities are also becoming the main driving force of luxury consumption in China.
Commentaires