Tom Ford Taps Bai Jingting as Fragrance Ambassador in China
- Chaileedo Press
- Jul 13, 2022
- 3 min read
Tom Ford officially announced actor Bai Jingting as the brand's fragrance ambassador in China while launching White Suede Parfum Gift Box exclusively for the Chinese Qixi Festival. The product is available in its flagship store on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall with a price from $223.2 to $1406.
Tom Ford is the eponymous brand founded by designer Tom Ford with several categories including cosmetics, ready-to-wear, and fragrances. Tom Ford was once the creative director of Gucci. In 2005, a year after leaving Gucci, he co-founded his eponymous brand with Gucci's former CEO Domenico De Sole, cutting into the top luxury market from high-end menswear. In 2006, Tom Ford entered into a partnership with beauty giant Estee Lauder Group to jointly develop its beauty business, Tom Ford Beauty. According to CHAILEEDO, Tom Ford launched its fragrance in 2006 and its color cosmetics business in 2011, which debuted online in China in 2019.
In August 2020, Tom Ford's world's largest beauty boutique officially landed in Parc Central, Guangzhou, which was not only the first TOM FORD store to land in Guangzhou but also the brand's largest beauty boutique in the world at the time. Compared with the online Tmall flagship store and other channels, the offline beauty store also has a more complete range of products. For example, TF's new radiant fine white tube lipstick series, luxury air cushion holster engraving service, as well as the brand's latest and most popular exclusive sale of beauty products, were achieved in-store premiere.
It is reported that Valentino had benchmarked TOM FORD when entering the China market due to its high luxury brand background and the fact that the price is located at the same as Tom Ford. In September 2021, Valentino opened its offline flagship stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. In March 2022, Valentino released its 2021 financial report: the beauty and fragrance business recorded a 97% year-on-year growth in 2021, which is double the forecast. In comparison, in Valentino's flagship store on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall, the product categories include lipstick, perfume, primer, gift box, etc. with a price range of $43-$588, and the highest sales volume is VALENTINO REFILLABLE LIPSTICK priced at $67 with total sales of 10,000+. In Tom Ford's official flagship store, product categories are similar, which also contain lipstick, perfume, primer, gift boxes, etc. With the price range of $52 -$2946. The highest sales product is TF lipstick classic black tube priced at $71 with total sales of 600,000 +. In summary, because TF entered China earlier than Valentino, it has a slight advantage in terms of sales and TF lipstick also received the Chinese consumers' admiration. For Valentino, how to quickly integrate into the Chinese market is a big test.
It is worth noting that, according to Bloomberg, Tom Ford is looking for a sale, citing sources close to the company. According to the report, Tom Ford is currently in close contact with investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to discuss related matters. The deal would value the Tom Ford brand at billions of dollars overall. A possible sale partnership would include a future new owner working with Tom Ford himself to run the brand. At this time, no final decision has been made by the brand and Tom Ford may still choose to keep the brand independent.
Estee Lauder has repeatedly mentioned Tom Ford's outstanding contributions to fragrance and color cosmetics in its annual earnings reports. Previously, John Demsey, Chairman of Estee Lauder's executive group, said in an interview, "The Tom Ford beauty business is driven primarily by cosmetics in Asia, by fragrance products in Europe, and both in the U.S."
Since entering China in 2016, the brand now has about 20 stores and a Tmall flagship store that are performing brightly with China contributing 40 percent of its current global market share. Some industry insiders estimate that the brand's beauty business has exceeded $1 billion in sales in 2019 and is now temporarily the 25th largest beauty brand in the world. The plan of seeking a sale of Tom Ford is a response to the epidemic and it also tends to find a way to combine "business value" and "social value" for the brand to reorganize its business map.
The official announcement of Bai Jingting as the brand's fragrance ambassador in China may reflect TF's willingness to continue its efforts in the fragrance category in the Chinese market and the Asia-Pacific market will become an important part of its long-term strategic plan.
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