Net-A-Porter.com launches on Alibaba's Tmall

Yoox Net-A-Porter Group parent Richemont and Alibaba have announced the opening of the Net-A-Porter flagship store on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion.

The store will offer a curated selection of more than 130 luxury, designer brands from Net-A-Porter.com and Mr Porter.com for the Chinese market, and its opening marks the beginning of a joint venture, named FENG MAO, between Richemont and Alibaba.

The flagship store’s grand launch campaign will begin in the second week of October, after China’s Golden Week and the offer will be expanded in the following months, and will include exclusive capsule collections.

Brands that are made immediately available include Brunello Cucinelli, The Row, Balmain, Isabel Marant, Jimmy Choo and Tom Ford. The Richemont Maisons immediately available include Cartier, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin as well as Alaïa, Chloé, dunhill and Montblanc.

Features of the flagship store include curated homepages, customised brand pages, product recommendations, personalised content and exclusive VIP awards. Alibaba powers the JV with its technology infrastructure, marketing and payment services. Consumers will also be able to use Alipay – Alibaba’s mobile payment solution.

"The unveiling of the Net-A-Porter flagship store on Tmall Luxury Pavilion is an important first step in the development of our long term partnership with Alibaba. Together, we seek to address the sophisticated needs of the Chinese luxury clientele and capture this unique growth opportunity.

"This partnership will set new standards for the future of luxury online. We look forward to sharing the success of the Net-A-Porter flagship store with more brand partners as the joint venture evolves," said Richemont CEO Jérôme Lambert.

YNAP Chairman and CEO Federico Marchetti added: "This game-changing partnership between Richemont, Alibaba and YOOX NET-A-PORTER unites three world leaders who together are redefining the way Chinese customers shop for luxury. Net-A-Porter’s flagship store on Tmall Luxury Pavilion will become THE online destination where luxury brands want to be in China, leveraging Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter’s two decades of expertise and pioneering innovation.

"Chinese shoppers can explore a unique selection of the world’s most desirable brands carefully curated just for them, enhanced by an unmatched personalised experience and exclusive products that cannot be found elsewhere."