Joint Tap
The Fashion Division of Samsung C&T Corporation is joining hands with China’s Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. to tap into the Chinese e-commerce market. The company already runs three brands, including Bean Pole and Mvio, at the Alibaba Group’s online platform T-mall. Also, it is planning to launch its fast-fashion brand, 8 Seconds, on the platform next year.
Samsung C&T announced that it has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group at its headquarters in Seoul on Sept. 17 to further their cooperation in the e-commerce industry, attended by 40 officials, including Samsung C&T Fashion Group CEO Yoon Joo-hwa and Alibaba Group Vice Chairman Zhang Jianfeng.
Accordingly, Samsung C&T will open the first online flagship store of its SPA brand 8 Seconds on T-mall and launch on Juhuasuan, Alibaba’s social media shopping platform, next year, accelerating the Chinese market invasion. The brand name 8 Seconds means that it will satisfy customers in eight seconds. It was designed for Chinese consumers who view the number 8 as lucky. Also, the brand was first created targeting the Chinese market.
Founded by Jack Ma in 1999, the Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-commerce company that runs the world’s largest online shopping malls. The major platforms are Alibaba.com, Taobao, T-mall, and Juhuasuan. In particular, T-mall has an 88 percent share of the Chinese online shopping market. It is also a Taobao brand mall with 550 million members, and the number of visitors a day reaches 100 million. Juhuasuan is a social media shopping service provider that was launched in 2010. It is a platform that offers a selection of products at outstanding prices every day and shows high sales.