Vantage China Weekly is the number one place for weekly updates about Chinese marketing, China social media and important news regarding brands in China.
LVMH Bets It Can Restore Tiffany’s Shine With $16 Billion Deal
The European luxury conglomerate behind Louis Vuitton and Bulgari is taking over Tiffany & Co. in a more than $16 billion gamble that it can restore shine to the famed jeweler. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Tiffany have reached a preliminary agreement on a deal that values the U.S. company at $135 a share, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read the complete article by Ben Dummett, Suzanne Kapner, and Matthew Dalton at The Wall Street Journal.
Two Chinese companies have joined the ranks of the fashion industry’s giants
Heilan Home isn’t a widely known name beyond China, but in its home country, it’s a giant. HLA operates some 5,000 stores, mostly within China. Anta Sports, meanwhile, first gained recognition making shoes for badminton players. These days it’s China’s biggest sports company, sponsoring a handful of NBA players including Klay Thompson, and recently led the consortium that bought Finland’s Amer Sports for $5.2 billion, owner of brands such as Salomon, Arc’teryx, and Wilson. Both HLA and Anta are now among the ranks of the world’s top-performing fashion companies, according to a new report by consultancy McKinsey & Company and media outlet The Business of Fashion. It underscores how these Chinese companies are growing and becoming competitive in an industry long dominated by American and European businesses.
Read the complete article by Marc Bain at QZ.
Luxury retailers are experimenting with apps; is it the right move?
When Canadian luxury retailer SSENSE was looking for new ways to expand its e-commerce presence and bring in customers, the company landed an unusual tactic: the launch of a mobile app. SSENSE’s mobile app was developed entirely in-house and offers more than 40,000 products across 500 brands to its a target audience of 18 to 34 year old customers. SSENSE’s app includes curated product recommendations, search filters and an sorting catalog. Additionally, the more customers use the app, the experience becomes more specific to their shopping behaviors. Browns is another luxury retailer that launched a mobile app last month. According to a representative from Browns, the app was developed to capitalize on growing mobile sales at the company. In the last 12 months, Browns has 70% of traffic and 45% of sales come from the mobile web. Though it’s still early, Browns said it has seen significantly more engagement with the app in China and Japan than elsewhere.
Read the complete article by Danny Parisi at Glossy.
Dior Names Wang Junkai their New Brand Ambassador in China
Christian Dior named the 20-year-old actor/singer Wang Junkai (Karry Wang) to be their new brand ambassador in China. This news was announced on November 20 via the brand’s official Weibo account and has already garnered more than 1 million shares, and received overwhelmingly positive comments from fans of Wang Junkai. Wang has had previous experience in luxury fashion, having walked the runway for Dolce & Gabbana, and modeled lipstick ads for Lancôme as the brand ambassador of their makeup and perfume line.
Read the complete article by Ruonan Zheng at Jing Daily.
Swiss watch exports rise thanks to strong performance in China despite Hong Kong crisis
Swiss watch exports are holding on. The Swiss watch exports grew 1.5% in October thanks to its strong performance in Mainland China, which eclipsed the 29.7% drop in its Hong Kong market, according to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Exports reached 2 billion Swiss francs, or 2.05 billion dollars. Two of the growth drivers were Mainland China, up 17.6% and Japan, up 11.3% compared to the previous month. America and Europe also performed strongly, growing 9.5% and 8.3%, respectively
Read the complete article by MDS at MDS – The Global Fashion Business Journal.
Egypt to launch campaign to promote tourism in Chinese market
Egyptian Tourism Minister Rania al-Mashat on Saturday met with Jane Sun, the CEO of the largest online travel agency in China Ctrip, as part of the ministry’s keenness to increase tourist traffic coming to Egypt from promising tourist markets such as China. During her visit to China to participate in the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Mashat stressed the ministry’s desire to diversify the markets bringing tourists to Egypt besides the traditional tourism markets. In view of the importance of the Chinese market, Mashat said that this partnership was held to implement a joint marketing campaign to promote Egypt in the Chinese market, pushing a contemporary and atypical image of Egypt. The minister’s meeting with Sun discussed various cooperation mechanisms between the ministry and the company in order to promote Egypt to the Chinese market within the future. They also discussed implementing the executive procedures of the joint promotional campaign for Egypt on the most important specialized tourism websites and social networking sites in China, especially Ctrip, Wechat, and Baidu.
Read the complete article by Al-Masry Al-Youm at Egypt Independent.
Alibaba’s Jennifer Wang says strategy, not brand heritage, is the key to success in China’s online health and beauty market
Alibaba’s Jennifer Wang says strategy, not brand heritage, is the key to success in China’s online health and beauty market. Speaking at the recent Ceuta International conference, Wang revealed her top tips for Western brands looking to conquer China. Health and beauty brands don’t have to be market leaders in the West to succeed in China, “you just have to have the right strategy,” according to Alibaba’s European category leader for food and health Jennifer Wang. Addressing the 14th Ceuta International Alliance Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Wang said tailoring products to Chinese tastes and compelling marketing were more important than brand heritage when selling on Alibaba’s Tmall Global business-to-consumer e-commerce platform.
Read the complete article by Tom Gallen at HBW Insight.
