China e-commerce contender Vip.com takes on JD.com and Tmall for slice of fashion pie
China’s third largest e-commerce platform is strengthening its international portfolio and expanding in major markets, but can it compete with China’s online giants?
It’s no secret that China’s two leading e-commerce giants are pulling out all the stops to gain a significant share of the online luxury market. But there’s a third e-commerce player in the mix with big ambitions: to introduce its more than 320 million customers to a wider world of fashion and put China’s own designer talent on the global map.
Vip.com is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce platforms in China, with annual retail sales of US$11.2 billion. Like Tmall’s Luxury Pavilion and JD.com’s Toplife, the retailer is a major draw for luxury brands looking to sell to China’s booming online shopping market.
Vip.com’s head of global buying Hillary Wang is careful to note how the platform differentiates itself. “We stand out from JD.com in that we are very women-centric,” she says.
“About 80 per cent of our shoppers are female; with JD, it’s the opposite – 80 per cent are male. And women control the family wallet.”
It’s this group they intended to woo when they announced earlier this summer they would be pursuing more aggressive expansion of their US brand offerings. To date, they’ve sold about US$2.2 billion in US merchandise to Vip.com customers, and they’re aiming to triple that number by 2020, Wang says.