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Can Zhang Zetian, China’s youngest female billionaire, give JD.com a luxury image?
STORYJing Daily
Luxury and fashion is a different world for JD.com, and Zhang Zetian intends to navigate it
This article was written by Yiling Pan and was originally published in Jing Daily
When American fashion designer Phillip Lim hosted his 2018 spring/summer show on September 11 during New York Fashion Week, there was a new noteworthy guest seated in the front row: Zhang Zetian, the unofficial face of JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company.
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JD.com was the chief partner of the runway show, according to Chinese news site LadyMax. The site also stated that Zhang attended the show as JD.com’s “fashion brand acquisition consultant,” a new title for Zhang, whose role with JD.com, a company founded by her husband Liu Qiangdong (also known as Richard Liu), has been, thus far, unofficial. It seems her attendance at fashion industry events may be becoming more than just a hobby.
While JD.com has had some difficulty shaking its early image as an online seller of cut-rate electronics, does Zhang have the ability and necessary influence to reboot the company’s image?
What’s Zhang Zetian got to do with JD.com?
Over the past several years, JD.com, has demonstrated its ambition to step up its role in the country’s luxury and fashion industry, as most recently evidenced by its acquisition of a nearly US$400-million stake in British luxury e-tailer Farfetch. In June, in an effort to cater to high-end shoppers, JD.com launched a “white glove” delivery service that has luxury items brought to customers by men in tuxedos. And in February this year, JD.com created JD Fashion, an online portal to sell products from big-name brands including Armani, Swarovski, and Zenith.
Rising in almost lock-step synchronicity with the company’s own luxury image is that of Zhang, who has over the past year been making the rounds at international fashion events. Zhang declined a request for an interview.
Launched in 2009, Jing Daily is a leading digital publication on luxury consumer trends in China. Professionals seeking to understand China’s complex and rapidly evolving luxury industry look to Jing Daily for fresh and accurate insights. They publish up-to-the-minute news updates, reports on key trends, insights from leading industry figures, and in-depth analysis on this vitally important market.
