Gucci Joins Alibaba's Luxury E-Commerce Site to Woo Chinese Consumers

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a Gucci advertising poster at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a Gucci advertising poster at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
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Gucci Joins Alibaba's Luxury E-Commerce Site to Woo Chinese Consumers

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a Gucci advertising poster at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a Gucci advertising poster at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Fashion label Gucci will open two flagship stores on Alibaba’s online luxury shopping platform, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market for high-end brands seeking to reverse a revenue slide due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gucci, the profit engine of French group Kering, is one of the most prized names to join the Tmall Luxury Pavilion platform, which was created in 2017 and now boasts more than 200 brands ranging from apparel to high-end cars.

Gucci’s first flagship store, selling fashion and leather goods collections, will open on Dec. 21, the two companies said in a joint statement on Friday. A second store focused on beauty products will launch in February 2021 and will be operated by Gucci’s license partner Coty.

China - where consumers shop far more by mobile phone apps than in the United States or Europe - has been a rare bright spot for luxury goods brands this year, with sales surging there since lockdown measures began to ease in the spring.

Chinese customers already represented around 35% of luxury goods purchases before the pandemic and are now expected to account for almost half of global sales of high-end clothes, handbags and jewellery by 2025, according to consultancy Bain, Reuters reported.

Luxury brands, which used to be more reticent to sell their products online, have been forced by the pandemic to shift more business on the web, including through third parties. They are also targeting younger consumers who are expected to drive the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Gucci has its own Chinese website, gucci.cn, and is present on all major Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo and WeChat.

Alibaba said Tmall Luxury Pavilion has a consumer base of 750 million people.



Shein Faces 150-mn-euro Fine in France

FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
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Shein Faces 150-mn-euro Fine in France

FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo

E-commerce giant Shein faces a possible 150-million-euro ($175-million) fine in France for failing to properly get consent to track users on the internet.

The regulator, the CNIL, faulted the fast-fashion retailer for using trackers called cookies that enable for targeted advertising to users without their approval as required in Europe, or for using a confusing method to get consent.

It also found during a 2023 inspection that when users refused the tracking cookies Shein continued to read information from them.

Given the firm has the technical and staff resources necessary to comply with the regulations its behavior was negligent, said CNIL.

Shein had recently complied with the regulations, it added.

A final decision on fining the fast-fashion giant should come within weeks.

Shein called the proposed amount of the fine "disproportionate", in a statement sent to AFP.

"Since August 2023 we have actively worked with the CNIL to ensure our compliance and respond to their queries," the China-founded firm said.

This additional possible fine from the CNIL follows a record 40 million-euro penalty it received last week from France's competition and anti-fraud office over "deceptive commercial practices" by misleading customers on price deals and on its environmental impact.