British Retailer Marks and Spencer Launches Major E-Commerce Push in China
Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS) might have 12 brick-and-mortar stores in five Chinese cities already, but it’s surprisingly only this week that the UK retailer is sorting out its e-commerce strategy in the country. The fashion-oriented chain has just launched a Chinese version of its homepage along with a virtual store-front on Tmall, the nation’s largest online mall.
Realistically, it’s the Marks and Spencer Tmall store (see it here) that’s far more important and will see much more traffic. Alibaba-owned Tmall dominates the B2C e-tailing sector in China, and is home to store-fronts from lots of global and Chinese brands. This e-commerce effort also opens up the whole of China to the British company, as most of its physical stores are centered on the usual eastern China hub around Shanghai.
The China roll-outs are part of a broader e-commerce push by M&S into 10 international markets.
中国での本格展開はM&Sの10の国際市場に参入する、より広範なEコマース活動の推進の動き一部だ。
アリババグループ傘下のTモールには中国企業やその他外国の企業のバーチャル店舗が出そろっており、中国のBtoCの電子取引市場を席巻した。
実在の店舗は、お決まりの中国東部、上海周辺の拠点に集中しているが、eコマースの推進はイギリス企業に中国と取引をするきっかけを作った。
中国における本格的な展開は１０の海外市場に打って出るMarks and Spencerのeコマース戦略の一部である。
Marks and Spencer’s most recent interim management statement describes China and India as “key international markets” for the retailer. Non-UK sales were up 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2012, outpacing lacklustre 0.3 percent growth within the UK.
As a Brit, it’s a bit disappointing that the new M&S Tmall site does not sell any of its food, as surely the best part of a Marks and Sparks is its vast food hall.
