After resolving fakes spat, Gucci opens stores on Alibaba’s Tmall

Gucci has said it will launch two flagship storefronts on Alibaba’s Tmall platform – one for fashion and one for beauty products – in a further sign that their previous battle over counterfeiting has been resolved.

Gucci’s parent Kering filed a lawsuit against Alibaba in 2015 saying that counterfeits of its products were abundant on the Chinese e-commerce giant’s sites, but dropped it two years later, saying they would work together to snuff out the trade in fakes.

The decision followed a setback in which the judge presiding in the case ruled that Kering - which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Brioni, Alexander McQueen and many others - had "failed to allege the existence of a conspiracy."

Other luxury brands including Cartier and Balenciaga have also open up on Tmall’s three-year-old Luxury Pavilion this year, signalling how important China’s burgeoning designer products market is for top fashion houses.

Luxury goods consumption in China expected to grow 48 per cent to nearly $53bn this year, with the global market shrinking by 23 per cent, according to a just-published report from Tmall and management consultancy Bain & Company.

On Monday Gucci opened its fashion store, offering leather goods, ready-to-wear, accessories, watches and jewelry collections. It will be joined next February by a cosmetics store that will be operated by the company’s license partner Coty.

“We look forward to working with the iconic brand Gucci to help them forge even greater success in the Chinese market by meeting the expectations of today’s digitally native luxury consumers,” said Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group.

Image by 11160987 from Pixabay