Richemont’s partnership with Alibaba marks the clearest sign yet that the luxury industry is overcoming its suspicions of Chinese ecommerce.
On Friday the Swiss group announced a joint venture that will see its Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter sites launched on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion, an ecommerce site created specifically to appease brands’ concerns about online shopping not being luxurious enough.
It follows an investment by Alibaba’s rival JD.com into luxury online marketplace Farfetch last year, illustrating how even the industry’s most established groups are teaming up with local Chinese players in an arms race to target the world’s fastest-growing luxury market.