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Janet Wang leads Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion platform, which hosts 200 premium and luxury brands, including Cartier, Tag Heuer, Kenzo and Chanel Beauty. Fresh from the Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva, she talks to Vogue Business about the Chinese market rebound, top-performing categories and harnessing new technology to engage consumers.
What trends do you see in the Chinese luxury market since the reopening?
In 2022, the retail market in China faced several challenges — including, at the end of last year, several severe Covid outbreaks. However, the Chinese market is extremely resilient and Chinese consumer confidence has already gradually returned after the situation was contained. That has been reflected not only in an increase in travel bookings and visa applications, but also in the online search volumes on the luxury products. We’ve seen luxury products searches quickly rebound compared to the last quarter of last year. Female consumers had the strongest year-on-year growth in the first two months, in particular those aged 25 to 34 had a higher increase than other age brackets. So, all this indicates that the consumption confidence is already returning.
Do you anticipate your business slowing down now that customers can return to physical stores?
The difference between us and pure e-commerce platforms is that we are a combination of transactional commerce and media. Consumers see Tmall Luxury Pavilion as a destination, not only to shop, but also to learn about and experience the brands. The touchpoints, the interactions that happen digitally, can also become important intelligence for the brands to develop their future overall strategies. We provide data intelligence in the brand’s backend so that they can use it to formulate their communications, product and consumer-targeted strategies. Now, with the scenario of online/offline, we also offer offline event reservation. For example, Vacheron Constantin hosts exhibitions in its beautiful historical house in Shanghai and we offer online luxury shoppers the opportunity to gain a pass to the in-person exhibitions. Brands utilise our platform also because we have a very broad range of potential customers.
What are the most popular formats on Tmall Luxury Pavilion?
Tmall Luxury Pavilion is constantly introducing innovative new ways to engage luxury consumers. We have 3D displays for thousands of products, AR virtual try-on, short videos (from 30 seconds up to three minutes) and live-streaming sessions. With live streaming, we have seen from one-to-many sessions evolve into one-to-one connections. Ten houses, including Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Burberry, have already used these individualised video consultations through live-streaming technologies. Through these intimate and personalised interactions, brands are also able to build a stronger connection with their consumer and sell products at a higher price point.
What are your takeaways from the Watches and Wonders fair?
For the first time, I was able to attend Watches and Wonders in Geneva in person. There is so much interest in China around new models that will be released. We built a 3D space on our platform during Watches and Wonders and worked with partner brands to make several models available via pre-order. It typically takes a long time to assemble watches and then ship them to consumers in China, but the demand is immediate so we wanted to help the brands capitalise on that interest. With 3D virtual try-ons, brands can build a seamless digital experience where consumers can see in detail the craftsmanship, the skeleton, the movement and how it would look, even if they are thousands of miles away.
What are the top-performing categories on Tmall Luxury Pavilion?
We have many categories that are growing very fast, including lifestyle (homeware and tableware are popular gifting categories for example), and even pets. Many brands have developed pet accessories as a category.
How important is Web3 for you?
There are certainly exciting innovations at the intersection of retail and technology today and we have always been at the forefront of building new digital experiences for our partner brands. We started two years ago to create digital collectibles, and we are also exploring blockchain for product certifications. The new buzzword is artificial intelligence, but we still believe that the metaverse continues to be crucial, especially for brands looking to expand their storytelling elements.
What are the challenges ahead for Tmall Luxury Pavilion?
We are still very young — five years old — compared to the maisons that have hundreds of years of history. We need to learn from our brand partners, how their craftsmanship and their philosophy can be perfectly translated to audiences through technology. I wouldn't call it a challenge, it's more an ambition and opportunity.
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