10-25-2017, 11:52 AM
Shares of China's largest standalone luxury e-tailer, Secoo, plunged 15% on Wednesday, after much larger rival JD.com revealed it was launching its own new luxury goods platform, Toplife. Secoo currently has 15.1 million registered members and a 25% market share in China's upscale e-commerce market.
Why Chinese Luxury E-Tailer Secoo Just Tumbled | Investopedia
China’s second-largest e-commerce platform, JD, released a statement on its official Weibo account on July 12, accusing Alibaba’s Tmall site, in not so many words, of being an unfair and monopolistic market player. The statement, which was made jointly with the online flash sales site Vipshop, claimed that “some e-commerce sites” have forced many brands and merchants to leave their sites to sign exclusive deals. While Alibaba is not named specifically in the post, there’s no other platform that is as dominant as JD in that space. The inference, as many commenters, and a reply by Tmall, affirmed, was loud and clear.
JD Goes to War with Alibaba, Calls It 'Monopolistic' | Jing Daily
A cross-border e-commerce expert, who has previously helped luxury brands set up vendor stores on Tmall and JD, told Jing Daily that this trend is likely to grow, and that the competition between JD and Alibaba has grown fiercely owing in part to the unfair behavior of the latter. “Brands quitting on JD [are] likely pressured into a forced choice by Tmall,” he said. “If those brands don’t shut down their JD store, they would not likely enjoy the benefits along with opening an e-store on Tmall.”
Alibaba Denies It Pressured 44 Apparel Brands to Quit JD | Jing Daily
JD.com, Alibaba’s largest rival in the Chinese e-commerce market, has invested nearly $400 million into Farfetch, a fast-growing online marketplace for luxury fashion boutiques. Alongside the $397 million investment, JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu is joining Farfetch’s board. Exact terms of the deal could not be learned, but a source said Farfetch’s new valuation is a significant step up from its earlier $1.5 billion figure. For Western apparel and fashion brands, the rise of the Chinese luxury shopper has made China an increasingly crucial market. London-based Farfetch already has operations in the country, but the deal is meant to expand them. JD.com will drive web traffic to the Farfetch site and offer logistics help to its brands and boutiques, among other services.
The Amazon of China invested $400 million into one of the most valuable fashion startups - Recode
The most recent examples of such strategy came this past week, first with the announcement of a tactical new partnership with Walmart – a deal that will see the US giant swap its Yihaodian platform for a 5 percent stake in JD.com, worth about US$1.5 billion by the firm's latest market value. The move will allow Walmart to continue to run its Chinese versions of Sam’s Club apps and websites, and become a retailer inside Yihaodian – a grocery site particularly popular among wealthier women in the south-east regions of the country – rather than operate its own online store entirely, offering the American company some respite after it struggled to adapt to China’s cutthroat retail sphere. More interestingly, it will give JD.com – stronger in China’s north-east – the opportunity to expand its reach for household and electronics items, and have wider access to a broader range of US goods.
With New Partnerships And Fashion Strategies, JD.com Pushes Hard Against Alibaba's Reign in China