Costco announced it will enter China through the opening of Alibaba Group’s Tmall Global Platform, an extension of Tmall.com, according to a press release by Alibaba Group.
Tmall Global allows overseas brands and retailers to establish presence on Tmall.com without the need for physical operations in China, which addresses the increasing demand for foreign brands by Chinese consumers.
The online store launch will extend Costco’s product offering to consumers in mainland China for the first time. Costco’s online store will initially provide a range of products including food and healthcare product listings, as well as Costco’s private label Kirkland Signature products.
“This important partnership will help give Chinese consumers a better shopping experience, and will enable us to better support the expansion of cross-border retail sales consumer goods into China,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group’s chief operating officer, in the press release.
“Costco sees tremendous growth opportunities in China, especially in light of Chinese consumer’s increasing appetite for imported products,” said Jim Murphy, the company’s executive vice president. “Our Tmall Global flagship store will give Chinese online shoppers a channel to purchase directly from Costco.”
Costco will continue to introduce new products and brands to Chinese consumers, while Tmall.com’s bonded warehouse model helps Costco to reduce logistics costs and shorten delivery time.