Australia’s largest pharmacy retailer, Chemist Warehouse are strengthening their presence in South Asia with an extended partnership with Tmall marketplace, signalling their accelerated commitment to succeeding in China.
The Melbourne-based company signed an updated agreement to sell through Tmall Global, Alibaba’s dedicated cross-border marketplace, for another two years. Four years ago saw the retailer debuting on Tmall Global, extending their operations on the site for an additional two years in 2017. This year is seeing the tie-up extending to pave a further growth path for the retailer in the country.
The retailer’s China chief executive officer, Nancy Jian, said she was excited about the coming two years of partnership with Alibaba.
“The opportunities to grow our business in China and Southeast Asia are second to none and Alibaba is an integral part of our overall growth strategy,” Jian said.
The deal includes three new multi-brand stores – My Chemist, My Beauty Spot and Discount Vitamin Warehouse – which opened last month on Tmall Global, as well as a store on Alibaba’s newly acquired Kaola cross-border ecommerce site. Alibaba bought Kaola from fellow Hangzhou-based internet company NetEase last month.
The companies said that Chemist Warehouse would also open a store on Alibaba-owned Lazada, the leading ecommerce platform in Southeast Asia, to reach consumers in Singapore and Malaysia. There are also plans to focus on a number of smaller and medium-sized brands to provide them with easier entry points, market access and marketing support to reach China’s growing consumer market.
Chemist Warehouse are one of the top-selling retailers on Tmall Global, offering more than 200 brands and over 3,200 SKUs. The company also have a strong track record at Alibaba’s annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. In 2015, they were the first cross-border retailer to achieve RMB 10 million ($1.4 million) in gross merchandise volume during the 24-hour shopping event, in 46 minutes. In 2018, the company reached RMB 100 million in GMV in seven hours.
