Kering Eyewear opens e-shop in China with JD.com

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 14, 2018

Kering Eyewear has set out to conquer China with the opening of its first e-commerce store. The company created by Kering in 2014 to manage the eyewear operations of its brands has announced a partnership with JD.com, a company which leads the Chinese e-commerce market alongside competitor Alibaba. 

The eyewear manufacturer, which reported earnings of 352 million euros in 2017, is opening its first e-commerce site on the JD.com platform, through which it will sell 14 of its eyewear collections, namely Alaïa, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Cartier, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Christopher Kane, McQ, Stella McCartney, Tomas Maier, Boucheron, Pomellato and Puma. 

Kering Eyewear has not given any further details concerning the partnership, other than that "JD.com will act as authorized distributor of its products on this market". In a release, the CEO of the eyewear company, Roberto Vedovotto, described the deal as a "major collaboration". "China is a booming market for e-commerce sales and a region with a high growth potential in the luxury segment", he stated. 

Through the partnership, the eyewear manufacturer will gain access to the 292 million customers who regularly use the Chinese platform. This should mean that the company sees noteworthy sales growth, especially as Chinese consumers, who currently account for 32% of the global luxury market, are expected to push this figure to 40% by 2024 according to recent estimates from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).