German skincare company Beiersdorf will expand its e-commerce offering in a new partnership with China's online platform NetEase Kaola, it announced Monday.
NetEase Kaola is the largest online retail platform for imports in the country, with 900 million users. It has posted double-digit growth rates since its establishment three years ago. The cross-border trade market has been performing strongly in China, growing 80.6% in 2017, year on year, due to the increase of imported goods.
E-commerce has been an important driver of its growth, Beiersdorf said. It will rank among the five highest revenue-generating affiliates of the Nivea-maker in 2018 (when viewed as a country). Nivea's cross-border e-commerce trade in China has posted appreciable above-market growth in the last year.
Prior to this new alliance, Beiersdorf partnered with JD.com and Alibaba in the e-commerce space.
Stepping Forward
The CEO of NetEase Kaola, Zhang Lei, met with the Beiersdorf board member for Asia and Brands, Ralph Gusko, in Hamburg City Hall to seal the alliance before city mayor Peter Tschentscher on Monday.
Tschentscher said that the deal represented a "major step forward" in trade between Hamburg and China.
It also signified an advancement in European trade relations for NetEase Kaola CEO Lei, who said, "For Western countries, entering the complex Chinese market is often associated with hurdles. We are pleased and very proud to be able to build bridges for a globally successful and popular brand like Nivea."
'Made in Germany' brands are highly esteemed in China, according to Beiersdorf.
Gusko commented on the alliance, saying, "Through the cooperation with NetEase Kaola, we can further expand our online presence in the important Chinese market and move closer to local consumers."
Strong growth in European markets helped boost Beiersdorf’s sales performance in the first quarter of the year, with the Nivea-maker posting an organic sales increase of 6.5%, to €1.8 billion.
©2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
