China is the first country outside of Japan where Uniqlo has an online shopping presence. “Half of Taobao’s users are aged 25 to 32 and just over one-third are aged 16 to 24,” said John Spelich, vice-president of international corporate affairs for Alibaba Group.
Uniqlo is aiming to increase brand awareness in the Chinese marketplace by banking on Taobao’s large consumer base of more than 100 million users, while gaining first hand data to further customise products to the local consumers through the online business.
The virtual store within Taobao’s marketplace will share the same data as Uniqlo’s website so users do not have to register separately for the two platforms.