The Macy’s Name May Not Be Magic Enough In China’s Online Market

If Macy’s hopes to succeed on China’s Tmall Global platform, it needs to understand the realities of Internet marketing to Chinese consumers today. Tmall enables foreign companies to advertise and sell directly to millions of China’s increasingly affluent online buyers. Macy’s is investing $25 million to tackle the Chinese online market and plans to sell $50 million worth of its premium brands in 2016 (without the brick-and-mortar stores). The key question is, why would Chinese consumers buy upscale brands like Coach and Estée Lauder from Macy’s? What value does the consumer get from a venerated old retailer? The answer: not much. The better approach would be to follow Costco’s successful Chinese marketing lead. “You’d think this is a nation of 1.3 billion squirrels, the way Costco is moving its private label Kirkland mixed nuts,” says the China Digital Review.