Holland & Barrett, the UK’s leading health and wellness retailer, is continuing its global expansion by launching its official flagship store on China’s leading e-commerce site, Tmall.
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Over 40 of the most popular Holland & Barrett products globally have been launched on the site, and the brand is already proving popular with the Chinese consumer. The best-selling products so far have been collagen and fish oils, with particular interest in the “beauty from within” Vitamins category.
With over 150 years’ experience of bringing wellness to all, Holland & Barrett is already popular with Chinese customers in the UK, Europe and Middle East, and has long standing partnerships in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong where it takes part in popular sales promotions such as Chinese New Year and Singles’ Day.
The Chinese market represents an important opportunity for Holland & Barrett to make a positive impact on the lives of consumers in China.
Tom Pamment, Head of International Business Development, Holland & Barrett explains, “We have been really encouraged by the initial performance and we’re excited by the potential for Holland & Barrett to become a destination for local Chinese customers who are seeking a trusted, high quality health and wellness brand with strong provenance, exciting innovation and offering great value.”
“We chose to launch our flagship store on Tmall Global because of the platform’s reach and good alignment to our target customer base. It also means we can leverage the wider Alibaba ecosystem, from payments to logistics. This was a critical factor in our decision to launch with Tmall Global who really helped make sure we had a successful launch on the platform,” continued Pamment.
To support its debut on Tmall, Holland & Barrett has also launched three new social channels across Weibo, WeChat and RED.
Katie Holloway, International Marketing Manager, Holland & Barrett says, “The Tmall platform is highly intuitive, which helps us to identify exactly who is buying our products and develop our broader expansion strategy. A key part of our launch plan was to increase our partnerships with influencers and Key Opinion Leaders, who are incredibly important in this market. We are working with popular Chinese influencers on everything from posts to live stream events to bring to life how Holland & Barrett can help to navigate the world of wellness. This approach is helping us build trust and brand awareness with our Chinese customers.”
Zarina Kanji, Business Development for Tmall Health & Wellness and Food & Beverage Brands, Alibaba Group Europe, comments, “Holland & Barrett is a fantastic British brand and we are excited to work with them in China as part of their broader global expansion plans. We have seen an increased interest from Chinese consumers for quality health and wellbeing products which has been further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chinese consumers want to try and learn about new products especially vitamins and supplements that can help to support a healthy lifestyle. With its extensive range of products, I believe Holland & Barrett is well placed to meet the demand from this fast-growing consumer base.”