Vinexpo Daily 2018 - Review Edition

TRADE TALK
Mike Hu,
President, FMCG BU, Tmall, Alibaba group
and Stuart Barclay,
General Manager, Marketing, Wine Australia
Wine Australia Signs Chinese E-commerce
MoU with Alibaba
During Vinexpo 2018, Wine Australia
and Alibaba signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) to better
showcase Australian wine via Tmall.
The MoU complements Wine Australia’s
investment in China’s e-commerce sector
as part of the Australian Government’s
AU$50 million Export and Regional
Wine Support Package. Australia’s
Country of Honour role is one of
the major activities supported by the
package that aims to further drive
demand for Australian wine and to
build premium cues and consumer
engagement.
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and
Water Resources, Senator Anne Ruston,
said this strategic partnership is an
important and significant development
for the Australian wine sector: “With the
changing face of online retail in China,
it’s critical for our wineries to significantly
improve their online presence, and to
do so in the right way.”
Wine Australia Chief Executive Andreas
Clark said the signing of this MoU
recognised the strong engagement
of Chinese consumers in online
retail and their growing interest in
Australian wine. “Working with Tmall
will significantly enhance the ultimate
consumer engagement. By partnering
with Tmall, we can collaborate on
many aspects and activities that further
promote genuine Australian wine and
do so in a way that supports the integrity
of the brands.”
“It’s also an opportunity to educate
Alibaba staff about the quality and
diversity of Australia’s premium wines
through education and awareness
development”, he added
CHINA SETS
RETAIL TREND
The future of retail revealed by
Alibaba at Vinexpo Hong Kong
For wine producers from around the world, the
Chinese market represents new opportunities
with great potential. But the question always
remains as to how to enter the market. At
Vinexpo Hong Kong, Alibaba demonstrated the
most up-to-the-minute techniques for reaching
the end consumer, including the “store of the
future”.
China is systematically and rapidly doing
away with paper money and coins, and
people in major Chinese cities are using their
smartphones to pay for just about everything —
to pay rent, buy groceries, and even donate to
charity. Even buskers playing on the streets of a
number of Chinese cities have put up boards
with QR codes, so that passers-by can easily
transfer them tips directly.
Tmall.com is China’s premier online branded
shopping platform and the most visited businessto-consumer
(B2C) online retail website in
China. Today, Tmall is leveraging the power
of big data to achieve integration between
offline stores, merchandise, logistics and
payment tools with the ultimate aim of elevating
efficiency and overall consumer experience.
Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group said,
“New retail reimagines the relationship between
consumers, merchandise and retail space by
leveraging mobile Internet and big data. It will
upend the traditional manufacturing and supply
chain, the connection between merchant and
consumer, as well as the overall consumer
experience. Businesses will increasingly
embrace big data and new innovations to
better identify, reach, analyse and serve their
customers, and their digital transformation will
be empowered by Alibaba’s ecosystem.”
The Tmall system works by scanning labels at a
distance in order to calculate the total amount to
be paid, the store “recognises” the client, and
automatically debits his or her Alipay account
as they step outside.
In Tmall, an increasing number of flagship
stores of this kind are emerging each year.
Also interacting with all of Alibaba’s retail
venues, Tmall also cooperates with offline
hypermarkets. No matter where consumers are,
they can always access product information,
purchase goods, place orders online, and get
fast delivery.
It’s all powered by Alibaba’s data platform,
which integrates big data and the largest cloud
computing technologies to provide business
empowerment for overseas businesses. New
retail business elements are enhanced, including
traffic flow, products and logistics, enabling the
accurate identification of consumers and direct
communication
12 VINEXPO DAILY / REVIEW / TUESDAY 12 TH JUNE 2018