Real Madrid football club announced Sunday that they have signed a deal with Alibaba to sell merchandise in China. Real Madrid has setup a store on Alibaba’s Tmall platform. The deal was announced as the Spanish club touched down in China for a six-day tour. Real Madrid is scheduled to play Inter Milan on Monday and AC Milan on Thursday.
Alibaba’s attempts to woo international brands bearing fruit
Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez said the deal with Alibaba will help the club strengthen its business in China. The 10-time winner of the Champions League has now become the second major European club to open stores on Tmall after Bayern Munich of Germany. According to the agreement, Real Madrid will be selling shoes, jerseys, and casual wear in China. Alibaba hoped to bring more Real Madrid-branded commodities to its users.
Alibaba has been attracting a lot of international brands lately as it tries to curb the sales of fake goods. Last week, the British-Dutch FMCG giant Unilever forged a partnership with Alibaba to reach more Chinese consumers. Alibaba will help Unilever reach rural Chinese consumers. The FMCG company would also get to use Alibaba’s online marketing platform Alimama and its cloud business to improve its advertising strategy.
Earlier this year, the Chinese e-commerce giant was criticized by the state regulator and international brands for turning a blind eye on the sale of counterfeit goods on its platforms. In May, French luxury brand Kering had filed a lawsuit against the Hangzhou-based company for letting merchants sell counterfeit versions of its branded items on Taobao and Tmall.
Alibaba to report Q1 results on August 12
The e-commerce giant has taken a series of steps to curb the sales of fake goods in the past few months. And major international brands setting up stores on its sites suggests that they have realized its efforts.
Alibaba is scheduled to report its fiscal Q1 results on August 12 after the market closes. Wedbush Securities analyst Gil Luria said last week that the company would easily exceed the Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Alibaba to post 59 cents in EPS on revenues of $3.40 billion.
