Prada, the Italian luxurious fashion brand had just announced a partnership with Chinese Secoo. The partnership have the goal of luring more online customers to buy both Prada and Miumiu products on the platform. This is Prada’s first partnership with any Chinese e-commerce platform.
What is Secoo?
Secoo is different from other e-commerce platforms, though. As a content e-commerce platform, Secoo offers luxury to its customers. Not only fashion but also other goods and lifestyle products.
But it does not mean that it is the only luxury e-commerce platform in the country. Other bigger players such as TMall and JD.com had launched their own luxurious platform. Yet Secoo still on the lead.
Rixue Li founded Secoo back in 2008. As interest over luxury grows in China, his company attracted many investors. It raised a total of $380 million from 6 rounds of funding. L Catterton ASia and JD.com are the most recent investor of the luxurious platform.
in 2017, the company went public on Nasdaq under the ticker NASDAQ:SECO. It has $333 million of valuation at its IPO and has since raised $110.5 million from the IPO.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the company’s total order increased by 72% year-on-year to 945.200 orders. It also saw increase on the number of active customers by 79.9% with 406.000 customers. In addition, the total revenue rose to $260 million in that period.
Though this kind of partnership is the first for Prada, it is not so for Secoo. Previously, it has also joined a partnership with Italian luxury retailer, LuisaViaRoma. The partnership grant LuisaViaRoma an exclusive store in the Chinese platform homepage.
Prospect of luxury in Chinese market
The prospect of luxury goods in China keeps on growing big. Last year only, Chinese, both domestic and abroad, spent $114 billion on luxury goods. The number is one-third of the global sales. And it is to grow even bigger. In 2025, the market is expected to grow to$180, account for more than half the global growth.
