Alibaba Group & Dufry reinforce China alliance and enhance Dufry’s digital transformation

SWITZERLAND/CHINA. At a key meeting held at Dufry headquarters in Basel, Switzerland on 3 December, Alibaba B2C Business Group President Liu (Alvin) Peng, and Dufry CEO Xavier Rossinyol reinforced the strategic joint venture struck between the two parties in late 2020.

The joint venture aims to develop growth opportunities in China’s duty free and duty paid business and support Dufry’s digital development globally.

The high-level meeting was also joined by Ms. Li Lei, Director, Head of European Business Development Alibaba B2C Business Group;  Nicolas Cano, Head of Business Development Tmall Luxury; Dufry Global Chief Corporate Officer Luis Marin; Dufry Chief Commercial Officer Andrea Belardini; and Dufry Vice-President Transformation APAC Chris Wang.

Alibaba B2C Business Group President Liu (Alvin) Peng and Dufry CEO Xavier Rossinyol (right) celebrate the further consolidation of a thriving partnership

As a first result of the joint venture established in October 2020, Dufry together with Alibaba and license holder Hainan Provincial Development Holdings (HDH) successfully opened the Global Premium Duty Free (GDF) Plaza at the Mova Mall complex in Hainan’s capital city Haikou in January 2021.

Mova Mall’s 38,920sq m of retail space offers customers an attractive selection of internationally renowned brands and local premium labels covering all core categories such as perfume & cosmetics, food and confectionery, wine & spirits,  sunglasses, and top luxury and lifestyle brands. The collaboration also includes the implementation of related online channels.

In the context of the digital collaboration, Alibaba has designed and developed a new digital user experience interface tailored to Chinese consumers.

The new mini-App for Dufry, which provides the functionality of an -commerce platform, allows Dufry to engage with Chinese travellers through key Chinese digital ecosystems such as Alipay and to connect them to its preorder system Reserve & Collect, as well as its customer loyalty platform Red By Dufry.

The App, which has just been launched at Dufry’s operations in Macau, will be available in Hong Kong before Chinese New Year 2023, and will be deployed across other Dufry locations with high levels of Chinese travellers going forward.

The parties said that the new mini-App is an ideal tool to accelerate ecommerce traffic generation and increase Dufry’s perception within the Chinese traveller community. It will also offer Dufry’s brand partners an additional media channel to target travellers effectively.

Building on the successful delivery of these specific initiatives, Alibaba and Dufry agreed to explore further opportunities to develop consumer-facing digital solutions to enhance connectivity with travellers pre-, during and post trip, as well as to enhance data-driven personalised targeting.

Xavier Rossinyol said, “Dufry is very satisfied with the development and the achievements of the joint venture. I would like to thank Alibaba and its management team for their considerable support in developing these important digital platforms, and we are looking forward to continuing to identify new collaboration opportunities.”

A meeting of minds: Dufry CEO Xavier Rossinyol (fourth from left) and Alibaba B2C Business Group President Liu (Alvin) Peng (centre) are joined by senior colleagues

Liu Peng said, I am really glad to meet the Dufry team face to face again after two years to discuss the strategy of our joint venture.

Currently, China’s duty free market is  growing fast and has huge potential. Long queues of customers can be seen frequently in duty free shops in China. Dufry and Alibaba shall continue to strengthen our partnership to develop the China duty free market. As a strategic partner of Dufry’s global digitalisation strategy, I am looking forward to support this initiative through more and more innovative cooperation on the digital front.”

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