CHINA. China Duty Free Group (CDFG) and The Estée Lauder Companies have signed a breakthrough cooperation agreement for the travel retailer’s CDF Member WeChat mini-program.
The American beauty powerhouse will bring 13 renowned brands to the mini-program. It will open independent Brand Halls embracing the beauty, skincare, and fragrance categories that will offer broad consumer groups a diverse range of their beauty needs.
The brands signed up are Estée Lauder, La Mer, M·A·C, Clinique, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty, Bobbi Brown, Origins, Darphin, Lab Series, Kilian Paris, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle and Dr.Jart+.
The agreement represents a comprehensive digital marketing cooperation, CDFG said.
CDFG noted The Estée Lauder Companies’ long-standing commitment to the China market, which it entered with the Clinique and Estée Lauder brands in 1993.
“The Estée Lauder Companies has always been committed to creating the most beautiful, quality and elegant experience, an approach which has won the trust and love of Chinese consumers,” CDFG said.
The two partners have long focused on a “win-win” cooperation within the growing travel retail sector, the company added. This has enabled a vibrant, high-end consumption experience integrating travel, vacation, shopping and leisure, CDFG said.
The Estée Lauder Companies has begun the design and development of each Brand Hall, which will be officially launched in the near future.
Commenting on the cooperation, a spokesperson from CDFG’s marketing department said: “Digital development is the future trend of the global travel retail industry. In recent years, travel retailers and brands have increased their investment in digital platform construction, data analysis, digital marketing etc, and have established dedicated digital teams to focus on this key area.
“CDFG’s member traffic value and digital marketing capabilities are helping the supply chain within China’s travel retail channels to upgrade from the traditional 1.0 ‘purchasing and marketing’ model to the ‘purchasing and marketing + digital marketing’ 2.0 model.
“The Estée Lauder group represents the high end of the global duty free industry. As the travel retail leader in the beauty category, the arrival of their 13 brands affirms the industry’s recognition of CDFG’s member traffic value and our digital marketing capabilities. It also strengthens our confidence in continuous digital transformation and enhancement.”
The retailer described the CDF Member mini-program as an important step in its digital development.
Having launched version 1.0 in November 2020, as of August 2022 the platform has nearly 10 million free memberships. Maximum daily active users has reached 350,000, which CDFG said represents the largest and most popular audience in the travel retail industry.
CDFG said that ‘Precision’ is one of the core values of its mini-program. Users of the mini-program are CDF members who have registered on the platform and have travelled overseas and to Hainan. In addition, they are on the mini-program for a very clear and specific reason—they plan to shop in CDF’s physical or online stores. In other words, these users are precisely the target customers that brands want to market to.
CDFG said that in recent years it has been continuously reviewing its members’ needs. Based on high-standard service requirements, the company has striven to constantly enhance its membership mini-programs.
In September 2021, CDFG’s front-end and back-end systems were comprehensively upgraded and optimised. This led to the release of the 3.0 version of CDF Member mini-program, bolstered by the launch of ‘CDF Super-buyers’ and ‘CDF Brands’ – two content-sharing platforms.
By inviting brands and CDF member KOLs to join the platforms, CDFG hopes to encourage its brand partners and members to produce and share high-quality travel shopping content.
Through the ‘CDF Community’ content aggregation and sharing platform, brands and CDF members can share the pleasure of travel shopping, while brand values and heritage can be easily communicated. Through the 3.0 version of the mini-program, members can also check their reward points, book VIP transportation, learn about promotions, receive shopping vouchers, watch livestreams, and participate in lucky draws and other activities.
The CDF Member mini-program has also become an important sales and marketing tool for brand owners. Several brand houses and individual brands including Beam Suntory, Bacardi and Glenfiddich have opened Brand Halls, where they share brand stories, selected products and special offers.
Brands can also conduct precise and targeted marketing— such as promotional information and lucky draws—in different sections of the mini-program, or soft marketing on the ‘CDF Community’ platform through content sharing and livestream.
In June The Moodie Davitt Report launched a new quarterly eZine called The Moodie Davitt China Travel Retail Report. The cover story was dedicated to China Tourism Group. Click on the image to read the bi-lingual title. The next edition will be published in October and will feature a comprehensive follow-up on CTG Duty-Free’s Global Offering and Hong Kong secondary listing. Please email Kristyn@MoodieDavittReport.com for a free first year subscription.
