Tmall, China's largest business-to-consumer e-commerce platform, is getting into the outlet business. Designed to help brands accelerate their digital transformation, to liquidate stock and bring in a new source of revenue, Luxury Soho was unveiled on April 20. Named after the SoHo district in New York, the platform is a counterpart to Luxury Pavilion, which was introduced in 2017 and hosts a wide spectrum of luxury brands and retailers. Luxury Soho features quality products with competitive price points while protecting brands' premium images at their Luxury Pavilion stores. "Luxury brands have a specific product life cycle. As the main platform for brands' digital operation in China, Tmall provides solutions for different scenarios," said Weixiong Hu, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Tmall's apparel fashion business unit. "In the future, luxury brands can open two different types of stores on Tmall. The official flagship stores that focus on the new products of the season are stationed in Luxury Pavilion and the official outlet stores that focus on discounted products can be put under Luxury Soho." Tmall said it hopes this channel can be a gathering place for the fashion-loving but price-sensitive Millennials and Gen Z shoppers. There will be short-form videos, live-streams and product recommendation content from key opinion customers. Top-tier brands, media and influencers will also be able to share fashion information.

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