Kering’s Luxury House Balenciaga Launches On China’s JD.com

September 3, 2024 saw the Kim Kardashian-fronted luxury house Balenciaga open its official flagship on the Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com. The brand’s arrival shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. A string of names in Kering’s stable have launched on the e-tailer recently—from Gucci to Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent—in a bid to access the site’s 600 million customers.

JD.com has access to the Fall/Winter 2024 lineup, which includes a range of ready-to-wear as well as shoes, accessories, bags, and leather goods, not to mention exclusive dibs on Balenciaga’s much-anticipated Stapler sneaker debut. The house will also participate in major promotional campaigns including JD.com’s Singles’ Day events.

Already the site hosts 90% of the most celebrated names in global luxury. A spokesperson for the platform was keen to express its enthusiasm with the scoop: “This launch is a testament to JD Fashion’s commitment to becoming China’s premier destination for stylish, global fashion,” they shared in a correspondence. It was also divulged that, following JD.com’s plan to invest RMB 1 billion in apparel, the business is poised to enhance the platform’s capabilities to ensure its customers enjoy “unparalleled access to the latest and most exclusive fashion offerings.”

While JD.com’s fashion division has grown consistently in its product offerings, brands, and third-party merchants — as well as boasting record levels of demand at the 618 Shopping Festival, where orders were placed by over 500 million consumers — the drop will help cement the platform’s luxury credentials. And comes amid fierce competition from domestic rivals as well as weakening consumer sentiment.

Less than a decade ago, JD.com only had Alibaba Group to compete with. Now, with China’s ecosystem dramatically transformed, it must jostle for space in a crowded playing field that includes players such as Tmall, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Kuaishou. Even Pinduoduo has caught up with its user base volume.

Indeed, despite the odd outlier like Miu Miu or, say, Brunello Cucinelli, China sales have continued to slide. Mounting economic headwinds have meant that luxury brand earnings have dampened, troubling C-suites and boardrooms. JD.com meanwhile has re-engaged its visibility in the west, namely at London Fashion Week (LFW). Previously, online retailer supported the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2017. It sponsored Chinese brand Feng Chen Wang to showcase on the schedule during 2020 and launched a series of videos at LFW’s digital event featuring supermodel Hu Bing the same year.

This upcoming season, it returns to the schedule with a showcase featuring Hazzys, sportswear giant Ellassay, Marisfrolg, and Pure Tea.

In China, the athletics-inspired sneaker drop aims to cash in on more of the Olympics buzz that Balenciaga and JD.com have been chasing. The house invited tennis superstar Zheng Qinwen to her May couture show in Shanghai before dressing her for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar—Zheng is now one of the faces to know from the games. similarly, Mr. Zhanle (winner of the men’s swimming 100M freestyle final) was the label’s cover star for May’s SoFigaro China edition.

In June, it was back to basics with more obvious ambassadors: popular actress and singer Yang Chaoyue featured in a campaign shot by Mario Sorrenti with the convex Hourglass handbag. The same month, Balenciaga debuted a tongue-in-cheek collaboration with China’s fintech giant Alipay—a simple t-shirt with the Chinese character zhi retailing for $650.

Who knows what the house will come up with for JD.com?