(Italian) wine sales day in China
Alibaba’s role in promoting Made in Italy in China
Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced that a new sales day devoted exclusively to deals on wine and dubbed 9/9 is to be held online in China on 9 September.
It goes without saying that the Chinese tycoon has taken inspiration from China's "singles day", on 11 November, which emulated the American Black Friday and generated an impressive rise in terms of online shopping in China.
Differently from what happened last November, it is realistic to expect for the coming September a substantial boost in terms of Italian wine sales.
It is not a coincidence that Mr Ma has opted for September the 9th: in Chinese, this number is pronounced as "jiu", which means alcohol, longevity and health, and nine, of course. With Alibaba committed to offer a variety of online retail options on this day, Italian wine sellers are strongly recommended to approach the company to promote their products.
Although Italian wine producers won't be the only ones to take advantage of Alibaba wine sales day, it is important to highlight that thanks to Alibaba Italian food & beverages companies are becoming quite popular in China.
A couple of weeks ago the Chinese website has launched "Amazing Italy", an entirely (virtual) Italian Pavilion to promote the Made in Italy products among Chinese consumers. More than 60 Italian companies have participated in this festival of (Italian) shopping on the main Alibaba B2C platforms, such as Tmall.com, JuHuaSuan and AliTrip, Tmall supermarket and Tmall global. More than 1000 Italian products have been advertised, from food to wine and delicatessen, from vacation packages to Italy to fashion and accessories, from beauty to household and children's products.
Alibaba as recently chosen Italy as the first place where to open its first European office. At the moment, the company is not interested in expanding it the Italian market. Its priority is the one of commercializing more and more Italian products in China, where Made in Italy is a precious status symbol.
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