Macy's
In touch with Chinese consumers
Ohio-based Macy's has also acquired a stake in omei.com's parent company VIPStore Co. by making a $15 million investment. However, it is not alone in doing so; Intel's venture capital provider Intel Capital too, has acquired a stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm.
Through the deal with VIPStore, Macy's is hoping to gain experience in the fast-growing Chinese online market, and the deal should help it understand Chinese consumers better and how receptive they are to Macy's offerings. The retailer is slated to roll out a collection of I.N.C. women's and men's fashions next year. The rest of its brands will follow soon after.
Chinese online boom
The parent company of Bloomingdale, however, is not the first U.S. retailer to take such a step. I had earlier spoken about Wal-Mart's
Coming back to Macy's, it's fresh off a strong quarter during which profits jumped 38%, helped by a 33.7% rise in online sales. Macy's has, in fact, outperformed its peers in the U.S. as well. During its recent earnings release, the company said it was benefiting from peer J.C. Penney's
Given Macy's strong performance and the strength of its online sales, surely, the move to enter the Chinese online market couldn't have come at a better time.
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