Burberry brings London to Shanghai

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Apr 25, 2014

On Thursday evening, April 24, Burberry brought London to Shanghai. The occasion marked the opening of a new high-tech store, a new e-commerce agreement and the brand’s renewed commitment to market for which it rightly has great expectations.

It was a spectacular evening, bringing some 1,500 guests - including a long list of local celebrities – intended to mark the beginning of long-term investment in China and the end of a transformative year for Burberry’s presence in Shanghai.

The English group, which in 2010 bought out retail operations from its Chinese franchises (50 stores at the time) for more than 70 million pounds, now has 36 stores across the country.

Over the course of the last 12 months, the brand has opened four stores in Shanghai, including the latest located in the Kerry Centre (photo). The store offers those visiting the metropolis a high-tech concept replica of the Burberry Retail Theater in London, with no less than 40 video screens and 130 speakers located throughout the store.

Besides the flagship’s official inauguration, Thursday evening’s festivities also celebrated the signing of a strategic agreement between Burberry and Alibaba Group Holdings. Burberry has just opened an online store on Alibaba-owned Tmall.com, the Chinese locally targeted e-commerce platform with state-of-the-art features and very unique distance sales practices.

English artists Ed Harcourt, George Ezra and Paloma Faith took to the stage in performances showcasing Burberry’s trench coats as well as its lines Burberry beauty and Burberry tailoring. A troupe of dancers dressed in Burberry trenches presented choreography that celebrated the sartorial spirit of London.

The show stopped, however, when Cara Delevingne, the brand’s British muse, came flying through the air across enormous movie screen displaying images of the two cities.

"This is a hugely significant moment for the Burberry brand,” said the chief creative officer and future CEO of the group, Christopher Bailey. “This evening’s experience was a magical, immersive journey through our Burberry brand. Blurring the physical with the digital, it merged fashion, dance, with music, craftsmanship and artistry. It connected our worlds from London to Shanghai.”