UK's Ailux and JD.com in deal for luxe brands in China, Savile Row names sign up

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 24, 2022

Asia Independent Luxury Group (Ailux), a UK-based business “focused on providing boutique luxury brands with access to the Chinese market”, has entered into a partnership with one of the biggest Chinese names — e-tailer JD.com. 

Ailux and JD’s deal will give smaller European luxury brands “access to 550 million active consumers in the world’s biggest luxury goods market”, we’re told. 

To do this, the UK firm will work with JD to create a bespoke storefront on JD Worldwide, the company’s international e-commerce marketplace. It will be branded as Barclay Street Overseas Flagship Store (Ailux’s co-founder is Myles Barclay) and it will open later this year to “provide access to a wide range of high-quality British and European products”.

Lin Chen VP of Platform Business at JD.com said: “Luxury fashion products are leading products in cross-border consumption. The UK and the whole of Europe are important regions for JD Worldwide to grow its fashion product categories.” 

Ailux said it has “received letters of intent from several of the UK’s leading boutique luxury brands, including a number of iconic Savile Row brands”.

The brands will get “seamless and accelerated access to the Chinese market” and will be able to start selling on the JD storefront in “just three to four weeks”, which is much faster than they’d be able to do it acting independently. They’ll also get full-service support spanning distribution, bespoke marketing campaigns and sales.

On JD’s part, its UK and EU-based International Logistics teams will work with Ailux “to provide end to end solutions, leveraging JD’s global supply chain network services for international merchants”.

That’s a key part of the deal given that JD has 80 bonded warehouses and overseas warehouses globally and the International Logistics operation has been providing services to 220 countries and regions.

Myles Barclay said the deal is “a transformational step towards opening the doors of the largest luxury goods market in the world to a variety of Europe’s finest boutique brands. Our collaboration will significantly lower the barriers to entry for those brands, and give Chinese consumers unprecedented access to some of the UK and Europe’s finest craftsmanship.”