US-headquartered Costco Wholesale has launched its flagship store on Alibaba’s B2C site Tmall.
Costco will offer almost 800 products to customers in China, from furniture and electronics to food and health goods.
The expansion comes three years after Costco began selling its goods in China through Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce channel Tmall Global.
“Tmall Global has become the premier testing ground for leading international brands and retailers like Costco,” Alvin Liu, the site’s general manager, told Alibaba’s news site Alizila. “Doing well on Tmall Global and opening flagship stores on Tmall help them establish strong footprint in China and further prepare for setting up offline stores.”
Alizila has reported that opening its store on Tmall gives Costco a license to potentially open a bricks-and-mortar store in China in the future.
