International Olympic Committee gets first Olympic online store in China via Alibaba partnership

Alibaba has built a Tmall shop for the International Olympics Committee (IOC) as part of its 10-year agreement to digitise the games.

The online store is the first online store of the IOC in China, allowing fans to buy official Olympics products developed for the store.

According to Alibaba, this is a precursor to building a major global online e-commerce platform for the games, which will sell merchandise ahead of Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Chris Tung, Alibaba Group chief marketing officer, said: “The launch of the first Olympic store on Alibaba’s Tmall is an important milestone in our long-term partnership with the IOC. We are proud to leverage Alibaba’s technology and ecosystem to provide more opportunities for Chinese fans to celebrate the heritage of the Games and join in the excitement for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. We look forward to our continued collaboration with the IOC to connect more fans in China and from around the world to the Olympic Movement in the digital era.”

For Chinese fans, three licensing collections will be created. The Olympic Games Collection will include branded products from the Beijing 2022 and Tokyo 2020 Games, such as pins and apparel, The Olympic Heritage Collection will feature products with art and design elements with a focus on heritage, while the Olympic Collection will target a young and active audience through sports equipment and toys.

Since it announced the partnership earlier this year, Alibaba launched it’s plans at the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, while it has since announced plans to help digitise the broadcasting around future games.

Source: The Drum

  Alibaba, China, Digital, Entertainment, IOC, Marketing, Olympic Games, Olympics, Retail, Sponsorship, Technology, Tmall, Tokyo 2020