BRITISH Internet fashion retailer Net-A-Porter has snapped up luxury clothing website Shouke.com, giving it its first foothold in China's lucrative luxury e-commerce sector.
Net-A-Porter, a highly popular online emporium which sells designer brands including Burberry, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen online, said yesterday that it had purchased the website for an undisclosed sum.
Hong Kong-based Shouke will be renamed TheOutnet for its Chinese launch, the same as the European company's existing discount couture website, which it founded in 2009 offering cut-price designer brands.
Net-A-Porter said the website would launch on March 19 as TheOutnet.cn, to be followed by the launch of the Net-A-Porter.com site and iPad app in China, as well as MrPorter.com, its fledgeling men's luxury fashion portal, by the end of 2013.
"Asia is the fastest growing market in the world (for luxury e-commerce) and we want to be able to offer customers here the chance to sample the Net-a-Porter service," Mark Sebba, the group chief executive of Net-A-Porter, said.
The sale is a huge coup for start-up Shouke, which was founded a year ago by Hong Kong entrepreneur Adrienne Ma. Ma, the daughter of Joyce Ma, founder of the department store Joyce, will take on a central role in building Net-A-Porter's Asian business following the deal, becoming the vice president of the company's Asia-Pacific division.
Tian Baolong, co-founder of Shouke, will be Net-A-Porter's president for Asia Pacific, while Richard Chen, Shouke's CEO, will be the president of its Chinese operations.