Coach eyeing increased market presence in China

Coach IP Holdings LLC, the New York-headquartered fashion brand, will expand its market presence in China's cities at third-tier or lower and deploy more resources in online sales platforms during the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, its newly appointed global head said.

"For consumers in China, we have seen that they are intuitive about fashion and highly involved in social interactions. They have diversified preferences and demand better quality and brand connectivity," said Todd Kahn, CEO and president of Coach.

Attracted by the rising consumption power of middle-income earners and the rapid development and huge potential of second, third and fourth-tier cities, he said Coach, a brand owned by Tapestry, the parent company of Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, will increase the investment in various regional markets across China and have better interactions with consumers there to further raise brand popularity.

"While planning to expand our business in China, we are also conducting a comprehensive and in-depth research on the offshore duty-free policies and the development of the Hainan free trade port, including overall planning of supply chain, information streams, logistics streams and tax-free business operations," he noted.

By having a deeper understanding of these aspects, the US companies hopes to plan more forward-looking strategic support for the overall development of the group in the long term.

In addition to participating in the fourth China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November, Kahn said the company will also provide an omnichannel experience by continuously deepening its interactive initiatives to establish a stronger connection with consumers through empowerment programs, via partnerships with Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD,

Supported by the dual-circulation development paradigm-in which the domestic market is the mainstay and the domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other— China's increasingly open market has created an excellent business environment for investment and development for enterprises, he added.

"China's new growth paradigm also encourages us to accelerate the localization process in the country, actively promote consumer upgrades and digital innovation and embrace change and development, thereby continuously creating value," Kahn said.

Eager to seize more market share, Stuart Vevers, Coach's creative director, unveiled the company's winter collection at a runway show in Shanghai earlier this month.

Despite lingering uncertainties about the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 75 percent of companies from the United States remain optimistic on expanding their operations and earning profits in China over the next two years, according to a report released by the American Chamber of Commerce in China earlier in 2021.

Ding Yifan, a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Development at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said China's continuous opening-up, improved business environment and most of all its determination to expand the domestic market, are all encouraging multinationals to seek more business opportunities in China.