Victoria’s Secret tries out ‘See Now, Buy Now’ at Shanghai show

Victoria’s Secret has brought its fashion show to Shanghai, with Alibaba Group’s Tmall and Taobao marketplaces and video-streaming site Youku used as broadcast channels to reach consumers.

In addition to locating the event in China, the first time it has been held outside of the US or Europe, the company leveraged the “See Now, Buy Now” format. All items seen on the runway, aside from those not yet released in the market, were available for immediate purchase as Chinese shoppers watched the show, through the Tmall or Taobao mobile apps and dedicated links to products that were included on the Youku viewing page. “Part of Alibaba’s mission is to find the most innovative and effective ways to engage Chinese consumers, and the See Now, Buy Now model is one of the best examples we have yet,” says Chris Tung, Alibaba Group’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The plan was always to make these innovations available to global brands looking to do business in China. So it’s great to see it being adopted by companies like Victoria’s Secret.”

Filmed last week at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the show aired on 28th November at 10:00 p.m. EST on CBS, as well as 29th November at 11:00 a.m. Beijing time in China. The air date coincided with Victoria’s Secret’s Super Brand Day marketing campaign on Tmall, the lingerie brand’s sole e-commerce channel in China. Victoria’s Secret officially launched its Tmall flagship store in July, while introducing faster delivery services and branded packaging to its customers. It has since been tapping into Alibaba’s digital-marketing tools to better reach the 500 million-plus mobile active users on its e-commerce platforms. “The China market is too big and too important for us not to own it,” Leslie Wexner, Chairman and CEO at L Brands, which owns Victoria Secret, said in the group’s latest annual report. “Our opportunity for growth in China is very large…we are building the organisation needed to support accelerated growth.”