VF Corp. teams with Tmall Innovation Centre for data-driven insights

VF Corp., parent company of Vans, The North Face and Timberland, is stepping up its collaboration with Alibaba Group’s B2C e-commerce marketplace Tmall.

The US apparel and footwear giant is looking to target Chinese shoppers, identify category growth opportunities and tailor product designs and assortment through a series of data-driven initiatives. This builds on previous collaborations between VF and the Tmall Innovation Centre, the platform’s product development arm, which covered trend discovery, consumer research, new product pre-launch testing and post-launch performance tracking. VF was the first apparel company to work with TMIC, starting in 2017.

“We’re very excited to partner with TMIC to further unleash the power of consumer insights and analytics,” says David Wagner, Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Growth Platforms at VF Corp. “TMIC’s data-driven insights have enabled VF brands to better serve the Chinese customers, who make up one of the most important markets for our business and brands.”