Australian tea retailer, T2 Tea, and Tmall Global have announced the opening of a flagship T2 Tea Tmall Global store.
The company announced its launching of the brand at a ceremony at T2 Tea’s flagship store, T2 Emporium. The event was attended by Nicole Sparshott, T2 Global CEO and Maggie Zhou, managing director of Australia and New Zealand of Alibaba Group. Guests enjoyed a tea tasting and demonstrations of the hero products to be featured on the Tmall Global store.
“The opening of T2 Tea’s Tmall Global store reflects the growing diversity in demand for premium Australian products,” said Maggie Zhou. “We’re excited to be working with such an iconic Australian brand to help them expand on the success they’ve already seen in Australia.”
Serving as the platform to access savvy, discerning and demanding customers, T2 Tea’s partnership with Tmall Global aims to bring a premium e-commerce experience to Chinese consumers, with both companies aligned in their strategies to capitalise on cross border e-commerce opportunities.
“It’s T2’s curiosity for taking the ancient tradition of tea culture in China and giving it a modern twist that we think is both intriguing and exciting for the Chinese consumer,” said Nicole Sparshott, T2 Global CEO. “For a company that came from humble beginnings in Melbourne, launching on Tmall Global marks a key milestone in our mission to build a generation of tea lovers on every continent.”
A curated range of products will be available via the cross-border e-commerce platform including homegrown tea blends such as T2 Tea’s Bondi tea, which tastes of Australian summer with lemon myrtle and native berries.
T2 Tea first launched in Melbourne more than 20 years ago. With initial success entering Asia, T2 Tea opened its first store in January 2017 and now has four stores in Singapore.
Tmall Global, which enables international brands to sell online directly to Chinese consumers, saw the number of imported product categories on the platform climb nearly 50 per cent to 3,700 this year. More than 14,500 international brands from 63 countries and regions sell on Tmall Global. For more than 80 per cent of those brands, their Tmall Global virtual store was their first foray into the China market.
