Adidas opens first official e-retail site in China

Athletic footwear manufacturer Adidas Group today opened up a flagship online store on Taobao Mall, China s massive e-commerce marketplace. The store will serve as the retailer s lone official online retail channel in China.

"We are proud to be partnering with Taobao for the official launch of our flagship Adidas online store, says Christophe Bezu, managing director of Adidas Group in China. This special initiative addresses our Chinese consumers' changing lifestyle needs and we will now be able to provide them with an official online shopping channel to purchase authentic and even exclusive products at their own convenience."

The Adidas Group in China will operate the Adidas online store, which will initially carry more than 200 Adidas products. The retailer plans to increase the selection to 800 SKUs in the near future.

The Taobao Mall, which launched in April 2008, also features online storefronts for retailers such as Proctor & Gamble, Dell, Kohler Co. and Samsung.

All retailers on the site are required to offer consumers stringent customer satisfaction and consumer protection measures such as a seven-day, no-questions-asked returns.

Taobao, owned by Alibaba Group, says it has more than 400 million product listings at any given time, and serves more than 210 million registered users.