Alibaba ANZ MD Maggie Zhou looks at T2’s offering

Tea retailer, T2 Tea, has opened a flagship on Alibaba’s cross-border marketplace Tmall, as Chinese consumers appetite for international brands increases.

Both companies said the deal aligned with 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 has over 100 stores across five markets and first launched in Melbourne over 20 years ago. It has since grown to be one of the country’s largest premium tea and teaware brands. 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 percent to 3,700 this year.

Over 14,500 international brands from 63 countries and regions sell on Tmall Global. For over 80 percent of those brands, their Tmall Global virtual store was their first foray into the China market.

“The opening of T2 Tea’s Tmall Global store reflects the growing diversity in demand for premium Australian products,” said Maggie Zhou, managing director of Australia and New Zealand.

“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.”

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