The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
China-based KK Group, which focuses on mass market consumer goods popular with Gen Z consumers, recently closed a new $300 million funding round, led by JD.com, which values the business at $3 billion.
The group, which was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Dongguan, Guangzhou province, owns a number of retail chains in various sectors, including KK Pavilion, KKV, The Colorist and X11. Among them, multi-brand beauty retailer The Colorist and lifestyle shop KKV both have over 300 stores nationwide, while X11, its trendy toy retail space launched this year, opened its first flagship store in Shanghai.
The company’s focus on innovative offline retail concepts and youth focus has proven popular with investors, it has received seven rounds of financing, totalling 4.17 billion yuan ($645.07 million) since 2016.
Dada Nexus, a logistics company owned by JD.com, announced a strategic partnership with The Colorist last month, providing the latter with an integrated offline and online inventory and logistics solution, as well as one-hour delivery of beauty products to 178 of its stores.
The strategic investment by JD.com is widely seen by analysts as a further development in the collaboration between one of China’s biggest e-commerce players and a fast-growing offline upstart.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.