IOC's First Online Store Launches On TOP Partner Alibaba's Tmall

The IOC and its worldwide TOP partner, Alibaba Group, announced that the first official Olympic online store launched on Tmall, China's largest e-commerce platform, according to XINHUA. The Olympic store on Tmall offers official products of three Olympic core licensing collections -- the Olympic Games Collection, the Olympic Heritage Collection and the Olympic Collection. IOC Dir of TV & Marketing Timo Lumme said, "The launch was made possible thanks to the support of our worldwide Olympic partner Alibaba's technology and expertise" (XINHUA, 12/16). The new Olympic store will be initially available to Chinese fans on Tmall, with plans to eventually create a global e-commerce platform for fans in other parts of the world. In Jan. '17, Alibaba and the IOC reached a long-term strategic partnership. The launch of the IOC store coincided with the second annual Tmall Winter Festival, an ongoing online and offline retail event from Sunday-Tuesday (Alibaba).