THE WHAT? The Alibaba group is set to take up to 10 percent in the world’s largest duty free company Dufry as part of a new Joint Venture, in a move that will help it capitalize on the Chinese travel retail market. 

THE DETAILS Alibaba will own a 51 percent stake of the JV while Dufry will take 49 percent. 

According to a press release the collaboration aims to allow the two companies to ‘jointly explore and invest in opportunities in China to develop the travel retail business and to enhance Dufry’s digital transformation.’

As part of the JV, Dufry will contribute its existing travel retail business in China, while also offering supply chain and operation support, while Alibaba will take up to 9.99 percent in Dufry.

Julian Diaz, Dufry Group CEO, “We highly value this partnership with Alibaba Group to form a strategic Joint Venture to explore growth opportunities and develop the travel retail business in China. We expect this collaboration to drive growth in Asia and with Chinese customers worldwide with the support of new digital technologies.
“Alibaba Group is a leader in digital commerce with an ecosystem of more than 800 million consumers in China. Dufry holds a leading position in travel retail globally and brings in its strong operational expertise in 65 countries and over 2,500 shops.”

WHY? With China’s economy bouncing back from the impact of COVID-19, it’s one of the few travel retail markets making ground, as countries worldwide get hit with a second wave of the virus. 

Allowing both Alibaba and Dufry to capitalize on this rejuvenation, Diaz continued, “By fostering existing and new business models in offline and online travel retail, we are convinced the Joint Venture will capitalize on growth opportunities and will support Dufry to become the leading digital travel retail company worldwide. We aim to better serve our customers and provide them anywhere with global products, services and personalized offers across all platforms and devices.”