Marimekko teams up with DSV to tackle e-commerce in China

Danish logistics company DSV announced a new partnership with Marimekko last week, as the Finnish clothing company works to build its e-commerce market in China.

Marimekko has had stores in China since 2012, Remco Enders, General Manager in North China, told Air Cargo World, but they want to go directly to consumers now by setting up the brand on e-commerce platforms like Alibaba.

“Marimekko e-commerce reaches customers in 31 countries, but we started from scratch with e-commerce in China,” Marimekko’s Global Logistics Manager Jani Rantonen said in a press release.

Most consumers in China prefer going to e-commerce platforms over visiting a company’s website, according to Enders, where he said 80% of consumers will ask the seller a question about the product before purchasing it. DSV, he said, is offering Marimekko the “full package” of services they need to operate on these platforms.

Besides final mile delivery and order handling, the logistics company will also take care of return flow, which includes making sure the returned products are legitimate and not fakes – something Enders said is an issue in Chinese commerce. DSV will sew Chinese labels into Marimekko’s fashion goods before importing them into the country as well.

DSV started focusing on e-commerce and the fashion industry in 2017 in an effort to diversify its “industry and service portfolio,” Enders said. More recently, the company has continued to expand. DSV announced in April that it would acquire Swiss forwarding company Panalpina for $4.6 billion, which would make it one of the largest logistics companies in the world. It also announced in April that it will build its largest hub in northern Europe; the four planned facilities will grant it better access to Scandinavia, where Marimekko is based.

The company’s Q1 earnings this year rose 20.5% before interest and taxes (EBIT) to US$150 million and the company reported a 5% growth in airfreight volumes, reaching 170,000 tonnes. Gross profit in the air segment grew 11.6% to $184.8 million.