Member Article

Arsenal are looking to corner the Chinese market with latest signing

Premier League football club Arsenal are looking to further extend their reach into the Chinese market following an expansion of their existing partnership with BNN Technology.

The London-listed Chinese technology company, which provides a range of tech and content services, has announced that the North London club has signed a deal to create and operate an online Arsenal FC store in China through B2C marketplace Tmall.

As a result of the deal, BNN become Arsenal’s Official Tmall Retail Partner and will develop and operate the store with their technology partner Harbin Tengcai Science & Technology Company.

The store itself will stock a range of official Arsenal branded merchandise including this season’s replica kit and Puma training wear, with BNN taking 80% of all revenues and the remainder going to its tech partner.

The Alibaba-owned Tmall represented over 56% of Chinese retail ecommerce sales last year, dwarfing those of its nearest rival.

China’s booming middle class are driving major growth in the Chinese market’s ecommerce sales, posing significant opportunities for global brands such as Arsenal who have identified the Far East as a major growth area.

Darren Mercer, Chief Executive of BNN Technology, said: “We are very excited to be expanding and extending our commercial relationship with Arsenal, developing a three-way e-commerce initiative which we believe presents a longer term opportunity to market directly to Alibaba’s 454 million users.

“Our ability to combine Arsenal’s strong brand and fan base with Tmall’s huge B2C reach and BNN’s robust technology platform clearly demonstrates the strength of the Group’s strategy in football.”