Ester Uriol
El Corte Inglés
ester_uriol@elcorteingles.es
Miriam Forte
Alibaba Group
m.forte@alibaba-inc.com
Madrid, Spain and Hangzhou, China, November 29, 2018 - El Corte Inglés, Europe’s largest department store in turnover, and Alibaba Group, leading global technology company, today announced the signing of a letter of intent to develop a close cooperation in the fields of commerce and retail, cloud computing services, digital innovation and smart payments. The two companies kicked off this collaboration framework outlining areas in which their respective business units and affiliates, including Tmall, Alibaba Cloud, Alipay and AliExpress, will cooperate and develop a number of relevant initiatives.
As part of this comprehensive arrangement, the two companies have agreed to explore a number of cooperation initiatives in order to progress their respective omnichannel plans by combining and getting the best of both physical and online worlds – powered by digital innovation.
Main joint initiatives and projects to be explored include:
Cloud computing and innovation
Commerce
Smart payments
According to Victor del Pozo, CEO of El Corte Inglés, “this agreement will allow us to combine both the physical and online worlds, in order to offer the best shopping experience to our customers. Together, we are writing the future and placing ourselves at the forefront of trade and technology. El Corte Inglés owns department stores in the best locations of the main cities of Spain and Portugal, and is granted with the confidence and trust of national and international customers. All of this, joined to Alibaba’s technology, will allow us to offer a proposal of unbeatable value.”
Rodrigo Cipriani Foresio, Managing Director for Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece at Alibaba Group and business development General Manager of Tmall in Europe, commented: “We are delighted to have signed this comprehensive letter of intent with a leading international retailer such as El Corte Inglés, involving four of our business units. We are looking forward to joining forces with them to provide consumers in China and worldwide with the greatest products and experience. As a global technology company, digital transformation and innovation in all fields are fundamental drivers of Alibaba's mission of making it easy to do business anywhere, with the ultimate goal of better serving our consumers and stakeholders worldwide, today and tomorrow. Hence, we are confident that the expertise and skills brought by both companies will generate incredible value and opportunities as the cooperation takes shape.”
About El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés is Europe’s biggest chain of department stores and a reference in retail in Spain. Since it opened in 1940, the Group has remained faithful to its belief in customer service and a constant quest to meet society’s tastes and changing needs. It set out to be an establishment where the customer could find all sorts of products and services. El Corte Inglés has created a pioneering and unique business model and purchasing style, based on its slogan "the store for all your purchases". Its business success has led it to a policy of diversifying and creating new formats, launching into the sale of a large variety of consumer products.
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere and the company aims to achieve sustainable growth for 102 years. For fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, the company reported revenues of US$39.9 billion.
Ester Uriol
El Corte Inglés
ester_uriol@elcorteingles.es
Miriam Forte
Alibaba Group
m.forte@alibaba-inc.com