This way museums expect to attract millennials
Popular online marketplace partners museums. Source: shutterstock.com
Taobao Marketplace will partner with Chinese museums and heritage sites on designing merchandise, branding, and sales to help these stalwarts of the past reach the most modern of consumers: China’s millennials.
The Alibaba Group-owned site said it would match cultural institutions with designers and manufacturers in its ecosystem to create custom products for young Chinese consumers, based on their art, artifacts and other intellectual property assets.
Taobao will also provide consumer insights and consultation on choosing the best IP for merchandising, as well as marketing support, such as exposure at Alibaba’s annual celebration of China’s young creative class, the Taobao Maker Festival, the site said.
Museums are experiencing a renaissance among China’s younger generation, thanks to the creative marketing campaigns from museums, such as Beijing’s National Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City. Chinese consumers are also increasingly interested in exploring their own heritage and culture, per the market research firm Mintel’s 2018 The Chinese Consumer report.
Taobao said its first group of “national treasure” partners will launch new crossover products every week, starting May 29. Taobao plans to expand the program to over 100 partners in the next three years, as well as explore new product areas such as food, electronics, and home accessories.
