Givaudan, the global specialist in flavor creation, has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with Tmall, Alibaba Group's online consumer e-commerce (B2C) platform, to launch the T-Lab source innovation lab and seize digital opportunities in flavor creation in China.
The T-Lab source innovation lab will leverage Givaudan's cutting-edge flavor creation solutions and production capabilities in China, amplified by Tmall's consumer behavior data capabilities and partner ecosystem.
Maurizio Volpi, President of Parfums et Beauté: "This collaboration with Tmall in China is a major step forward in our commitment to promote digital innovation in the fragrance industry. This type of initiative is essential to Givaudan's 2025 strategy: broadening and deepening strategic relationships with suppliers, start-ups and partners, while enhancing collaboration and co-creation with customers to design innovative solutions for the future. Access to Tmall's consumer data will enable us to stay ahead of trends and design products for existing and emerging Tmall brands very quickly."
As Tmall's first fragrance innovation partner, Givaudan will receive flavor-related opportunities at the idea generation stage, and will have access to Tmall's brand ecosystem and data capabilities, such as the online search module of Tmall's Innovation Center. This unique opportunity will reduce the total design time for fine fragrance products from 40 to 4 weeks, optimized to seize digital opportunities.
Yaling Li, Director of Parfums Chine et Corée, commented: "We have been observing the development of the perfume market in China for thirty years. Today, there is strong demand for locally-designed products. The T-Lab partnership enables us to anticipate consumer trends by leveraging behavioral data to quickly come up with innovative and original product offerings and supporting the major pillars of Givaudan's digital strategy in China."
This exclusive partnership will enable Givaudan to design new product development proposals jointly with online retailers such as Tmall and its partners, before offering them to its customer brands.
Yu Su, T-Lab's General Manager of Brand Marketing, explains: "This collaboration is a perfect illustration of our raison d'être, which is to help brands succeed in the Chinese market by defining new channels and strategies. We believe our insights and data will complement the existing capabilities of industry leaders like Givaudan to continue shaping the fragrance sector in China."
This unique collaboration has already produced a new line of fragrances inspired by the Chinese literary classic "Peregrination to the West", including two eaux de parfum, a reed diffuser and hand and body creams. These products were developed following the accelerated nine-step process, from data research to final product prototyping, making this new process a new industry benchmark for collaborative innovation.
