D&G off Chinese e-commerce market in racism row

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Europe

Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) products have been removed from the sites of China's three major e-commerce giants – Tmall, Jingdong and Suning – following the publication of "racist" remarks on Wednesday.

Other overseas online platforms and luxury online shops like NetEase kaola, vipshop, yhd.com, xiaohongshu, secoo and ymatou followed suit.

D&G products cannot be found on Tmall, a major e-commerce platform under Alibaba Group. /Tmall screenshot

D&G posted a series of messages on social media containing images and voices that Chinese users said insulted their culture and one of its symbols, chopsticks.

The Italian fashion brand's show on Wednesday night in Shanghai was canceled amid furious reaction, and Chinese celebrities including Zhang Ziyi, Li Binging and Wang Junkai all refused to attend.

D&G products cannot be found on vipshop, an e-commerce platform popular for cosmetics and women's clothing. /vipshop screenshot

China is a huge market for D&G which owns outlets in 25 Chinese cities, according to its website. In this case, besides its official website in China, other crucial e-commerce sales channels are almost cut off in China, a market with huge consumption power as well as the world's largest middle class.

According to D&G's 2016 annual report, the Italian domestic market accounted for about 24 percent of total sales, while the rest of Europe accounted for about 27 percent, the U.S. 13 percent and Japan six percent, with the rest of Asia, including China, nearly 30 percent.

Huge consumption market cut

Chinese luxury consumers and their increasing influence on the global luxury goods market have surprised the world in recent years.

Luxury goods are displayed in a shopping mall in Shanghai. /VCG Photo

Chinese consumers make up about 32 percent of global luxury goods consumers, according to a report by consultancy firm Bain and Co. The world's top 40 luxury brands have actively engaged with Chinese consumers by rolling out their own WeChat accounts.

Last year, China's luxury product sales hit 142 billion yuan (20.5 billion U.S. dollars), up about 20 percent year on year, the biggest growth since 2011, according to the report.