Tmall statistics show Great Wall lubes sales top international rivals Shell and Castrol
In the first half of 2014, Great Wall lubricant sales topped those of any other brand on Alibaba's popular B2C platform Tmall.com. Great Wall Lubricants, a subsidiary of oil major Sinopec, opened it's official Tmall stores in 2010.
Motorcycle lubricants were amongst its best selling products online, although auto lubes also showed a strong increase in online sales.
Great Wall has also been implementing online-to-offline (O2O) distribution channels to help shoppers on the go. Consumers purchases products online and are emailed a barcode which they then display at a Great Wall service centre and can instantly obtain ther purchase. This method is particularly helpful for drivers frequently in transit.
Tmall.com invites companies to set up official online stores across its website in a similar fashion to Amazon. However, unlike the US e-commerce giant, companies are provided more options for individual customisation. For consumers, the appeal of Tmall is the authenticity of the products listed, as company's must be invited, registered and monitored closely.