The Italian dairy products company Centrale del Latte d’Italia (CLI) has announced that it will sell its products in the Chinese retail chains, Hema and RT-Mart.
Both were recently incorporated into the Alibaba Group, and will help the dairy company in establishing a multi-channel sales network in the country.
In October 2017, CLI signed a partnership agreement with Alibaba, and has sold more than 1.5 million litres of dairy products in the last 12 months.
Online Store
Last year, CLI opened its first Chinese online flagship store on Alibaba's e-commerce platform - Tmall - where it sells long-life milk, cooking cream, and pastry cream under the Mukki brand.
“We are very satisfied with the partnership with Alibaba, which has been in operation for over a year,” said Marco Luzzati, sales manager for Centrale del Latte d’Italia Group.
“In the last three months, thanks to the new agreements that embrace both the online channel and the major retail chains, we have dispatched over 30 tank containers of products."
Booming Exports
Luzzati also added that exports now account for almost 3% of the company's turnover, and it aims to increase this figure to 10% by 2020.
To meet increasing demands, the company has invested €22 million in renovating its factory in Turin.
CLI manufactures and sells more than 120 products, ranging from milk and milk products to yogurt and plant-based drinks.
The products are distributed in more than 16,000 traditional shops and large retail chains under the brand names TappoRosso, Mukki, Tigullio, and Vicenza.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
