Suning Seals Deals at Vinitaly to Introduce Fine Italian Wines to Chinese Consumers

VERONA, Italy, April 18, 2017 /PRNewsire/ -- China's leading retailer, Suning, attended the world's largest wine exhibition, Vinitaly, from April 9 to 12 in Verona, Italy. A range of deals were inked during the expo between the retail giant and leading Italian food and wine companies.

This year's Vinitaly event attracted more than 4,000 exhibitors and some 130,000 visitors from 140 countries. Suning signed deals with one of the largest food companies in Italy, Farchioni Group, as well as several of the country's famous wine brands such as Gabbiano and Groupon Italiano Vini, which was owned by Treasury Wine Estates.

Marco Farchioni, vice-president of Farchioni, says that they are very proud to cooperate with "a big company like Suning". "We hope the collaboration can continue for many years. It can also strengthen the relationship between Italy and China."

Henry Tao, Deputy GM of Suning International says, "We hope that we can introduce more high-quality wine products from overseas to Chinese consumers." With a well-developed and mature direct purchasing system, as well as its advantage in market size and retail channels, Suning can ensure that overseas products will reach local consumers with minimal mark-ups.

The products purchased from Vinitaly will hit the Chinese market in May through Suning's online and offline platforms, which serve a market basically made up of some 280 million loyal consumers that shop at Suning.

Suning purchased a majority stake in Inter Milan last year as it steps into the international sports business. With the additional sources of food and beverage that these new agreements bring, Suning also announced that it will be the exclusive retailer in China of customized wines for Inter Milan Football Club (IMFC). Appealing to Chinese football fans, the wine comes with an eye-catching IMFC-themed bottle design.

In addition to attending Vinitaly, some management representatives of the brands that expressed cooperation intention with Suning were also invited to Milan for the Milan Derby game held on Apr.15. As one of Inter's board directors, Steven Zhang, who also plays a role in Suning overseas business development commented, "As people pay more and more attention on quality of life, Suning will be dedicated to promoting these high-quality products to reach more consumers around the world. In the future, the company will continue exploring opportunities to introduce fine lifestyle brands and experience from Italy and across Europe to Asia."

About Suning Holdings Group

Suning was founded in 1990. Through decades of development and transformation, Suning continues its business growth across six industries. They include: Retail, Real Estate, Media and Entertainment, Investment, Sports and Financial Services. Two of Suning's subsidiaries are publicly listed, Suning Commerce Group and LAOX Japan.

In 2016 Suning ranked as the second-largest Chinese non-state owned enterprise.

For more details, visit: http://www.suningholdings.com/cms/en/index.htm

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SOURCE Suning Holdings Group