Ikea has announced plans to start selling on a third-party marketplace for the first time through Chinese platform Tmall.

The furniture titan will launch its products through its own branded storefront on the third-party website, in a bid to woo Chinese consumers. 

Ikea already has a standalone ecommerce presence in China, but by teaming up with Alibaba’s largest marketplace Tmall the retailer hopes to form a better understanding of its customer base in the region.

Initially as a six-month test, the online shop will sell around 3,600 Ikea products, as well as services available on Ikea’s own channel such as delivery and assembly.

Jiang Fan, president of Tmall and Taobao at Alibaba Group, said: “Ikea is the world’s leading home furnishing retailer and loved by many Chinese consumers.

“It is truly exciting for us to help Ikea explore online channels and to enable more Chinese consumers to purchase Ikea products with greater convenience.” 

Managing director of Inter Ikea Systems BV Jon Abrahamsson Ring said: “At Ikea, we are very proud of our Ikea stores, but we are always eager to learn how to improve our service.

“We are happy about this collaboration with Alibaba. I’m convinced that we will learn a lot and develop even better ways to meet our customers.”

Ikea currently has 30 bricks-and-mortar stores in China, but was forced to close them all by January 30 due to coronavirus. It has since reopened 16 of these stores, with plans to reopen more as the impact of the virus eases up.