Walton Brown and eCargo Sign Joint Venture to Launch a Social Mobile Shopping Platform for China

The Newly Formed Company, WWE & Company Limited Will Launch a "Made-for-China" Mobile Shopping Platform Offering an Authentic Assortment of Products in the Luxury, Premium and Contemporary Segment


HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - Jul 25, 2016) - Walton Brown, a company of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, and eCargo Holdings Limited (ASX: ECG) ("ECG"), a China-based eCommerce enabler, today announce the formation of a new strategic joint venture. The new joint venture, WWE & Company Limited ("WWE"), is initially capitalized at RMB300 million. It will be led jointly by Thomson Cheng, present President of Walton Brown, and Christopher Lau, present CEO and Founder of ECG. Novel Colour Limited, a subsidiary of The Wharf (Holdings) Limited (HKSE: 0004) ("Wharf"), will co-invest and own 50 per cent of WWE.

The newly formed company, WWE, brings together respective partner's unparalleled expertise in the Greater China market, in particular Walton Brown, which is a well-established brand management company that forms part of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group; and eCargo, a leading logistics and technology company.

With China's mobile eCommerce market forecast to reach RMB7.8 trillion by 2020, accounting for 74 per cent of all online sales in China (The New China Playbook, The Boston Consulting Group), WWE will provide profitable opportunities for international brands to accelerate growth and a viable option for new brands to launch into China for the first time to capture new consumers, leveraging the government's new regulatory direction to facilitate cross-border transactions.

WWE will launch a social mobile, multi-brand, lifestyle eMarketplace -- MyMM.com -- in early 2017 offering the most exciting range of in-season fashion, beauty and lifestyle products from international brands exclusively to customers in China.

"This partnership is in line with our overall strategy of investing and advancing our mCommerce footprint in China by working together with luxury, premium and contemporary brands to fill the white space that currently exists in the online market," said Thomson Cheng, President, Walton Brown and Joint-CEO, WWE.

Christopher Lau, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, ECG and Joint-CEO, WWE, added, "We are delighted to be partnering with Wharf and Walton Brown, together we have a winning combination of the right capability mix required to be successful. We are assembling a fantastic team of experts in technology, retail and marketing to make MyMM.com one of the leading online destinations for Chinese customers."

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About Walton Brown

Walton Brown is a company of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Asia's premier fashion and brand management group, which includes iconic, luxury department store Lane Crawford, cutting edge fashion boutique Joyce, fashion footwear, handbags and accessories specialist Pedder Group and retail, brand management and distribution company ImagineX.

Walton Brown is a full service retail management platform which partners with large-scale international brands to grow their businesses in Greater China by providing total geographic and channel coverage of the market including retail, wholesale, e-commerce, travel retail and outlets. Walton Brown manages the Juicy Couture, kate spade new york and Brooks Brothers brands in Greater China. Walton Brown also currently operates the chain of flagship luxury department store Maison Mode in Chengdu, Changsha and Urumqi with more than 320 brands across 900,000 square feet. Its portfolio also includes a value retailing business with large retail complexes totaling 500,000 square feet, offering off-season fashion merchandise from more than 220 brands, in Chengdu under the Times Outlets banner. A 1.3 million square foot site is under development for another Times Outlets in Changsha to open in September 2016, with more outlets to follow in China.

Walton Brown website: www.waltonbrown.com 

About eCargo Holdings Limited
ECG is a China-based eCommerce technology and specialist execution group of companies, with operating companies in China and Australia trading under the eCargo and Amblique brands, providing on-demand digital commerce technology development and related execution capabilities for retailers and fashion brands.

Amblique is a leading digital commerce consultancy, providing retail strategy, eCommerce platform implementation and optimisation services in Australia and New Zealand. eCargo acts as a "one-stop" enabling partner for designer fashion, branded apparel and retail companies seeking to sell their products online in China, Australia and South-east Asia by providing integrated online and offline technology and supply chain solutions.

ECG connects consumers with brands online and offline through the development and marketing of eCommerce platforms, brand site transactional platforms and major marketplace platforms in China such as Alibaba Group's Tmall, Tencent's WeChat and JD.com.

ECG website: www.ecargo.com

Contact Information:

Media Inquiries:
Walton Brown
Elfis Lee
Corporate Communications Manager
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eCargo Holdings Limited
Geoff Fowlstone
Fowlstone Communications
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