In China, It's Meet Me at Tmall

Li Yuxin used to travel more than three hours by train from Zhangjiekou in northern China to visit her half-sister Li Zhao in Beijing so she could shop for luxury accessories from brands such as Prada and popular sneaker styles by Nike and Adidas. Zhangjiekou has large shopping malls, but they are full of cheap T-shirts and baggy jackets, not the kind of clothing that appeals to the fashionista. The trips to the capital have become less frequent since Li started ordering clothes from Taobao and Tmall, websites owned by Alibaba Group. “Maybe I spend too much money now, but I have to catch up with Li Zhao,” she says.