Dive Brief:

• Costco Wholesale, the largest warehouse retailer in the United States, has opened an online store on Alibaba’s T-Mall marketplace.

• The Issaquah, WA-based retailer “sees tremendous growth opportunities in China, especially in light of Chinese consumers’ increasing appetite for imported products,” said Costco executive vice president Jim Murphy in a statement.

• The company didn’t say whether a physical store in China is also planned.

Dive Insight:

China appears to be a land of opportunity for U.S. retailers, and not just luxury brands. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is already there, through yhd.com, a web-based grocery store in which it owns a 51% stake. And spending appears to be slowing somewhat in China, at least for higher-priced goods. Costco, then, will find competition as well as opportunity in the country.