French cosmetics giant L'Oréal SA will team up with the retail innovation arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s online marketplace Tmall to tailor men's grooming products for the Chinese market, according to a Sept. 28 announcement.

Under the deal, L'Oréal China and Tmall Innovation Center will collaborate on data-driven consumer analytics and a new value chain connecting consumers, products and channels through a consumer-to-business, or C2B, approach. The C2B method will be based on insights and trends gathered from Alibaba's customer base.

A white paper co-developed by Tmall Innovation Center and L'Oréal China's consumer intelligence team found that online sales of men's grooming products grew by more than 50% in each of the last two years, according to the announcement from Alibaba.

The tie-up comes shortly after L'Oreal China launched its flagship store for the David Beckham-founded men's grooming brand House99 on Tmall.

Tmall Innovation Center has so far formed strategic partnerships for new product innovations with 62 companies including Unilever PLC, The Procter & Gamble Co., Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV, Pfizer Inc.-owned Wyeth, Mattel Inc. and Mars Inc., according to a Sept. 28 post on Alibaba's company news site Alizila.