British luxury brand Burberry entered into a partnership with Chinese internet giant Tencent to open a social retail store in Shenzhen.

The store will be powered by Tencent’s technologies and is expected to open in the first half of 2020. It is the first step in Burberry’s strategy of blending social media and retailing to create digital and physical spaces for local consumers, according to an interim earnings report Burberry published Thursday.

Burberry gave no further details on what technologies Tencent will offer in building the store.

Tencent owns WeChat, China’s biggest social media platform with 1 billion monthly active users. The WeChat platform has attracted a slew of vendors to tout their products through its mini programs.

In recent years, Tencent has stretched tentacles into the retail sector. In 2017, the tech company helped fashion group Bestseller to open a facial recognition-powered clothing store in Shenzhen. At the shop, buyers are offered dress colocation options in fitting rooms, which are equipped with algorithm-based computers to match faces with suitable clothing based on face scans.

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)