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Tag: China

  • Macy’s taps VR, live video in China push

    Macy’s taps VR, live video in China push

    Macy’s, the iconic US bricks-and-mortar retailer, has taken a digital-first approach in its effort to crack the complicated China market by using innovative virtual reality and influencer strategies.

    “When we came into China, we started digital first, and we started building big digital homes,” Dustin Jones, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of Macy’s China, told an audience at the World Retail Congress Asia Pacific event in Hong Kong.

    “We view ourselves as not a player or an instrument in China but an orchestrator of a better, more simple, more entertaining consumer transaction,” he added.

    To make a splash with Chinese millennials, Macy’s turned to virtual reality. In late October, Alibaba sold 150,000 cardboard VR headsets for just 1 yuan (about US$0.15) on Taobao, China’s equivalent to eBay. In the days leading up to Singles Day – 11 November – customers could use the headsets with Taobao’s app to shop a virtual reality version of Macy’s iconic New York flagship store.

    “We created the first virtual reality department store,” said Jones. “We launched that virtual reality department store last year on (Single’s Day) – five million people shopped that virtual reality store with us. We filmed it all in New York in Macy’s Herald Square and made all those products shoppable.”

    Macy’s has also tapped live streaming to bring New York fanfare to Shanghai, with a local twist.

    “We did a fashion show even last year for what we would call ‘grand opening’ on Tmall. That fashion show was live-streamed in New York with an after-party by a Chinese host. And also, then a talk show was created in Shanghai where we did a fashion show down the side of the very tall building and showed the product in a completely different way, and we sold all of the product through live video,” Jones said.

    “On that event, 150m people participated in our live show, and on the two events combined, 300m people participated.”

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  • China’s Ruyi Emerges as Leading Bidder for Bally

    China’s Ruyi Emerges as Leading Bidder for Bally

    Chinese textile producer Shandong Ruyi Group is emerging as leading bidder for Swiss luxury brand Bally International.

    In advanced negotiations with Bally’s owner, JAB Holding, the group has been discussing a price of about US$700 million, insiders say.

    Ruyi has pulled ahead of other suitors including Club Med owner Fosun International and Chinese apparel maker Fujian Septwolves Industry, and another buyer may yet emerge.

    Ruyi agreed in November to buy a controlling stake in Trinity, the owner of British bespoke suit-maker Gieves & Hawkes, for HK$2.22 billion (U$284 million). The previous month, it said it would buy the owner of material company Lycra. In 2016, it acquired SMCP, whose fashion brands include Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot, and agreed to buy British trench-coat maker Aquascutum last year.

    Founded in Switzerland in 1851, Bally was previously owned by US buyout firm TPG, which agreed to sell the firm to JAB in 2008.

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  • Saint Laurent joins Toplife

    Saint Laurent joins Toplife

    French fashion label Saint Laurent, part of Kering, will start selling online in China through a JD.com portal, joining shopping players like Alibaba in trying to tap strong luxury goods demand from Chinese consumers.

    The French brand created in 1961 by its late founder Yves Saint Laurent, said  it was partnering with Toplife, a platform launched last October by JD.com, which aims to woo luxury buyers with same-day deliveries and premium services.

    “Thanks to the sophisticated logistics network and personalised platform provided by our partnership with Toplife, Saint Laurent will be able to implement its omnichannel development in China, securing a top-level luxury journey to our clients,” said Francesca Bellettini, president and chief executive of Saint Laurent, in a statement.

    Brands on the platform will have access to “JD.com’s upper middle class user base” and “an online luxury experience that can match the in-store experience,” said Xia Ding, president of JD.com’s fashion division.

    Toplife rivals Luxury Pavilion, a similar portal launched in August, which is backed by Alibaba’s Tmall platform and features products from fashion groups such as Burberry.

    Chinese shoppers made up 32 percent of the worldwide luxury market in 2017, more than any other nationality, consultancy Bain & Co said, making it a crucial market for fashion brands.

    KPMG has projected, meanwhile, that half of China’s domestic luxury consumption could come from web sales by 2020.

    Online shopping has proved a potent earnings driver for fashion brands even if many were initially reluctant to distribute their wares too widely.

    Top labels such as Kering’s Gucci or LVMH’s Louis Vuitton recently started marketing directly to Chinese buyers with their own websites in the country.

    High-end fashion houses are still wary of alliances with mass-market platforms such as Amazon, however, fearful they will lose control of their image.

    JD.com and Alibaba’s specialist luxury platforms have already lured several other brands, touting themselves as more exclusive, selective sites.

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  • Central Group to add its online presence with JD.com

    Central Group to add its online presence with JD.com

    After forming an e-commerce partnership with China’s JD.com, Thai retail giant Central Group expects online sales to account for as much as 15 per cent of its revenue in five years’ time, from 2 per cent now.

    CEO Tos Chirathivat says the $500 million JV, announced in September, will help it compete in Southeast Asia’s booming e-commerce market and also open up businesses opportunities in China.

    Tos estimates online retail in Thailand could rise fivefold to 10 per cent of the market as web access spreads via smartphones.

    While Central Group is a privately held investment arm of the Chirathivat family, it controls a range of publicly traded businesses – Central Pattana is a mall developer, Central Plaza Hotel runs resorts and restaurants, Robinson is a chain of department stores and COL is an office supplies company. Central Pattana turnover surged 50 per cent last year, Central Plaza 47 per cent and COL more than doubled.

    Outside of Thailand, Central Group owns Italian luxury department store La Rinascente, Danish retailer Illum and the Big C hypermarket chain in Vietnam, along with interested in retail chains including Nguyen Kim (Vietnam) and B2S (Thailand).

    Central Group is targeting annual revenue growth of 13 per cent this year, says Tos. Local sentiment is helping the company, with consumer spending in Thailand picking up after the October cremation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej ended the nation’s year-long mourning period.

  • Suning Unmanned ‘Biu’ Store goes International

    Suning Unmanned ‘Biu’ Store goes International

    Suning Commerce Group, one of China’s largest non-government retailers, is showcasing its unmanned, automated Biu store at CES 2018 in Las Vegas this week.

    Running until Friday, CES is the global stage for new innovative consumer electronics. Suning’s promotion of its Smart Retail program comes as the company prepares to launch its developments internationally,

    “Suning’s Biu store concept showcases the latest in our online-to-offline retail strategy, designed to offer consumers a one-stop seamless shopping experience,” says the group’s R&D executive VP Joshua Xiang, who is also GM of Suning Global Research.

    Suning’s Biu store concept is big-data driven and powered by facial recognition and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Since launching its first self-service store in Nanjing in August, Suning has opened a further four cashierless stores in China, in Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Xuzhou.

    It says shoppers have been flocking to the stores to buy gadgets, personal electronics, FMCG and sports accessories. They can also find branded football merchandise, including Italian team Internazionale Milano, which is owned by Suning.

    Immediate identification

    Bui shoppers who link their bank card to the Suning Finance app are immediately identified by camera at the store’s entrance and granted access. Inside, they can be helped with their purchase decisions by Suning Smart Recommendation, a shopping guide system based on big-data analysis. RFID technology along the payment pathway ensures an effortless check-out experience taking no longer than 15 seconds.

    At CES, Suning is also showcasing its e-commerce services and tech products that focus on enhancing the consumer experience. These include the Smart Sue shopping assistant, with voice and text interaction system; the Anywhere AR shopping experience, allowing shoppers to place virtual products into a real scene; Suning Smart Home, incorporating advanced Internet of Things automation systems to control electronic home appliances and built-in technology; smart retail chain software; and logistics and shopping financial services.

    A Created in China forum at CES tomorrow, hosted by Suning and the China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute, will explore electronics industry trends in China and also demonstrate Suning’s Smart Retail concept.

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  • Modest sales rise for Bauhaus International

    Modest sales rise for Bauhaus International

    With two more shops at year’s end, apparel company Bauhaus International (Holdings) had a modest rise in same-store sales for its latest nine months.

    The quarter reverses a trend of declining sales and store closures by the streetwear retailer.

    Unaudited figures show sales growth was up 9 per cent for Hong Kong and Macau with a weighted average of 65 shops for the third quarter, while for the nine months growth was 4 per cent from 64 shops.

    Bauhaus designs and makes apparel and accessories which it wholesales and retails under its brand names including Bauhaus, Salad and Tough, and retails third-party labels including Superdry.

    With a constant 82 shops, Taiwan saw sales fall 8 per cent for the quarter and 16 per cent for the year to date.

    For Mainland China, 18 shops saw sales growth of 9 per cent for the quarter, while for the nine months growth was 12 per cent for 19 shops.

    Overall, group sales growth was 4 per cent for 165 shops for the quarter, with a 1 per cent sales dip for 165 shops for the nine months.

    At the end of the year the group had 198 self-managed offline shops, two fewer than nine months earlier.

    These comprised 80 outlets in Hong Kong and Macau at March 31, dropping to 77 at year end, 91 in Taiwan rising to 96 by December 31, and no change in China with 25 shops.

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  • Asia Keeps Swiss Watch Recovery on Track

    Asia Keeps Swiss Watch Recovery on Track

    China and Japan continue to grow as key markets for Swiss watches, reports the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

    China had its strongest growth for 30 months at 39.8 per cent, while Japan, up 22.5 per cent, showed strong growth for the second month in succession.

    Hong Kong has confirmed its recovery with its eighth positive month, exports there rising 4.4 per cent, while exports to Singapore, Switzerland’s seventh-largest market, rose 10.6 per cent.

    Export growth has continued over the seven months to the end of November, says the federation. The total value of exports reached nearly FRF2 billion francs (US$1.9 million), equivalent to 6.3 per cent growth over the figure for the previous November.

    Electronic watch exports were down by more than 1 million units to 15.6 million, a drop of 6.3 per cent. By contrast, mechanical watch exports rose 4.6 per cent to 6.59 million pieces.

    All groups of materials shared in the value growth, in particular steel, up 7.9 per cent. While the other materials category grew 32.3 per cent, the number of pieces fell 1.1 per cent.

    Watches priced at less than FRF200 (export price) fell substantially in November, says the federation, while the other price segments advanced in terms of both value and volume. The FRF200-500 category had the best performance with growth, up 20 per cent.

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  • BAPE Celebrates Lunar New Year With Year of the Dog Collection

    BAPE Celebrates Lunar New Year With Year of the Dog Collection

    2018 is just around the corner with Lunar New Year celebrations to follow in February. To commemorate the upcoming holiday, Japanese magnate BAPE is once again dropping its Chinese zodiac designs to celebrate the “Year of the Dog.” The collection features the label’s iconic APE head motif alongside a dog spread across black, red and white tees and crewnecks. The capsule will also include apparel decorated with BAPE’s sidekick Baby Milo dressed like dog on hoodies and tees in both adult and kids sizing.

    The items will land in BAPE retailers and online on Saturday, January 6 ranging from ¥4,600 JPY for a kids T-shirt to ¥19,800 JPY for the pullover hoodie (approximately $41 USD to $175 USD). In case you’ve missed it, BAPE’s Double Shark Hoodie is a game changer.

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  • Aeon Mall’s 9-month profit seen rising 10% to record

    Aeon Mall’s 9-month profit seen rising 10% to record

    Strong earnings in China and Southeast Asia have helped boost operating profit for Japanese developer Aeon Mall to about ¥33 billion (US$293 million) for the nine months to the end of November.

    This is up about 10 per cent on the same period a year earlier, and would be a record. Its previous high was ¥30.1 billion in 2013as reported. Operating revenue rose 7 per cent to a little more than ¥210 billion.

    Its Southeast Asian business has come out of the red, with overseas losses shrinking to nearly ¥1 billion for the period from ¥2.9 billion previously. Thirteen of the company’s 19 malls in China and Southeast Asia turned a profit, up from eight out of 17 a year before.

    In Japan, sales rose 3 per cent for specialty-store tenants in its malls offering household products, food and other items, boosting rent revenue correspondingly.

    Aeon Mall’s operating profit for the full year through February is expected to rise 11 per cent to ¥50 billion on a 9 per cent gain in operating revenue to ¥295 billion.

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  • JD.Com, Online Fashion Retailer Meili Ally to Develop ‘No Boundary Retail’

    JD.Com, Online Fashion Retailer Meili Ally to Develop ‘No Boundary Retail’

    JD.com plans to form a JV with online fashion retailer Meili to build and run a commerce platform on Chinese voice-messaging service Weixin.

    Merchants who sell through the new platform, expected to launch before the Lunar New Year next month, will gain access to JD’s logistics network.

    The move follows the joint introduction of “no-boundary” retail by JD.com and Tencent in October, a concept that aims to create online communities of consumers with similar buying preferences, fusing e-commerce with social life.

    Meili founder/CEO Chen Qi, who will also be the JV’s chairman, says the platform will draw on Meili’s ability to reach female shoppers, particularly in lower-tier cities in China.

    Established in 2016, Meili has several platforms including Meilishuo and Mogu Street, and more than 15 million active daily users. It not only provides online retail, but also society and fashion information.

  • Topshop poised for bricks-and-mortar debut in China

    Topshop poised for bricks-and-mortar debut in China

    British retailer Topshop is about to make its Mainland China debut – opening its largest store in the world in Shanghai.

    To date, the fashion chain has opened just three stores in greater China – all of them in Hong Kong, where it made its debut in 2012. While the company has recently been closing stores in Australia, Spain and other markets, the company sees huge potential in China, despite its late arrival there. (Brands like H&M and Zara have had a China presence for a decade).

    A three-story flagship Topshop China store will open on Middle Huaihai Road offering more than 3400sqm of selling space. Huaihai Road is Shanghai’s most prominent retail high street strip featuring giant flagships from Uniqlo and Victoria’s Secret along with smaller maisons for luxury brands.

    While Topshop China has lacked a brick-and-mortar presence on the mainland until now, Topshop has maintained an online presence, forming an exclusive partnership with luxury-oriented e-commerce venture ShangPin.com in 2014.

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  • CapitaLand sharpens China focus by selling 20 malls to Vanke

    CapitaLand sharpens China focus by selling 20 malls to Vanke

    CapitaLand China is about to sell 20 malls across China, following a year of record openings for the Singapore group.

    Through its wholly owned subsidiary CapitaLand Mall Asia, CapitaLand has signed agreements with unrelated parties to divest its share of interest in a group of companies that hold 20 retail assets with an agreed value of RMB8.3 billion (S$1.7 billion/US$1.2 billion).

     

     

    Each mall has an average gross floor area (GFA), excluding car park, of about 40,000sqm. They are spread across 19 cities, of which 14 are non-core cities in which CapitaLand has a single mall.

    Set for completion in the second quarter of this year, the transaction is expected to generate net proceeds of about S$660 million and a net gain of about $75 million for CapitaLand. The resultant loss of recurring income will be limited as the 20 malls account for about 4 and 7 per cent of CapitaLand’s respective total and China shopping mall portfolio valuation.

    The move follows CapitaLand’s divestment of CapitaMall Kunshan last month, and the formation of a JV between CapitaLand and CapitaLand Retail China Trust in November to acquire Rock Square, a 84,000sqm mall in Guangzhou.

    ‘Cusp of change’

    “China is sitting on the cusp of transformative changes to its retail industry, characterised by a burgeoning middle class and the rising popularity of omni-channel retailing,” says CapitaLand president/group CEO Lim Ming Yan. “CapitaLand is seizing this window of opportunity to reconstitute its mall portfolio with a sharper geographical focus.”

    He says that unlocking the value of mature assets for reinvestment into new growth opportunities is a hallmark of CapitaLand’s capital recycling strategy. “We will continue to invest in dominant assets in core Chinese city clusters, where we already enjoy a competitive advantage.”

    Lim sees China as an important core market for CapitaLand, with its competitive advantage in integrated developments acting as a key differentiator.

    CapitaLand last year opened a record 1 million square metres of retail space across eight developments in Singapore, China and Malaysia – its largest retail space offering in a single year. Of these, six are retail components of large-scale integrated developments in China, averaging about 130,000sqm. They are in fast-growing Chinese cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Wuhan.

    Post-divestment, CapitaLand’s mall network in China will be concentrated in 22 cities, compared to 36 before. It will comprise 491 malls, 45 of them in first- and second-tier cities. More than half are the retail component of integrated developments.

    CapitaLand’s largest retail presence is in Beijing and Shanghai, where it owns/manages eight malls each, followed by Chengdu with six and Wuhan with four. Following the acquisition of Rock Square, CapitaLand will have two malls in Guangzhou.

    The five core city clusters under CapitaLand’s China strategy are Beijing/Tianjin, Shanghai/Hangzhou/Ningbo/Suzhou, Guangzhou/Shenzhen, Chengdu/Chongqing/Xi’an, and Wuhan.

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  • WeChat and Guangzhou government to introduce WeChat ID

    WeChat and Guangzhou government to introduce WeChat ID

    WeChat may soon become an indispensable part of the Chinese citizens after a report emerged claiming that the Tencent-owned messaging app will be used to officially ID people.

    The Guangzhou government has reportedly initiated a pilot program which creates a virtual ID card through WeChat account of registered users. This Virtual ID card has the same purpose as that of a normal state-issued ID card.

    The South China Morning Post claims that according to Xinhua, the service will soon be introduced in the rest of the country as well.

    WeChat is currently the largest social media platform in China and also has additional features such as payments and money transfers. The program, called the WeChat ID, was co-developed by the Ministry of Public Security and the WeChat team said the report.

    The WeChat ID can be used as an official ID to register in hotels or applying for government jobs without bringing in the state issued ID.

    A similar kind of electronic ID system was earlier implemented in the city of Wuhan, where the branch of the Public Security Bureau partnered up with Alipay to launch an electronic ID card service as reported.

  • Alibaba opening more fresh food stores

    Alibaba opening more fresh food stores

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Wednesday the opening of another 30 Hema Xiansheng fresh food supermarkets throughout Beijing this year, as internet giants focus increasingly on the lucrative fresh-food retail sector.

    The announcement came right before JD’s first fresh food supermarket 7Fresh started its official operation on Thursday, an indication of the increasingly intense competition and rapid expansion of the two e-commerce giants.

    With Hema opening in major commercial districts across Beijing including Xizhimen, Guang’anmen and Shuangjing, consumers in major urban areas of Beijing can have their groceries delivered to a location within a radius of three kilometers from the store in 30 minutes.

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  • Alberta Ferretti opens new store in Shanghai

    Alberta Ferretti opens new store in Shanghai

    Italian fashion label Alberta Ferretti, part of the Aeffe group, has opened its first monobrand store in Shanghai.

    Covering 350sqm over two floors, the China flagship store is in the Shanghai Center in the Jingan district.

    Designed by Milan’s Storage Associati architectural firm, the boutique has two feature windows overlooking Nanjing West Road. Inside, the two levels are connected by a veined-marble staircase and pink glass. The space is characterised by pastel-coloured seats and rounded glass benches embellished with myrtle briar and golden metal.

    The store offers ready-to-wear collections and accessories, plus a limited-edition line of cocktail and evening dresses.

    Guests at the official opening of the store included actresses Chen Ran and Liu Tao, and supermodel You Tianyi.

    Aeffe also controls the fashion houses Moschino, Philosophy by Lorenzo Serafini and Pollini.

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