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Tag: China

  • Cool Kids Fashion Shanghai opens

    Cool Kids Fashion Shanghai opens

    China’s biggest trade event for kids’ fashion – has opened to kids fashion industry players.

    The event runs until Friday, July 24 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, China.

    More than 65 children’s fashion brands are exhibiting, from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, Sweden, the UK, US and beyond. Participating brands include Barefoot Dreams, Bibi, Cececo, Devilollipop, Desigual, Dickies, Dr. Apple, Ecobibi, Farg&Form by Kidstopia, Finn+Emma, Four-Lads, Manila Grace, Martin Marietta, Rockin’ Baby, Schwartz and more. They showcase a complete overview of children fashion and accessories (ages up to 16 years).

    Gal-la Calaf, sales manager of Spanish fashion brand Desigual says the children’s fashion market is booming in China.

    “Chinese parents are more brand-conscious, looking for more fashionable clothes for their children. With the relaxation of the one child policy and the growing middle class, the market here is booming. We are bringing our latest collections here to Cool Kids Fashion Shanghai to meet with potential partners.”

    Athena Gong, GM of the event’s organiser UBM China (Hangzhou), says the category is continually driven by China’s next-generation parents.

    “They are fashionable and want their kids to look stylish as well. They are looking for comfortable yet chic apparel and accessories for their babies and kids.

    “We are building a platform for international and domestic children’s fashion brand owners, distributors and investors to meet and do business with the key players of China’s kids fashion industry. From the Kids Fashion Design Contest to the Trend Zones, we want to help the industry set the trend for the season. We will continuously provide good service for brand owners and buyers and help boost China’s children’s wear industry,” said Gong.

    Highlights of Cool Kids Fashion Shanghai include:

    * Kids Design Contest Awards/Gallery: Launched in February 2015, the Kids Fashion Design Contest has received 942 entries from worldwide aspiring designers and 20 designers have been short-listed. Their collections are on display and are featured in the Kids Fashion Show.

    * Kids Fashion Design Kids Fashion Shows: The world renowned kids fashion brands including Babi Boo, Deseason, Desigual, Lesha, Maya, Pencil Club, Tuc Tuc and more take center stage and showcase their latest collections.

    * Trend Zones: Supported by Peclers Paris, the trend study organisation, the hot color, patterns and materials are illustrated in this area for industry people to spot 2016/2017 Autumn/Winter fashion trends. It’s showcased under four themes ¨C “Preppy College”, “Leisure”, “Trendy” and “Girly”.

    * Kids Fashion Museum: A display of collection of baby and children’s apparel from China’s ethnic minorities.

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  • Wumart Stores sales surge

    Wumart Stores sales surge

    Wumart Stores, the Beijing-based, Hong Kong-listed grocery retailing giant, has today reported an 11.9 per cent increase in sales in the first six months of the year.

    Total revenue topped RMB11.6796 billion at a time when foreign box box food and hypermarket retailers are feeling the pressure. Lotte Mart this week said it was closing four China stores, and Walmart and Carrefour are both struggling to achieve growth and profitability.

    The company says its continuing growth is being driven by new store openings, same store sales increases, higher revenue from suppliers and increased rental income.

    During the Reporting Period, comparable store sales of the Group increased by approximately

    4.2 per cent, recording an increase of approximately 3.3 percentage points in growth as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

    The group’s consolidated gross profit amounted to about RMB2,265 billion, up about 6.8 per cent on the same period of 2014. Consolidated gross profit margin was 19.4 per cent.

    Wumart says it will prioritise its business expansion in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Zhejiang.

    As at June 30, Wumart had 586 stores – 42 more than at the same time last year.

  • Qoo10 parent raises $82m

    Qoo10 parent raises $82m

    Singapore-based Giosis, the parent company of Pan-Asian eCommerce platform Qoo10, has raised US$82.1 million in new funding led by Singapore Press Holdings.

    Other investors in the mix included eBay, Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments LP, Brookside Capital and Oak Investment Partners.

    Qoo10 operates six online eCommerce marketplaces across Asia – in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. Qoo10 has 17.6 million registered users across the region and combined, turned over US$408 million in 2014. Of the six markets in which the company operates, Qoo10 Singapore is the best performer with 1.8 million registered users as of June 2015 and US$182 million in gross merchandise volume in 2014.

    “Through this Series A investment, Giosis will deploy the new funds to accelerate Qoo10’s technology growth and service development, while investing in additional infrastructure and talent acquisition,” the company said in a statement.

    “The new funds will also help Qoo10 strengthen its position as a leading Pan-Asian platform in its key markets Singapore, Japan and Indonesia, and accelerate its expansion in its other rapidly growing Asian markets Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.”

    As the lead investor in this Series A round, SPH will also partner with Qoo10 to explore strategic collaborations on the e-commerce platform across various content, marketplaces, retail, advertising and classifieds opportunities.

    Alan Chan, SPH CEO, said Qoo10 is the number one ranked eCommerce website in Singapore and its parent company Giosis has established itself as a market leader in the region’s e-commerce space.

    “The investment in Qoo10 will enhance our portfolio of digital assets and open up opportunities for future marketing collaborations. With the region’s eCommerce market poised to grow, this investment puts us in a good position to tap on the industry’s growth and be an active player in this space.”

    A joint venture between Gmarket Inc founder Ku Young Bae and eBay, Qoo10 was founded in 2010 with US$20 million seed capital, after Gmarket was acquired by eBay in 2009 for US$1.2 billion.

    Ku Young Bae, CEO of Qoo10, said: “From the beginning Qoo10 has strived to be a hyperlocal eCommerce platform which enables local merchants, big and small, to sell their products to a local and regional customer base across Asia.  Today, 90 per cent of our staff and merchants are local, in order to provide consumers with a seamless shopping experience in a specialised marketplace. With this new funding, we aim to further strengthen our position as the leading Pan-Asian marketplace.”

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  • Wal-Mart eyes China growth with Yihaodian buy

    Wal-Mart eyes China growth with Yihaodian buy

    Wal-Mart Stores Inc stock is now trading 20.29% below its 52-week-high, 3.06% above its 52-week-low.

    Wal-Mart Stores CEO Doug McMillon has already increased starting wages and cut a layer of management in stores to try to tackle the situation at the stores. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) reported last quarter earnings on May 19.

    However, the company has strived to adopt the local culture in China and the consumers’ buying patterns. In an update, Walmart said today that Yihaodian now has over 100 million registered customers, and more than eight million products on offer.

    Wal-Mart, France’s Carrefour SA and Britain’s Tesco PLC have all seen sales growth slip over the last five years in China, losing market share to local rivals, according to consumer analytics firm Kantar Worldpanel. It has decreased by 1% from the same period of last month. With fiscal year 2015 revenue of $486 billion, Walmart employs more than 2 million associates worldwide.

    Walmart is cutting its hours in dozens of its stores.

    We reached out to Wal-Mart for a comment. That kind of integration is often referred to as online-to-offline (O2O), and has been a focus recently for Chinese Internet companies that are forging growing alliances with traditional retailers like department and convenience stores. State-owned China Resources controls 13.9%, while Wal-Mart lags behind both with 10.6%. Analysts at Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wal-Mart did not, however, disclose the size of the shareholding held by each party. US online retailing giant Amazon has tried a similar strategy in China, but so far has met with limited success and is still a relatively small player.

    The road aheadTo keep up with Sun Art, Wal-Mart plans to open 33 more stores and clubs this year, especially in the southern regions, where it enjoys a stronger market presence. Later this quarter, it will launch a mobile app which will let Chinese customers order products online and select in-store pickup or home delivery. Prior to joining Walmart Global eCommerce, Wang Lu was responsible for managing CBS Interactive in China, including the IT group, Auto group, Women & Fashion group and Lifestyle group.

    The retail juggernaut previously bought a 51% stake in the e-commerce retail enterprise back in 2012 in an aggressive push to benefit from the Asian country’s booming e-commerce space.

  • E-commerce market in China is big enough for multiple players

    E-commerce market in China is big enough for multiple players

    Cross border e-commerce is gaining traction worldwide, partly because of rising business from China. Despite the rise in global players, US online retailer Amazon is not afraid of the competition.

    Amazon has felt the wind of late comers. Alibaba has brought the war onto Amazon’s home turf, recruiting small US businesses to join its sales network after its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last year.

    Amazon’s senior vice president of international consumer business Diego Piacentini says the market is big enough for multiple players.

    “Business is not sport, where there is one winner. Business has multiple winners,” Piacentini said.

    “The size of the business, particularly e-commerce, would be so large. There is room for global players. Amazon is going to be one of them, absolutely, Alibaba and Tmall is one of them and many others.”

    Besides talking the talk, Amazon has beefed up its operation in China since last year. It opened direct mail to China from six of its global locations. Amazon also set up a Chinese e-commerce website and increased its overseas purchases in China to bolster local sales.

    “For countries like China or India, they are not exposed to many years of modern retail, e-commerce, or mobile commerce. You can expect in the next few years, that the vast majority of retail activities in China and India would happen online,” Piacentini said.

    Last year, 18 million Chinese consumers spent US$213 billion overseas—more than double Amazon’s annual sales. For any global commerce site, such potential is hard to ignore.

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  • Global Logistics Properties sets up US$7 billion China-focused fund

    Global Logistics Properties sets up US$7 billion China-focused fund

    Global Logistics Properties launched a US$7 billion fund yesterday dedicated to mainland China, piling in on investment euphoria about warehouse demand as China shifts to a consumption-led economy.

    Singapore-listed GLP has secured US$3.7 billion in equity commitments from seven unnamed investors, six of them national pension or sovereign wealth funds, for the CLF II fund. The largest China-focused logistics infrastructure fund so far, it will have an investment capacity of US$7 billion after adding leverage.

    “We continue to see strong demand from China,” GLP chief executive Ming Z. Mei said. “Despite the recent headlines about the GDP growth slowdown, 7 per cent is by definition a healthy rate anywhere in the world. Retail consumption, which is more relevant to logistics demand, maintains a double-digit growth rate.”

    Retail consumption, which is more relevant to logistics demand, maintains a double-digit growth rate

    Ming Z. Mei, GLP chief executive

    CLF II is an add-on to the US$3 billion CLF I, whose capital was fully allocated more than two years ahead of the planned investment horizon. GLP, created from a spin-off of US industrial property developer Prologis, dominates industrial property markets in China, Japan and Brazil. It is 36 per cent controlled by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.

    The US$7 billion in funds will be channelled to develop 13 million square metres of warehouses in four years. GLP, the fund manager, holds a 56 per cent stake.

    China’s burgeoning industrial property market has lured investors from around the world – most recently Carlyle Group, Glodman Sachs and RRJ Capital – who believe a shifting economic pattern has created vast demand for modern warehouses, where courier firms, e-commerce outlets and third-party logistics service providers store, distribute and process goods.

    “Over the last few years, many people make noises about raising capital. Actually raising capital is not the hard part. Executing on the ground is,” Mei said. “As the market gets heated up, it requires deeper knowledge of logistics patterns.”

    As capital flocked in, oversupply had started to surface in certain locations, he said.

    “The market is no longer the way it used to be five, six years ago,” Mei said. “Supply and demand is more balanced now, with some markets oversupplied in the short term.”

    CLSA senior analyst Yew Kiang Wong said: “The big question mark here is demand. These investments are in anticipation of future demand. Third-party logistics companies represent large demand potential and are GLP’s bread and butter. But there’s also some cannibalisation from e-commerce companies which are now trying to develop their own warehouses, such as Alibaba. So there’s some risk in that respect.”

    GLP’s top tenants in China include e-commerce powerhouses JD.com and Amazon, and logistics firms Sinortans and Best Logistics.

    Mei said it was getting harder to source new land. Due to lower tax and employment contributions, local governments are less willing to release land for logistics use.

    In order to gain better access to land reserves and customers, GLP last year sold a 34 per cent stake in its China portfolio for US$2.5 billion to a consortium of state-owned investors including China Life Insurance, China Development Bank and Bank of China.

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  • Hong Kong residential property prices reached record high in May

    Hong Kong residential property prices reached record high in May

    Residential property prices in Hong Kong reached a record high in May, increasing more than 20% compared with the same month last year.

    The growth in values continues despite the government’s series of property market cooling measures.

    The transaction volume of new homes reached over 8,700 for the first half of 2015, the data from the Rating and Valuation Department shows.

    According to an analysis by international real estate firm Knight Frank it is a result of strong housing demand, ample liquidity partly attributable to the previous rally in the Mainland and Hong Kong stock markets and the continual return of wealthy Mainland investors to the city’s residential sector.

    Amid positive market sentiment, property developers have been actively acquiring residential sites this year, in line with the government’s target to boost housing supply. In early July, a large residential site in So Kwun Wat in Tuen Mun, estimated to require an investment of up to HK$8 billion, was sold for HK$3.82202 billion, representing the second highest ever accommodation value in the area.

    During the third quarter of this year the Hong Kong government will release three residential sites for sale. It has indicated that additional land may be launched by the end of September, depending on the market situation and progress of preparatory work.

    ‘The annual private housing supply target of 19,000 flats is considered achievable this year. Despite the rising supply, we expect home prices to continue rising this year, as it will take time for the new sites to be developed into flats,’ the Knight Frank report concludes.

    Meanwhile in Greater China the Grade-A office market remained active in June, driven by continual expansion demand from Chinese financial institutions, most notably fund and asset management companies.

    Knight Frank believes that Grade-A office rents in Central will continue rising steadily in the second half of 2015.

    Last month, with rents in prime retail districts softening, mid-range retailers gained opportunities to enter high profile streets at lower rents. Retail sales are not expected to recover in the near term.

    Knight Frank says that prime retail rents will continue to come under downward pressure for the remainder of the year.

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  • China Bank set to open 50 more branches

    China Bank set to open 50 more branches

    CHINA Banking Corp., (China Bank) is planning to open 50 branches this year, on the back of the strong economic fundamentals of the country.

    Of the target branch expansion, three to four banks are set to open in Cebu to strengthen the bank’s foothold in the province.

    Cebu is home to China Bank’s first provincial branch—Cebu Magallanes, which opened in 1948.

    According to China Bank president and chief executive officer Ricardo Chua, Cebu is an important market, contributing 30 percent growth. He said the bank’s planned expansion in Cebu signifies their continued optimism to the strong growth story of Cebu, citing the province’s flourishing industries.

    “We are actually making a big bet in Cebu forward,” said Chua, citing the numerous developments around Cebu such as malls, infrastructure development and tourism, among others.

    Last week, the group opened its BPO tower—China Bank Corporate Center in Cebu Business Park.

    At present, China Bank has about 24 branches in Cebu.

    Alexander Escuchua, senior vice president and head of investor and corporate relations at China Bank, said they foresee growth in all of the bank’s products in retail, corporate and SME.

    Earnings

    “China Bank’s subsidiaries China Bank Savings (CBS) and Plantersbank have various programs, all meant to improve the banks’s performance this year at the same time meet all the customer needs,” Escuchua told Sun.Star Cebu.

    China Bank posted a consolidated net income of P1.21 billion for the first three months of the year, four percent higher than the earnings for the same period in 2014, on the back of strong growth of its core businesses.

    Its net interest income grew 23 percent to P3.71 billion, driven by a robust 31 percent jump in interest revenues from loans. Non-interest income increased six percent to P1.07 billion, boosted by higher trading gains and branch-based fees.

    In the first quarter, one China Bank and seven CBS branches were opened, all part of the planned 50 new branches for the year.

    Network

    Founded in 1920, China Bank is the country’s first privately-owned local commercial bank and now the fifth largest privately-owned universal bank in terms of assets. It serves the banking needs of the corporate, commercial, and retail markets.

    With the acquisition of Plantersbank in 2014 and its eventual merger with CBS, China Bank plans on building a stronger platform for SME finance. The China Bank Group now has 482 branches to date with 318 China Bank, 86 CBS, and 78 Plantersbank branches.

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  • Italian label Antonia to launch in China

    Italian label Antonia to launch in China

    Luxury fashion label Antonia is to open the first of 10 stores planned for greater China in Macau.

    Antonia, headquartered in the Italian fashion capital, Milan, has signed a partnership with Guangzhou Canudilo Fashion and Accessories, which has about 300 stores in China selling its own brands in the mid to high-end fashion space, along with 100 luxury monobrand stores in partnership with Armani, Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli and others.

    Antonia is the first brand to be publicly announced for the new Parisian retail development, another integrated resort with gaming, accommodation, entertainment and shopping.

    The US$5 billion project will feature a half size replica of the Eiffel Tower and 320,000 sqft of retail, housing 150 boutiques grouped in replicas of five famous shopping precincts of Paris, including the Champs Elysees and Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore, as well as 3000 hotel rooms.

    Antonia will take a 33,000 sqft space in the complex, according to Canudilo group president Yongfei Lin, who revealed the details during a Milan media event last week marking his company’s purchase of the Dirk Bikkembergs brand.

    Just five stores will be opened in China between now and 2020, with a further following.

    Antonia was founded in 1999 by Antonia Giacinti, who remains responsible for merchandise selection and store design.

    Luciano Donatelli, strategic consultant for the Canudilo group, said the Macau store will be “the twin” of the Milan flagship.

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  • JD.com launches US Mall

    JD.com launches US Mall

    JD.com has launched a ‘US Mall’, its fifth in a growing lineup of country-focused retail malls.

    The new shopfront is dedicated to offering authentic imported US products for sale to its customers across China.

    Already American brands including Converse, Samsonite and Ocean Spray have signed up to sell their products on the site along with Global Brands Group’s Nautica Kids and Jeep apparel labels.

    In addition, JD.com says it will feature authentic products from Taylor Swift, including a line of clothes that the artist is designing exclusively for JD.com customers.

    JD.com also announced a partnership with DHL Global Forwarding to help American brands ensure that their products reach Chinese consumers more quickly and easily. Through this partnership, DHL is the preferred logistics service provider for moving American products ordered on JD.com’s US Mall to and across China.

    A launch event, hosted by JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu, include several hundred representatives from major US brands.

    “As American companies increasingly understand our core advantages of zero tolerance towards counterfeits and unparalleled same-day delivery capabilities, we are gaining excellent momentum attracting US brands to our site,” said Liu.

    “Chinese consumers appreciate that the US is a global leader in the areas of product reputation, quality, reliability and variety of goods, and American companies are clearly benefiting from this unprecedented market opportunity.

    “With JD.com’s U.S. Mall up and running, and great partners like Global Brands on board, Chinese consumers have an ever-growing range of new choices of American products, including Nautica Kids, Converse and Taylor Swift’s branded fashion line,” he said.

    The US Mall follows others created for Australia, France, Japan and Korea this year.

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  • Stelux China sales soar

    Stelux China sales soar

    Listed Hong Kong eyewear and watch retailer Stelux Holdings has reported a 7.1 per cent decline in sales in the first three months of the 2015 financial year, compared to the same period last year.

    However Stelux China proved a standout in the trading results for the three months to June 30.

    The company says despite a decrease in turnover due to a decline in tourist spending in Hong Kong and Macau, the company achieved an 85.8 per cent increase in sales of its fashion eyewear chain eGG in the China Mainland, a 23.4 per cent increase in City Chain sales there, and a more modest 0.2 per cent gain in its Optical 88 chain.

    The company says its total sales reached HK$860.7 million in the period, compared with $926.4 million in the same quarter of 2014.

    Turnover in Southeast Asia – where it has stores in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia – decreased by 16.9 per cent.

    “Excluding currency effects, the turnover would have decreased by nine per cent due to weak retail sentiment in Thailand and Malaysia,” the company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

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  • Mini ‘ocean worlds’ for China malls

    Mini ‘ocean worlds’ for China malls

    Hong Kong listed theme park operator Haichang Holdings has revealed a plan to open ‘mini ocean worlds’ in China malls.

    In an interview with the South China Morning Post, CEO Wang Xuguang said the company has decided to embark on a new growth strategy rather than copying rival developers pursuing the “bigger is better” course.

    “We had heated discussions when mulling over development, but we decided to follow a light-asset strategy rather than building more large parks like others are doing,” he told the newspaper.

    With more and more theme parks opening outside major Chinese cities – the new Disney World under construction in Shanghai the most publicised example, Haichang is wary of over supplying the market. So rather than build massive parks to attract customers, it wants instead to take the parks to the people.

    “We believe there’ll be projects running into trouble over the coming few years. We will keep a close eye on any acquisition opportunities in the market.”

    Wang said his company also plans to offer its operational experience and know-how to other park operators or shopping centres who want to set up small aquariums.

    “Today in China developers are building their parks bigger and bigger using renowned foreign design companies and purchasing quality equipment from around the world, but a successful amusement park is not just a matter of money,” he said.

    Haichang Holdings currently runs seven marine-themed parks in eastern and southern Mainland China cities, along with another Disney-style attraction. It has two under construction: Dream World in Sanya, on Hainan Island, and Polar Ocean Park at Shanghai, some 30 minutes from the new Disney attraction.

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  • Lotte China closes stores

    Lotte China closes stores

    South Korea’s Lotte is finding the Chinese retail market tough to crack.

    Lotte Mart, the supermarket arm of South Korea’s Lotte Group, is to close four underperforming supermarkets in East China’s Shandong Province, according to the China Business Journal newspaper.

    Lotte is said to be losing market share in Mainland China unable to differentiate itself in the middle ground between local retail chains and the growing power of online retailers such as Alibaba and JD.com.

    Two of the stores to close are located in Qingdao, a second tier city located on the coast. A third is located in Weihai and the fourth in Weifang, an industrial city in central Shandong.

    Another source observed Lotte Mart did not provide a compelling food offer with its supermarkets.

    “For young people, Lotte Mart is not a good choice if they want to eat out as well as shop. There are not many fancy restaurants in Lotte Mart compared with other markets,” the customer told The Global Times on Sunday.

    Lotte Mart has 120 stores in China, 116 in Korea, 39 in Indonesia and 10 in Vietnam.

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  • Unilever to stem China losses with sweeping Alibaba partnership

    Unilever to stem China losses with sweeping Alibaba partnership

    Unilever has formed an exclusive strategic partnership with Alibaba Group on a range of ecommerce initiatives to boost the consumer-goods maker’s sales in China.

    The partnership, announced today, is seen as a significant expansion of cooperation between the two companies. Unilever first opened a virtual store on Alibaba’s Tmall.com online shopping website in 2011 and added a Tmall Global flagship store in 2014. The agreement also appears to be a response to retailers reducing their stocks of the FMCG giant’s products in response to a slowing economy in 2014.

    Unilever’s North Asia president, Marijn Van Tiggelen, said in a press statement that Unilever chose Alibaba over other internet firms in China, as it is the “leading internet company” with “not only an online store, but also a solution platform for online payment, e-finance, and ecommerce logistics”.

    Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, stressed that the Unilever collaboration will go beyond product sales. The companies “will jointly innovate in big data analytics application, cross-border ecommerce, consumer protection and supply-chain management,” said Zhang in a statement.

    More specifically, the duo said they would work together to:

    • Expand Unilever’s distribution channels with an emphasis on giving rural consumers in the country’s less-developed regions more convenient access to Unilever products through Alibaba’s 1,000 county-level and 100,000 village-level Taobao Rural Service Centers and Alibaba’s logistics affiliate, Cainiao.
    • Develop cross-border ecommerce cooperation on Tmall Global that allows Unilever merchandising through government-backed free trade zones and bonded warehouses in China.
    • Optimise Unilever’s digital advertising strategy through Alimama (Alibaba’s marketing technology platform) and reach more consumers through online-offline retail integration.
    • Combat counterfeiting of Unilever’s brands by stepping up the company’s participation in Alibaba’s Blue Stars program, in which each product is tagged with a unique QR code that allows the consumer to verify its authenticity and origin.

    To mark the beginning of the new partnership, Tmall will host a promotion from 22 through 24 July featuring flash sales with 50 per cent discounts on popular Unilever products.

    Alibaba’s vision to build the “future infrastructure of commerce” meets Unilever’s development needs in China, added Van Tiggelen.

    Ecommerce accounted for 10.7 per cent of total retail sales in China in 2014, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, with ecommerce set to grow faster than the overall retail market.

    However, despite Unilever’s online storefront presence on Tmall, as well as on Alibaba rival JD.com, it still felt the pain of the slowdown in China last year when sales for two consecutive quarters were down by 20 per cent. This led to bricks-and-mortar retailers and distributors destocking Unilever products. James Allison, Unilever’s head of corporate strategy, described product visibility at the time as “not that great”. Unilever will issue its second-quarter and half-year results Thursday.

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  • Uniqlo closes JD.com store citing China online strategy mismatch

    Uniqlo closes JD.com store citing China online strategy mismatch

    Fast Retailing Co Ltd said on Monday it has closed the online Uniqlo store that it opened in April on China’s popular JD.com Inc shopping site, saying it did fit into its China e-commerce strategy.

    After a three-month trial run, “Uniqlo determined that a presence on JD.com was not in line with the company’s China e-commerce strategy”, said a spokeswoman for Fast Retailing, which owns the casual-clothing brand.

    “During the trial run, we realized that it is best for us to take a step back,” she told Reuters.

    She declined to disclose details about the performance of the online site or specify the firm’s e-commerce strategy, but said Uniqlo was committed to the China market, both online and offline.

    JD.com and larger rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd have been vying to attract big, international brands onto their platforms. Bagging such names can be a huge credibility boost and a sign of implicit trust in China, a market notorious for the proliferation of fake and knock-off products.

    Uniqlo’s speedy retreat from JD.com stands in contrast to its robust presence since 2009 on Alibaba’s Amazon.com-like Tmall platform. During Alibaba’s annual Singles Day sales event last November, Uniqlo was fifth in overall sales and the top apparel brand, the spokeswoman said.

    JD.com spokesman Josh Gartner said sales on Uniqlo’s JD.com store had exceeded aggressive sales targets in the first month of operation.

    “Uniqlo is stopping operation of its flagship store due to an e-commerce strategic restructuring in China, not based on the performance of the store,” he said.

    The Japanese company is expanding rapidly in China as it aims to become the world’s biggest apparel retailer ahead of Zara-owner Inditex SA, Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M)

    and Gap Inc by 2020.

    Fast Retailing Chief Executive Tadashi Yanai has said Uniqlo aimed to have 1,000 stores in Greater China in about five years, more than its Japan total – and eventually as many as 3,000. It had 442 in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as of end-May.

    Japan’s stock market was closed on Monday for a public holiday. On Friday, Fast Retailing’s shares gained 1.1 per cent to close at 57,220 yen ($460.41).