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Tag: China

  • Alibaba looks abroad as China growth slips

    Alibaba looks abroad as China growth slips

    China’s Alibaba has told its investors that overseas e-commerce would be a key focus as it looks for new sources of growth after a difficult year at home.

    Earlier this month, Alibaba Group Holding restructured its e-commerce business into separate China and international divisions, with the latter to be led by Jiang Fan, head of Alibaba’s flagship Taobao and Tmall marketplaces.

    Alibaba Deputy CFO Toby Xu, making his first major public remarks since being named this month to take over as CFO, said that international e-commerce “will become one of the key growth drivers”, adding that 57 percent of revenue for Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics unit, comes from overseas.

    Earlier in the two-day investor event which ended Friday, Alibaba said it had set a target of $100 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) for Lazada, its e-commerce service for Southeast Asia.

    Lazada generated $21 billion in GMV from September 2020 to the same month in 2021, the presentation showed.

    Outgoing CFO Maggie Wu said that In the future, the company will break down the category into four sub-categories – China commerce, which includes its major domestic-facing e-commerce platforms; international commerce, which will include Lazada, AliExpress, and other overseas-facing sites; local-based services, which will include its food-delivery service Ele.me and its mapping service; and Cainiao, its logistics division.

    There was also a nod to social welfare, with four of seven investment categories outlined by Xu related to initiatives such as rural revitalization and China’s aging population.

    CEO Daniel Zhang, meanwhile, pledged to slash emissions from Alibaba’s supply chains and transportation networks by 50 percent by the end of the decade.

    Missing from the presentation was any mention of Ant Group, the financial services firm that is 33-per-cent owned by Alibaba.

    Last year, Beijing intervened at the last minute to abort a planned $37 billion listing of Ant. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma subsequently slipped from the public spotlight and Chinese authorities began a year-long regulatory clampdown.

    In November, Alibaba slashed its annual revenue forecast for its current fiscal year, from an initial growth target of 29.5 percent to between 20 and 23 percent.

    The company has been facing stiff competition from rivals including Pinduoduo, which has won over consumers in rural China, and ByteDance-owned Douyin, which has grown in China’s booming live-streamed e-commerce sector.

  • Chinese social media Weibo closes 7% lower in Hong Kong debut

    Chinese social media Weibo closes 7% lower in Hong Kong debut

    Weibo officially launched its secondary listing on the Main Board of the HKEx on Wednesday. The public offering price of the stock was HK$272.80. On the first day, Weibo closed 7% lower at HK$253.20.

    One of the leading social media platforms in China, Weibo secondary listing raised about HK$385 million. Its main listing is in the US.

    As a pioneer and leading social media in China, Weibo has been leading the industry’s development and innovation for years, with a rapidly growing user base. In September 2021, Weibo had 573 million MAUs and 248 million average DAUs.

    In addition to a large and diverse user base, there are also significant connections and interactions among users on Weibo. In June 2021, its users generated 15.7 billion monthly social interactions on the platform, including the activities of like, comment, repost, and follow. As of June 30, 2021, Weibo had 318 billion “follow” relationships existing on its platform. During the track record period, Weibo’s ratio of average DAUs to MAUs remains as high as 43% to 45%, demonstrating users’ high engagement and stickiness to the platform.

    Weibo offers the most comprehensive coverage of content categories. Its users can create, discover, consume and share various formats of content, including text, photo, video, live streaming, audio, and topic. In June 2021, Weibo had 46 content verticals, such as celebrities and entertainment, humor, media, variety shows, and TV programs, fashion, cosmetics, finance, and games. Among these content verticals, 28 of them each has over 10 billion monthly views.

    In addition, Weibo attracts a large number of content creators who remain highly engaged and active on the platform. In June 2021, Weibo had 41.9 million monthly active content creators, and top content creators reached 2.3 million.

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  • Alibaba fires employee who accused former co-worker of sexual assault

    Alibaba fires employee who accused former co-worker of sexual assault

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has fired a woman who accused a former co-worker of sexual assault in July this year. A dismissal letter, became effective on Nov. 25, the day it was given to the employee. She is identified in court papers only by her surname, Zhou. After the company failed to take action after she reported the assault, according to her, Zhou went public in August.

    She began passing out fliers to co-workers, unfurling banners in the company cafeteria, and posting messages on Alibaba’s internal website. The subsequent letter claimed she had spread false information “which aroused strong concern from society and damaged the company.”

    The move to fire Zhou is a reversal of Alibaba’s initial support for her. After her allegations surfaced, the company fired the co-worker accused of assault, identified as Zhou’s former supervisor Wang Chengwen. Two senior managers also resigned for failing to act after Zhou made her report. But prosecutors dropped her case in September after investigators found that Wang’s actions constituted “forcible indecency” but did not rise to the level of rape. Police gave him 15 days of administrative detention.

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  • 4,000 container trucks stranded at China border by stringent inspections

    4,000 container trucks stranded at China border by stringent inspections

    Vietnam’s agriculture exports are taking a hit as China maintains a very strict inspections regime at northern border gates as a Covid-19 prevention measure.

    As of Friday, as many as 4,000 container trucks were stranded at the border gates in Lang Son Province, said Le Thanh Hoa, deputy head of the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries products under the agriculture ministry.

    At the three border gates of Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma, the current customs clearance speed has fallen by more than half to about 220 container trucks per day, Hoa said at a conference on agriculture trade held Saturday in Hanoi.

    For each truck carrying dragon fruit, jackfruit, and other fruits stuck at the Tan Thanh gate, it was taking 10-14 days on average to get customs clearance.

    At the Mong Cai border gate in Quang Ninh Province, just one truck gets cleared every week, Hoa said.

    The management board of the Mong Cai gate said Saturday morning that as many 800 trucks of frozen seafood and 300 trucks of fruits were stranded there.

    Hoa recommended that businesses carefully check agricultural products exported via border gates because China has been strengthening its Covid-19 disease control regime, resulting in careful, stringent inspections of products entering its territory.

    To cope with this situation, exporters have to carefully prepare the packaging of their goods so that they can get through the customs easily and at fast pace, he said.

    On the other hand, to avoid congestion and save costs, businesses need to arrange a reasonable clearance time and not send many trucks to the border gates at the same time, he added.

    After the fourth Covid-19 wave hit Vietnam in late April, China has been increasing inspections and disinfection of goods and means of transport and drivers from the country.

    They are also tightening the management and traceability of goods, which has contributed to lengthening the customs clearance procedure.

    In September, China had temporarily ceased the import of dragon fruit from Vietnam after detecting the novel coronavirus on its packaging. It had also reported a similar detection on Vietnamese mangosteen in early August.

    Hu Suo Jin, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said the pandemic in Vietnam was developing quite complicatedly and exporters need to disinfect the means of transport and drivers also need to increase adoption of preventive measures to avoid leaving the virus on goods.

    In addition, if possible, Vietnamese goods should be labeled with a negative test certificate on their packaging, he said.

    China is one of Vietnam’s top trading partners. The import-export turnover of agro-forestry-fishery products between the two countries had grown strongly from $8 billion in 2015 to $11 billion last year.

    China was Vietnam’s second-largest export market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products behind the U.S., posting an export turnover of $8.4 billion in the first 11 months of the year, accounting for 19.2 percent of Vietnam’s total agricultural exports.

  • Singapore and China Regulators to Boost Supervisory Cooperation

    Singapore and China Regulators to Boost Supervisory Cooperation

    The two sides reaffirmed their close ties and commitment to strengthening supervisory cooperation.

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) made the commitment at their annual MAS-CBIRC Supervisory Roundtable, which was virtually on Wednesday, MAS said in a statement.

    The roundtable was chaired by MAS’ deputy managing director Ho Hern Shin and CBIRC’s vice chairman Zhou Liang.

    During the session, the two sides discussed regulatory and supervisory developments in the banking and insurance sectors in both jurisdictions and discussed opportunities for furthering collaboration in the areas of green finance, and the recovery and resolution planning for systemically important banks, MAS said.

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  • Armani banning angora wool from next winter season

    Armani banning angora wool from next winter season

    The Italian luxury company joins a string of brands banning the extremely soft wool removed from live rabbits, under pressure from animal rights organizations and more environmentally conscious shoppers.

    Last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that luxury e-commerce platform Farfetch would stop selling angora wool by April 2022.

    The organization launched a campaign years ago to ban angora wool, which is mainly produced in China, describing the techniques used to strip the fur from rabbits as cruel.

    Armani’s move marks another step towards sustainability after the group banned animal fur in 2016 and signed in 2019 the ‘Fashion Pact’ with other major industry players to address climate change, the company said in a statement.

  • Canada Goose under fresh fire in China over no-return policies

    Canada Goose under fresh fire in China over no-return policies

    China’s top consumer protection organization has warned Canada Goose Holdings Inc against “bullying” customers in China with its return policies, just three months after the winterwear brand was fined for false advertising.

    The premium down jacket manufacturer has been a hot topic on Chinese social media in recent days over its handling of a case involving a customer who wanted a refund of her purchases amounting to 11,400 yuan (US$1,790.17) after finding quality issues.

    She said she was told by Canada Goose that all products sold at its retail stores in mainland China were strictly non-refundable, according to her account which went viral online.

    State-backed media such as the Global Times newspaper later cited Canada Goose as denying that it had a no-refund policy and that all products sold at its retail stores in mainland China were refundable in line with Chinese laws. The company did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

    That has not failed to quell criticism of the brand.

    “No brand has any privileges in front of consumers,” the government-backed China Consumer Association (CCA) said in an opinion piece posted on its website on Thursday morning.

    “If you don’t do what you say, regard yourself as a big brand, behave arrogantly and in a superior way, adopt discriminatory policies, be condescending and bully customers, you will for sure lose the trust of consumers and be abandoned by the market,” the CCA said.

    Representatives of the brand were summoned for talks on Wednesday by the Shanghai Consumer Council to explain its refund policy in China.

    The dressing-down of Canada Goose comes as tension between China and Western countries has fuelled patriotism and driven some shoppers to turn to home-grown labels.

    Canada Goose was also fined 450,000 yuan in September in China for “misleading” consumers in its ads.

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  • Tim Hortons China to open coffee shops in Metro’s China stores

    Tim Hortons China to open coffee shops in Metro’s China stores

    Tim Hortons China (Tims China) is ready to further expand its presence in the Chinese market by entering a strategic partnership with Metro China, a joint venture of Wumart and Metro.

    Under the terms of the partnership, Tims China will become the exclusive coffee shop brand in Metro stores across the country.

    Tims China CEO Yongchen Lu said: “Through this agreement, we can reach millions of new customers to share our welcoming guest experience and extensive high-quality product offerings.

    “Over the next few years, we plan to strategically open Tims Go coffee shops in Metro China stores across 60 cities, growing our brand, revenue, and margins.”

    To mark the beginning of this partnership, Tims China opened seven Tims Go coffee shops across four cities using Tims China’s compact-store model.

    By next January, the partners intend to open at least nine Tims Go shops across six Chinese cities, namely Shanghai, Chengdu, Qingdao, Nanjing, Langfang, and Dalian.

    Additionally, the partnership will benefit Tims China with preferred site selection, delivery services, and complimentary marketing initiatives.

    With the new openings, Tims China will operate more than 335 stores across the country.

    Metro China deputy CEO Chen Zhiyu said: “We are delighted for Tims China to become one of our anchor tenants as we believe the brand will bring convenience and quality coffee products at great value to our members.

    “Our partnership will also create a strong link between daily shopping and coffee consumption in our stores that will greatly improve the overall shopping experience for our middle-class customers.”

    In March, Tims China secured funds in a financing round that was led by Sequoia Capital China and Tencent Holdings.

  • Apple is now the biggest smartphone brand in China

    Apple is now the biggest smartphone brand in China

    It seems that Apple has finally conquered China (again). According to new research by Counterpoint, the Cupertino brand saw the highest growth of all smartphone brands on the Chinese market, scoring 46% month-over-month growth. Apple surpassed Vivo in October 2021 to become the largest smartphone OEM in the country.

    “Apple could have gained more if it were not for the shortages, especially for the Pro versions,” commented research director Tarun Pathak. “But still, Apple is managing its supply chain better than other OEMs.”

    The iPhone 13 series is the major culprit behind the growth, as iPhone 13 sales grew 46%, while the entire Chinese smartphone market saw only a minor 2% month-to-month increase in October 2021.

    Of course, looking at the graph it’s clear to see that Huawei has lost its dominance in China since the US trade ban, and that’s another reason for Apple’s rise in the country. Apple is retaking the number 1 place in China for the first time since December 2015.

    “Due to supply issues, the normal wait time for the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max ranges between four and five weeks in China. Some Chinese customers choose to pay premiums to get the new phones delivered immediately. Overall, the China market has been slow throughout the year and Apple’s growth is a positive sign. It indicates that Chinese smartphone users are maturing fast and are looking to buy more high-end devices, which can be a good opportunity for brands. The supply chain is also prioritizing higher-end and higher-margin devices amid the shortages,” said Counterpoint analyst Varun Mishra.

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  • China Beefs Up Rights Of Workers In Ride-Hailing Industry

    China Beefs Up Rights Of Workers In Ride-Hailing Industry

    China issued guidance on Tuesday to strengthen protection of employee rights and interests in new transport sectors.

    In a statement, the transport ministry said ride-hailing companies should improve income distribution mechanisms and provide social insurance for drivers.

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  • StanChart Hires Amazon Technologist

    StanChart Hires Amazon Technologist

    He relocates to Singapore from Sydney, where he spent four years as a senior manager, solution architecture, at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

    Standard Chartered has appointed technologist Brendan Royal as its global chief architect, according to a report on «eFinancialCareers.»

    Royal has over 20 years of experience in financial services across retail, wealth and corporate banking, specializing in large transformation programs with a deep focus on tech and building enduring teams, his LinkedIn profile says. Before joining Amazon in 2019, he was head of banking architecture at Nordea, divisional director for BFS Architecture at Macquarie, and worked for CBA between 1999 and 2013, latterly as head of retail and business banking architecture.

    The move follows the bank’s five-year strategic global agreement with AWS to drive its digital transformation and deliver new personalized banking services in the bank’s 60 markets worldwide, signed in November 2020.

    As banks partner up with cloud platforms like AWS, they are increasingly also hiring from these same providers, the report said, noting that StanChart hired Google’s Singapore-based cloud engineering lead, Carl Bachman Kharazmi, as managing director and global head of cloud engineering and platforms earlier this year.

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  • China’s Anti-Monopoly Crackdown Hits Banking Sector

    China’s Anti-Monopoly Crackdown Hits Banking Sector

    Chinese regulators extend their antitrust crackdown to the banking sector with a fine against shareholders of a virtual lender.

    The shareholders of Chinese virtual lender AliBank – China Citic Bank (70 percent) and a Baidu unit called Fujian Baidu Bo Rui Netcom (30 percent) – have been fined 500,000 yuan ($78,280) over a violation of the country’s anti-monopoly law, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).

    SAMR issued a fine over the failure to report the AiBank joint venture ahead of its formation in 2015.

    The penalty was part of a broader batch of more than 40 cases with fines issued to other tech firms outside of the banking sector such as JD.com, Tencent, Baidu, ByteDance, and Alibaba.

    AiBank is an artificial intelligence-focused lender that leverages related capabilities from search engine giant Baidu.

    It is one of five licensed digital banks in China and the only one with a state-backed shareholder in Citic.

    According to research by McKinsey released in January, Chinese digital banks own roughly 5 percent of the country’s 5 trillion yuan unsecured consumer loan market and over 7 percent of the SME loan market.

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  • China October smartphone shipment grows 30.6% from a year ago

    China October smartphone shipment grows 30.6% from a year ago

    According to the China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT), China’s shipment of smartphones grew 30.6% year-on-year to 32.7 million handsets in October. This is a significant increase from a year ago, in October 2020, when shipments reached 25 million.

    An increase in shipment, compared to the decline experienced in the first half of the year, is largely driven by the release of the latest Apple iPhone 13 in China in September.

    When iPhone preorders were first released in September, demand was so high that Chinese retail websites reportedly went down. During the initial phase, as many as 5 million preorders were placed, signaling Apple’s continued popularity in the country.

  • China and South Korea boost Burberry sales

    China and South Korea boost Burberry sales

    Double-digit sales growth in China, South Korea, and the Americas underpinned a 37-per-cent lift in first-half sales for luxury fashion group Burberry to US$1.63 billion.

    The lift reflected a recovery in-store sales as Covid-related lockdowns and trading restrictions eased in the six months to September 25, compared with the same period a year earlier when a swathe of stores was closed across key markets.

    “We have made strong progress in the half,” said Burberry chair Gerry Murphy in a statement.

    “Full-price sales are growing at a double-digit percentage, driving margin expansion and strong free cash generation. We are seeing an acceleration in performance in countries less impacted by travel restrictions and we remain confident of achieving our medium-term goals.”

    The company reported an adjusted operating profit of $263 million, up 16.2 percent year on year.

    While the Americas, Korea, and China buoyed sales, the company said other regions continued to be impacted by reduced tourist levels.

    The company said its new store format – of which 15 are now complete with a target of 50 by the end of next March – was drawing higher-spending customers through the doors. Online sales were performing well with sales of goods at a full price almost doubling year on year.

    During the six months, Burberry announced its CEO Marco Gobbetti was to stand down early next year, to be replaced by Jonathan Akeroyd in April.

    Murphy paid tribute to Gobbetti’s “vision and leadership” during Burberry’s transformation and said the board expects Akeroyd will build on the strong foundations to accelerate growth and deliver further value for shareholders.

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  • Muji launches fresh food concept store with JD

    Muji launches fresh food concept store with JD

    Japanese retail giant, Muji, has forayed into the fresh food industry with the launch of a food complex in collaboration with JD’s Seven Fresh in Shanghai.

    Operated by both companies, the complex is located inside Ruihongtiandi shopping mall and spans 400sqm, housing a Muji store and fresh food supermarket, Seven Fresh, which is also the chain’s first presence in the city.

    Unlike Muji’s usual stores, the 1208sqm Muji store in the complex offers an expanded selection of food products, including ramen, oatmeal, frozen food, ice cream and pizza. Its fashion brands, Muji Labo and Muji Walker, are also available in the store.

    The Seven Fresh store features an omnichannel concept with both online and offline services, and customers can have their online orders delivered in as soon as 30 minutes.

    The store-in-store concept is not the first collaboration of the two companies: last year, Muji launched a new format MUJIcom, at JD headquarters in Beijing, providing employees selected products such as daily necessities and food, including lunch boxes featuring simple meals.

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