Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in China, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group is renegotiating store rents and consolidating its retail network in order to manage rental costs, chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun said on Thursday. Amid a downturn in the city’s retail landscape, the largest Hong Kong-listed…
As China devalues yuan and the U.S. is on track to raise rates, Hong Kong, whose currency is pegged to the dollar, is in trouble. Forecasting “black sky”, UBS now sees the Hang Seng Index to end the year at 19,775, another 5.5% downside from its current…
A sense of security is paramount for nearly one quarter of shoppers when evaluating whether to purchase goods from a retailer online, according to a new survey from Worldpay, a payments provider. Assuring customers they are in safe hands throughout the entire…
JD.com says it has secured partnerships with Australian brands Blackmores, a leading Australian natural health company, and Sanger Australia, the Australian meat sales and marketing business of the Bindaree Beef Group. Both brands will open stores on JD.com’s…
Famed Californian winery Robert Mondavi is to join Alibaba Group’s Tmall.com online shopping marketplace to reach more consumers in China, the world’s largest wine-consuming market. Robert Mondavi says its exclusive Tmall flagship store will be the California…
Leather goods maker Coach Inc. is shutting one of its three flagship locations in Hong Kong, the latest retailer to be hit by the drop in the number of mainland Chinese visitors to the city amid a slowing economy and weaker yuan. The store towers above…
Xiaomi was incredibly successful last year. The company managed to become China’s number one smartphone OEM and ship 61 million smartphones. Xiaomi is looking to improve upon that next year, and they’ve released a number of really compelling handsets thus…
The European markets ended Monday’s session in negative territory, as renewed concerns over China weighed on investor sentiment. Concerns over the upcoming snap elections in Greece and the likelihood of a near-term U.S. interest rate hike also contributed to…
All retail banks in Hong Kong have set up hotlines for customers to verify the identities of their employees in a bid to battle a flood of phone scam cases. Banking chiefs said yesterday the hotlines – some exclusively for the purpose of verifying employees’…
Vietnam is the fastest growing smartphone market in South East Asia, where sales topped $8bn in the first half of the year according to new figures. Data from market researcher GfK indicated that, overall, some 39.8m smartphones were sold in the region, up…
Thai AirAsia (FD, Bangkok Don Mueang) has set about establishing a base in Utapao with the launch of flights to Hangzhou, China on September 1. The 3x weekly charter service runs until October 24. Airline Route indicates the AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int’l)…
‘M’ Restaurant Group is pleased to announce the launch of Glam, a sophisticated new Shanghai dining lounge & bar at 5 on the Bund – the same address that has been home to Shanghai institution and Bund pioneer, M on the Bund restaurant. ‘M’, spearheaded by…
French retailer Carrefour is embracing advanced technology to bring shoppers closer to its services in the fast-changing retail landscape. In June, the company launched its second Easy Carrefour store in Xuhui District. It’s a new initiative to cater to…
According to the English-language Japan news site RocketNews 24, a few weeks ago two families got into a fight at a large retail outlet in Kobe over disposable diapers. Both families had come to the store when it opened in order to buy as many diapers as they…
The eating habits of urban Chinese have changed dramatically since the proliferation of takeaway food delivery apps brought restaurant-quality meals to almost everyone’s front door. Engineer Zhao Baijun, 29, now eats in more often than he eats out. “Before…
China is no longer in vogue with e-commerce investors, as money returns to the US and Amazon.com following a brief fling with Alibaba Group Holding and its 367 million customers. With a market value of more than US$240 billion, Amazon is once again the…
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