Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in China, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Global Brands Group is discussing a possible “strategic alliance” with Chinese eCommerce companies Alibaba and JD.com. The two e-tailers are declining to comment on the matter, but based on comments by Global Brands CEO Bruce Rockowitz, Bloomberg reports the…
Latitude19 Technology says its internet payment gateway is now registered with UnionPay Online Payment, a service for eCommerce transactions that enables UnionPay cards to be accepted over the internet with real-time transaction authorisation. The service…
AS Watson Group has opened its 12,000th store worldwide – in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay. Perhaps fittingly, the store is a three-storey flagship, at 8000 sqft, the brand’s largest store in Hong Kong. Located on Yun Ping Rd, the new store features the latest…
Chinese sports brand 361 Degrees says its sales and gross margin improved in the first half year to June 30. 361 Degrees, listed in Hong Kong, operates 7404 retail stores across Mainland China. It says store productivity continued to be a central theme in…
Li & Fung spinoff Global Brands has reported stronger margins as it continues to shed non-performing brands in favour of higher end products. The group’s total margin continues to rise, growing as a percentage to turnover from 29.7 per cent to 31.7 per cent…
Just a year ago, sports retailer Li Ning seemed down for the count, battling to stem the red ink. This week it released its half year results to June 30: Revenue rose 16 per cent and it has finally returned to profit. The once beleaguered Chinese sports brand…
Luk Fook Holdings has opened a three-storey Lukfook Jewellery flagship store in Causeway Bay. The group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new store this week, inviting Japanese cartoon character Rilakkuma to join in the celebrations. Wong Wai Sheung,…
German fashion house Hugo Boss will expand its presence in China, key shareholder Gaetano Marzotto said in an interview in newspaper Welt am Sonntag. Despite slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy, Marzotto told the paper that he saw the…
For a long time, Hong Kong people and corporates enjoyed a free ride on the renminbi as the Chinese currency promised steady appreciation and high returns. But the steep devaluation this week has spoilt the party for good, and everyone — be it multinational…
As the brick-versus-click-sales war intensifies, shopping malls in Singapore are plotting aggressive strategies to stay ahead in the game while they continue to battle falling tourist arrivals, the oversupply of retail space and growing competition for…
The yuan devaluation could force Hong Kong’s retail landlords to cut rents as it threatens to erode shopping in the city by tourists from China, say analysts. A weaker yuan means these tourists will now be spending in a more expensive Hong Kong dollar,…
The Hong Kong fund industry saw net sales drop by almost a half in the first six months of 2015, new figures reveal. The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) published data on Wednesday which cited a sharp fall in funds to $3.71bn (£2.38bn,…
The founders of Hong Kong retail chain DSC, Mr Hui Ming-shun and his wife Lin Wai-yin, have been arrested after the closure of all 14 of its stores on 3 August. They are said to owe approximately $1.68 million in unpaid wages to their staff. The couple were…
Retailers such as Burberry Group Plc, Kering SA and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. are pushing landlords to lower rents on existing properties as luxury brands scale back on declining traffic. Commercial rents have dropped the most this year since 2009…
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will spend 28.3 billion yuan ($4.6-billion) for a stake in Suning Commerce Group Ltd. as China’s biggest e-commerce operator adds a network of electronics stores in its biggest deal ever. Alibaba will buy a 19.99 per cent stake in…
The business sentiment of Korean companies in China has worsened in the second quarter – particularly in the automotive and electronics sectors – mainly due to the slowdown in overall consumption in the Chinese market on the heels of a wobbling stock market.…
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