Edited China

A weekly roundup of fashion & consumer lifestyle business news pertaining to the Greater China market. Edited by Lina Lee

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"China's Other E-Commerce Giant Follows Its Own Path" The New York Times, 26 January 2015

Long overshadowed by its rival Alibaba, JD has emerged as China’s other online goliath by carving out its own distinct identity.

While Alibaba’s marketplace serves as a platform to connect buyers and sellers, JD buys goods from manufacturers and distributors and holds the inventory in its own warehouses, in a model that echoes Amazon’s. It then arranges for quick delivery of virtually everything from television sets and refrigerators to socks and T-shirts, using motorbikes that weave in and out of traffic in some of the country’s biggest cities.

ce serves as a platform to connect buyers and sellers, JD buys goods from manufacturers and distributors and holds the inventory in its own warehouses, in a model that echoes Amazon’s. It then arranges for quick delivery of virtually everything from television sets and refrigerators to socks and T-shirts, using motorbikes that weave in and out of traffic in some of the country’s biggest cities.

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"Angela Ahrendts Recruiting US Employees For China As New Stores and Initiatives Revealed" 9 to 5 Mac.com, 26 January 2015

Apple Senior Vice President of Retail Angela Ahrendts is continuing to go all in on growth in China. In video messages to employees in recent days and weeks, Ahrendts has been recruiting employees from United States-based Apple Retail stores to relocate to China to help build up Apple’s retail efforts in the region. In a note to employees late last week, sources say that Ahrendts reported that approximately 200 Apple retail workers from the U.S. have already offered to make the move. Ahrendts added that the offer to move to China “has no expiration date because as the business grows, our needs will only become greater, so as your personal and professional life changes, just always keep China at the top of your mind, because we’re going to need you…”

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"China's Outlet Mall Sector Thriving" Women's Wear Daily, 21 January 2015

The extravagance of Florentia Village, which opens Thursday, speaks for a sector on the rise. While China’s economic growth rate has slowed to 7.4 percent, its lowest in 24 years, its outlet mall sector is bucking the trend. Across the board, retail profit margins are suffering except for in two areas. The first is well documented — the online retail market, made famous by Alibaba’s historic $25 billion initial public offering last autumn. The second is outlet malls, less well known but still thriving. 

Photo Credit: interior of Sasseur Group's upcoming Nanjing project

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"Alibaba in major initiative to court China consumer for U.S. retailers" Reuters, 16 January 2015

Anchored by Alipay, the dominant Chinese electronic payments system that works closely with Alibaba and is controlled by its executives, the world's largest Internet retailer is using the calling card of China's consumers to attract U.S. partners, two sources close to the company told Reuters.

Long seen as the most potent threat to Amazon.com Inc with $300 billion in global sales, the moves add up to a conservative approach to expanding in the United States, contrary to industry speculation that the company may be plotting a direct assault on U.S. soil.

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"The world's luxury fashion houses - including Ermenegildo Zegna - are heading to China" The Independent, 17 January 2015

There is also an interesting skew in China – towards menswear. The impact of the 'One-Child Policy', combined with traditional, male-dominated Chinese cultural values, has created a market with a decided slant. Its global impact? A fresh focus, throughout fashion, on dressing the male of the species.

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"The Business of Blogging | Gogoboi" The Business of Fashion, 12 December 2014

The business he’s referring to consists mostly of critiquing the style of Chinese and international celebrities, publishing fashion news and describing interesting products and stories connected to the world of fashion on China’s biggest social media platform, Weibo. His writing style is unique — full of imagination and so naughty that it makes some readers snicker against their will and better judgement.

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"How Chinese Tycoon Wang Jianlin is Turning Hard Cash Into Soft Power" The Guardian, 9 December 2014

Asked why with China growing he would shift his company’s focus abroad, he said: “We have a new target – to be a transnational company. That is why we go abroad.”

In China Wanda is best known for its 100 block-long glass-and-steel shopping centres boasting cinemas, offices and hotels. Yet with China’s real estate market cooling after decades of explosive growth – knocking him from top spot to fourth on this year’s Forbes list of China’s billionaires – Wang has been looking elsewhere. He has poured money into studios and museums since China’s top leadership urged entrepreneurs in 2012 to “enhance Chinese culture as the country’s soft power”.

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"US Retailers Target Alibaba Over Sales Tax 'Loophole'" Financial Times, 1 December 2014

Bricks-and-mortar retailers – which have spent years attacking Amazon for profiting from what they call a sales tax loophole – have now turned their fire on Alibaba by launching a new advertisement warning that the Chinese e-commerce group will be the next beneficiary.

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"China: Beijing store 'bans Chinese customers' " BBC, 26 November 2014

The sign has caused uproar on Chinese social media sites, with one Weibo user asking: "Is this still China?" The disbelief was shared by others on the site. "Bullying on my own doorstep," says one person, who wonders why the owners would open a shop in China if they don't want Chinese customers. "This type of shop should be closed down," declares another Weibo user. But a legal expert tells the Beijing Youth Daily that while the sign is discriminatory, the shop's owner hasn't broken the law because China doesn't have a legal ban on racial discrimination.

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“Hong Kong Moves to Refashion Itself as a Global Hub of Creativity” The New York Times, 22 November 2014

But Hong Kong, known more for its cargo ports and financial sector than for a vibrant cultural or creative scene, is working to move past an economy based on manufacturing and reproduction of goods to one based on innovation, branding and design, said Stanley Chu, 64, the founder and chairman of the Adsale Group, which organizes international trade shows in Asia. The creative industries could be “the next economic locomotive of Hong Kong,” he said.

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“Ralph Lauren Interview to Air in China” Women’s Wear Daily, 20 November 2014

The Ralph Lauren company estimates the interview will reach a viewership of around 374 million people through a combination of television broadcasts and video websites, such as Youku.  The American brand timed the interview’s release to coincide with the opening of its new flagship in Hong Kong. Lauren does not give broadcast interviews often — his last in-depth sit-down was in 2011, when he was one of Oprah Winfrey’s final interviewees on her namesake talk show.

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“In Smoggy China, Masks Become Stylish Accessory” The Los Angeles Times, 20 November 2014

The usefulness of many masks remains questionable. Richard St. Cyr, a physician and noted commentator on air pollution in China, said there's a notable lack of data, with no medical consensus and no reliable long-term studies on how well they work. "We're kind of making it up as we go along," he said.

China does not have a national standard under which masks are tested and rated, though the first such regulations should be implemented by June, state-run media said recently. Nearly half the masks now on the market will be blocked by the new standards, the reports said.

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“Alibaba and US Retailers Teaming Up To Bring Black Friday to China” International Business Times, 20 November 2014

With help from China’s Alibaba, U.S. retailers are hoping to lure affluent Chinese shoppers into the American Black Friday frenzy. Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Ann Taylor and American Apparel, among others, are partnering with Alibaba to promote Black Friday sales, accept online payments in Chinese currency and deliver packages across the world’s most populous country.

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“A Few Firsts for Chloe in China” Women’s Wear Daily, 19 November 2014

Clare Waight Keller, Chloé’s creative director, landed in Beijing on Wednesday night for a presentation of the house’s spring 2015 collection for hundreds of local consumers. The trip was Keller’s first to the mainland and marked the first event Chloé has held in China since 2011, when it presented a collection in Shanghai to celebrate its fifth anniversary in the Chinese market. 

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“A Quick History of Why Asians Wear Surgical Masks in Public” Quartz, 19 November 2014

The bottom line is that in East Asia, the predilection toward using face-coverings to prevent exposure to bad air is something that predates the germ theory of disease, and extends into the very foundations of East Asian culture. In recent years, however, mask-wearing has become rooted in new and increasingly postmodern rationales.

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“Chinese M&A Market Expected To Stay Strong: Carlyle” China Daily, 19 November 2014

A total of $103.5 billion in deals involving Chinese companies have been made so far this year, up 21 percent from last year ($85.3 billion), according to Dealogic, an investment research firm. Among the more notable deals involving Chinese companies were Lenovo Group Ltd's $2.9 billion purchase of the Motorola Mobility smartphone unit from Google Inc, and Lenovo's $2.1 billion purchase of IBM's low-end server unit. Both deals were finalized in October.

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“Petit Bateau Stores to Open in China” Women’s Wear Daily, 18 November 2014

Petit Bateau and Fung Kids Ltd., a subsidiary of Fung Retailing Ltd., have inked a distribution partnership to open stores in China selling the French label’s baby and children’s apparel. Petit Bateau’s first boutiques in China are to open in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao in 2015.

Photo Credit: Petit Bateau Spring 2013 Campaign