While e-commerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba continue to rise, many physical-store retailers are dying off. MINISO is a rare exception, however. Founded in 2013 by Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu and Japanese designer Miyake Junya, MINISO has exploded into an emerging business empire with 1,800 stores in 40 countries, delivering an eclectic collection of affordable, curated goods, challenging the physical retail naysayers. What is the key to MINISO’s success? Through careful consideration of the customer and a unique aesthetic, it manages to do what online stores cannot: Deliver an experience.
No Easy Rides: DCM Ventures’ Ramon Zeng on How Chinese Startups Manage to Thrive
The Chinese internet industry has developed at an amazing speed with a number of tech firms becoming “unicorns” worldwide. A major force behind those fast-growing companies and young CEOs is the venture capital firms who play a crucial role in spotting and supporting innovative models. Over the past 10 years, VC has evolved from a non-mainstream form of finance to one of the hottest areas in the Middle Kingdom. Ramon Zeng, with a number of successful investments in “unicorns”, talks about his observation of the industry and what the next big trend will be.
The Future of Retail in China is Both Online and Offline
Alibaba’s investment in Suning is a signal that companies in retail in China need a multichannel strategy: embracing both the online as well as offline worlds.
China’s E-commerce Consumers Wise-Up
Increasingly sophisticated online consumers are pushing China’s cyber retailers to the next level Just as clever marketers have whittled the meaning of Christmas down to the goods that are gifted on the 25th of December, festive days in China are quickly following suit. Singles Day—a celebration of bachelorhood on the 11th of November—seems to have […]
Digital Promised Land: Retailers Look to E-Commerce to Succeed in China
Can Western retail brands make it big in China’s e-market? In September 2012, The Home Depot announced that it was closing all seven of its megastores in China. After eight years of consumer research and a $100-million 12-store acquisition, The Home Depot called it quits in China after realizing that China isn’t a sure return […]
Download the March 2013 issue of CKGSB Magazine: Tapping homegrown innovation
You are invited to download the March issue of CKGSB Magazine. You’ll enjoy articles and interviews like: COVER STORY: Innovation: Incubators tap homegrown innovation in China. With close similarities to incubators in Silicon Valley and an arsenal of China-specific tactics for start-up success, Chinese incubators are moving beyond the traditional role of incubators. They are creating […]
Consumer Behavior 2.0
Wharton’s David Bell elaborates on the possible directions e-commerce in China could take in future. The rise of online shopping in China is dizzying. With cyber consumption accounting for $36.56 billion in the first quarter of this year, purchases have risen 40.9% compared with the same period last year. Analysts predict that the country’s e-commerce […]
Social Commerce in China Goes Beyond Sharing
Dabbling in social commerce might help Chinese e-commerce companies deal with fickle consumers and heightened competition. 11th November 2012 marked a watershed moment in the history of e-commerce in China. The date marks Singles’ Day or Guanggun Jie, a curious festival that came up to celebrate bachelorhood. Whatever its origins, today Singles’ Day has become […]
Yihaodian Chairman Gang Yu on Crafting a Sophisticated e-Commerce Strategy
Some time in the middle of last year, subway commuters in Beijing and Shanghai stumbled across an interesting experiment–the walls of select stations had been turned into virtual supermarkets by Yihaodian, a Chinese online supermarket. All a commuter had to do was scan the QR codes of whatever he needed on the ‘virtual supermarket aisles’ […]
Yihaodian Chairman Gang Yu on e-Commerce in China
At last count, China had nearly 538 million internet users–a number that is growing everyday. Out of these 538 million, 194 million have shopped online. And this number is also growing everyday. As a result, e-commerce is one of the hottest sectors in China right now. The Chinese customer is demanding–and unforgiving–and competition between players […]
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