Zhao Jihong, President of the Hangzhou-based high-end kitchen appliance maker Robam, believes that the future belongs to smart appliances.
Logistics revolution in China: Will delivery companies deliver?
China’s logistics sector owes its rapid growth to the country’s e-commerce boom, but can it keep pace? Express delivery in China is cheap and fast. Buy something online and most likely you’ll have a kuaidi (Chinese word for courier) at your door step in just a day or two for a small delivery fee of […]
What will Showrooming do to Brick and Mortar Retail in China?
Will the rise of e-commerce and “showrooming” kill traditional retail? Brick and mortar retail once felt fairly brick-like. In mature markets, some of the department stores were more than 100 years old, and sometimes even looked a bit like castles. Later, malls and big box stores popped up, and created a whole new landscape, that […]
Transitioning Online: Suning’s e-Commerce Strategy
Sun Weimin, Vice-President of China’s electronics giant Suning, on the company’s foray into e-commerce and the synergies between brick-and-mortar and online One of the biggest “3C” (computer, communication and consumer-electronics) retailers in China, Suning Appliances operates more than 1,700 chain stores, with one seemingly on every street corner of Mainland China. In a recent survey, […]
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 […]
Back To School: In-house Universities boost Management Talent
Chinese companies ramp up training by setting up in-house universities to retain talent A couple of students sit outside a state-of-the-art training facility enjoying their break over a cup of coffee in a chic café resembling a luxury version of Starbucks. Soon they will go back inside and sit behind their desks in modern classrooms, […]
E-tail versus retail: Can upstart company 360Buy succesfully compete with the two reigning giants of the appliance market?
When the top two Chinese home appliances retailers, Gome and Suning gained a third of the consumer market for the home appliance industry, they probably never considered the possibility of any potential threats from smaller appliance retailers with fewer resources. But over the past seven years, the domination of the appliance market by these two […]
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