First stores drive consumption in China

BEIJING－Eyeing the wide consumer market and increasing demand for a quality life in China, more and more international and domestic brands have set up their first stores in the country or in a major Chinese city, injecting fresh impetus into its retail sales sector.

Since opening its first store on the mainland in the China World Mall in Beijing in June, Choo Noble has received an increasing number of customers. A brand of the Hong Kong-based company China Nobleness, the store sells color pencils and crayons, as well as wine, coffee and beer from Europe.

"Many companies have come to place orders for pencils, wine and coffee from Switzerland," said Amy Cao, manager of the brand.

Cao said the sound business environment and orderly organization in Beijing made the company determined to open its first store here. "The favorable operation conditions have given us confidence, and we plan to open more stores in the domestic market," she said.

In July, China approved Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, to take the lead as international consumption center cities.

In an implementation plan for this goal issued by the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, it said over 3,000 first, innovative and flagship stores of brands from both China and abroad are expected to open by 2025 in the city.

Third-party statistics show a total of 696 first stores, including flagship stores, had been set up in Beijing in the first three quarters, and the figure in Shanghai was 513 during the first half.

Japanese fashion store Studious has included more than 80 Japanese brands of clothes and accessories in the 860-square-meter outlet that it opened in April in Beijing.

"Among the outlets in China, the one in Beijing is the largest in terms of the number of Japanese brands. Next, we are going to open another one in Guangzhou," said Zhang Tianhao, head of the Studious Beijing outlet.

In the shopping mall "The New "in downtown Beijing, where the Studious store is located, nearly half of the stores are first stores or flagship stores in the city, some even in the whole of China. The mall which opened in April receives some 50,000 customers daily.

Yan Ligang, head of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said the city will strengthen the ability to gather talent in international retailing and consumption, as well as innovate and enhance the business operation models to continuously introduce first stores of major brands to the city.

China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 16.4 percent year-on-year to around 31.8 trillion yuan ($4.97 trillion) in the first three quarters, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Xinhua