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News on Consumers & Retail in China

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Coming to a boiling point

Covid-19 and changes in the market boosts Hebei noodle giant Jinmailang
Jan 15, 2021 (WiC 524)

China’s instant noodle market, the world’s biggest, has been dominated for decades by Master Kong and Uni-President. Both are from Taiwan but that doesn’t mean that competition between them is friendly. Rivalry between the two has been ...

Detergent maker Blue Moon completes well-timed IPO in Hong Kong
Jan 8, 2021 (WiC 523)

Outgoing American President Donald Trump was lambasted last year after suggesting that Covid-19 could be treated by injections of disinfectant (he later said the remark was made in jest). A professor of infectious diseases in Hong Kong also ...

Leading snack firm to IPO
Dec 11, 2020 (WiC 522)

The origins of latiao (辣条) are said to date back 1998. At the time, a flood swept through Hunan province, which led to a shortage of soybeans and the price for the crop skyrocketed. Several chilli sauce makers switched to gluten and began ...

A ‘zero innovation’ formula

Why elderly Shanghainese love Zhending Chicken more than KFC
Dec 11, 2020 (WiC 522)

Located in the ever-changing metropolis of Shanghai, Zhending Chicken hasn’t updated its menu in 30 years. The chain store has no franchises, no delivery options and closes its doors every night at 7:30pm. Despite being set in its ways – or ...

Bicycle kingdom

E-bike maker AIMA can finally go public
Dec 11, 2020 (WiC 522)

In 2009, electric bike company AIMA appointed Jay Chou to be its spokesperson, offering the Taiwanese pop star Rmb30 million ($4.6 million) for a two-year deal. That was money well spent. Still acting as AIMA’s spokesperson, Chou has helped the ...

McDonald’s joins coffee market’s brewing battle
Dec 4, 2020 (WiC 521)

The first McCafe was launched in Melbourne in 1993. A decade later McCafe had become the largest coffee shop brand across Australia and New Zealand. McCafe is now seeking to replicate that success in China. Last month the McDonald’s ...

Rue ye the day?

How a century-old Japanese clothier perished under Chinese ownership
Nov 27, 2020 (WiC 520)

It was the HMS Renown that took Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor) to Japan as part of his goodwill tour around Asia between 1921 and 1922. The battlecruiser captivated Sasaki Yasohachi so much so that he renamed his ...

The longest Singles’ Day

Breaking records again, but perhaps because it is no longer just 24 hours
Nov 13, 2020 (WiC 518)

“Don’t go to bed early tonight. You will lose hundreds of yuan when you sleep,” Li Jiaqi warned ahead of his e-commerce livestream session on October 20. His warning was still weeks away from Singles’ Day, the landmark shopping bonanza ...

Yatsen is first Chinese cosmetic firm to list in New York
Nov 13, 2020 (WiC 518)

It is counterintuitive to think that cosmetics companies could do well during a pandemic – given that it has turned wearing a face mask into a social norm. But Yatsen Holding has proved otherwise. In fact, the operator of Chinese makeup ...

Change of style

Can pop star revive HLA’s flagging fortunes
Nov 6, 2020 (WiC 517)

Are the young people who drank U-loveit milk tea, donned Metersbonwe casual wear and rode around on Evermaster motorcycles – all habits associated with Taiwanese pop legend Jay Chou – now going to start wearing clothing under the HLA ...

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