A row of Carrefour shopping trolleys at the entrance to a Beijing outlet of the French retailer. (XU YIN / CHINA FOTO PRESS)
Retailer embarks on strategic expansion on the back of high sales
The night time craze was symbolic of the retail giant’s strong performance in China. Claudio Gouveia, vice-president of Carrefour China and also general manager of the North Territory of Carrefour China, said the country has become one of the most significant and also fastest-growing markets for the retailer.
Carrefour last year pulled out of Russia and southern Italy amid the economic meltdown following decisions to quit Japanese, South Korean and Mexican markets in 2005 and 2006, because of “unsmooth operations”. It sold its stores to local enterprises.
However, the retailer maintained steady expansion in China. Gouveia said that Carrefour opened 22 new stores in 2009, boosting the total number of outlets to 157 across the country. It plans to open 20 to 25 new outlets this year.
He added that the company was satisfied and very optimistic about its business in China because the country’s household consumption rates have been high.
In the past year, Carrefour benefited a lot from the stimulus measures, introduced by the Chinese government. For example, the authorities subsidized energy-saving household appliances in an effort to encourage their purchase.
Gouveia said Carrefour had a very clear strategic plan for the Chinese market and would be focusing on constructing hypermarkets with an average size from 6,000 sq m to 11,000 sq m.
The company was making great efforts to balance its presence in big cities and also second and third tier cities. It has been operating its retail business in 45 cities across China.
“Currently, Carrefour has a good presence in big cities while more new stores will be in second and third tier cities,” said Gouveia.
The French company will be the first international retailer to enter the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where it plans to build a new outlet in 2011.
The retailer plans to develop its China-based outlets alongside the construction of local infrastructure and arrival of new businesses. “For instance, there will be a new airport in the Daxing district of Beijing’s southern suburb and there may be a new outlet nearby. I believe we have many opportunities in this area,” said Gouveia.
In response to its rival Wal-Mart, which is planning to build about 50 new stores each year, adding to its current total of 160 outlets, Gouveia said the focus of Carrefour was to keep a good balance between the rhythm of expansion and the quality of the stores.
Gary Wang, founder and CEO of Tudou.com, describes himself as a "world citizen", having studied in the United States and France. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Even when his company endured a government-led online crackdown on copyrighted video content last year and had to face a group of new giant competitors such as CCTV and Baidu, the 36-year-old chief executive still maintained his calm and confidence rather than submitting to worry or panic, something many had expected.
Wang dropped out from China’s rigid education system in the 1990s, but later managed to get his bachelor, master and MBA degrees at the world’s best educational institutions. He enjoys hiking and reading and describes himself as a “world citizen”. He is also the author of a popular Chinese fiction book that some believe to have described his early days of studying in the United States and France.
As a man who comfortably mixes his work and free time, Wang is happy dealing with business emails while camping during a hike and allows flexible working hour for his employees. As an interviewee he is relaxed to the point of resting his legs on the office table while excitably discussing his favorite books.
Surprisingly, these characteristics, regarded by some as perhaps conceited and arrogant, helped Wang win approval from many investors, one of whom once said he felt “assured” by Wang’s attitude towards work and life.
“Doing business is like playing games: You grow up by passing each level and fight with bigger bosses each time,” Wang said, sitting in his office in Beijing soon after CCTV and Baidu announced they were establishing their own video websites. “I believe we can survive and thrive.” – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Reading up on feng shui could improve your financial skills. (CFP)
Peter So, a popular local feng shui master, is trying to convince undecided investors not to purchase property in Hong Kong until 2015.
So said past experience showed the city’s property prices rising continuously for five years and then falling over the next six. He said prices peaked in 2009, the final year of the last cycle, and were now due to tumble.
“The theory has never been wrong in the past,” said So. “Apartment prices fell in value almost 50 percent between 1986 and 1991 and then rebounded to another high in 1997. They slumped again in 2003 because of the breakout of SARS, and it is acknowledged that property prices have been way up over the past few years, even though the city’s economy was damaged severely by the global financial crisis.”
So said the next bottoming of the property market would occur in 2015 and he had now started saving money ahead of the eventuality.
As to stocks, So eschewed predicting whether it would be a lucrative market or not this year, but advised investors to differentiate odd years from even ones when buying, a tactic he said was effective eight times of 10.
“Though the stock market is volatile, rough fluctuations still can be determined. Generally, the market rises high initially but ends low in odd years. The trend reverses in even years. This is an even year, so investors should consider buying stocks in May or June, when the market will be at the year’s bottom,” said So.
However, just like the mercurial markets, predictions from different feng shui masters vary, sometimes considerably.
Edwin Ma, another local feng shui master, disagrees with So about the city’s property market.
“If I am to make a suggestion to my clients, I will definitely advise them to pour money into the property market this year,” Ma said.
Ma anticipates a flat year in housing prices, but he said it was still worth investing since “in comparison with stocks, property prices are de facto guaranteed to make a fortune, while most stocks were not”.
He added: “The stock market seemed exuberant last year, but it has become the playground only for rich people because profitable stocks were no longer affordable to most ordinary investors.” – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Wuxi is attempting a transformation from a manufacturing hub to a high-tech city.
As a major city in the Yangtze River Delta, Wuxi, Jiangsu province, landed 12 new projects last month including those in electronic information, biopharmaceutics, new energy and materials and outsourcing, totaling 715.7 million yuan.
Wuxi’s development district has already inked an agreement with consumer electronics maker Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co Ltd, to invest 30 million yuan in a hi-tech manufacturing base.
Beijing Huaqi, maker of Aigo branded electronics, plans to locate its MP6 wireless technology unit in Wuxi.
“Wuxi is one of China’s bases for the ‘Internet of Things’ industry. This is one of the major reasons we chose to locate here,” said Frank Zhou, general manager of Beijing Huaqi’s MP6 business unit.
The “Internet of Things” is a network of web-enabled objects linked together with online services that interact with these objects. Underlying the Internet of Things are technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors and smart phones.
The Internet fridge is probably the most often-quoted example of what the Internet of Things will enable.
Zhou said Beijing Huaqi hopes to leverage Internet of Things technologies in association with its closely related MP6 business.
Beijing Huaqi expects its MP6 business – focused on the firm’s Internet music player – to generate revenue of 2 billion yuan over the next three years. Zhou said the company is eying both Hong Kong and New York as possible future locations for an initial public offering.
Just last year, Wuxi formed new alliances with telecom carriers China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, to cooperate in research and development, project incubation and other commercial applications. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Chinese Luxury Shoppers Outspend Japanese 2-To-1 At South Korean Malls: Wealthy Chinese Travelers In Korea Favor Cosmetics, Children’s Supplies, Ginseng And Healthcare Products, Luxury Watches – This week, more news about free-spending mainland Chinese tourists came out of South Korea. As more Chinese tourists have headed outward, most of them staying relatively close to home, the Korean media has consistently framed news about tourist behavior as a sort of rivalry between China and Japan — a phenomenon Jing Daily discussed last fall. (’Tourist Profile: Japanese vs. Chinese‘) According to Tencent (via Yonhap), after a year in which the number (and profligacy) of Chinese tourists increased at Korean luxury malls, shoppers from mainland China now account for twice as many sales per capita as Japanese tourists.
Hummer price soars in Shanghai: Although Tengzhong failed in buying Hummer, the Hummer dealers are overjoyed, taking the opportunity to raise the price. On February 25, the reporter learned from Hummer dealers in Shanghai that after hearing the acquisition of Hummer failed, dealers immediately raised the price of Hummer, among which Hummer H3X produced in 2009 rose by 20,000 yuan, and Hummer H2 is planning to rise by 100,000 yuan. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Calvin Klein To Focus On Chinese Market In 2010: American fashion brand Calvin Klein has announced plans to open 60 new chain stores in Asia in 2010, mainly targeting its expansion in the Chinese market.
According to reports from Singapore’s Channel News Asia, Calvin Klein’s current revenues from the Asian areas account for 15% of its income worldwide. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
Toyota chief’s testimony closely watched in Japan: Japan appeared largely relieved Thursday that much-anticipated testimony by Toyota’s chief executive before U.S. lawmakers was finally over, though analysts said the company’s recall woes are no closer to being solved. Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda’s appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was closely watched in Japan, where the company his grandfather founded is a national icon. It was the top item on local morning news programs. At least one channel briefly broadcast his testimony live, where it took place Wednesday in Washington. (AP) (Via News On Japan.)
Singapore Witnesses Record Number of Travelers in January: January of 2010 managed to see the highest ever recorded number of travels to Singapore for the month. Figures shared by the Singapore Tourism Board have revealed that as many as 908,000 travelers visited Singapore over the past month, which is a hike of nearly 17.5% compared to January of 2009. The top 5 markets for the month which generated visitors for Singapore were Indonesia with 173,000 visitors, China with 99,000 travelers, Australia with 90,000 travelers, 68,000 came in from Malaysia and 57,000 travelers were from India. (Via TopNews Singapore.)
The rise and rise of the 'rich class' A woman takes a look at a model of a property development in Haikou, Hainan province yesterday. Properties on the island province have become hot targets for the newly-rich Chinese. (China Daily)
The large siheyuan, a traditional house found in the capital’s sprawling hutongs, cost Chen 12 million yuan ($1.75 million), suggesting he is far removed from those who sweat and struggle for years to afford small, humble homes.
China has seen a massive expansion in the rich class in the past five years, according to analysts.
“The country’s fortune is increasing at a skyrocketing speed and is converging toward the rich class,” Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Rich List, told Outlook Weekly.
“The number of people with a personal wealth of more than 1 billion yuan has rapidly risen since 2004. Then, there were 100. In 2009, we discovered that 1,000 people are now in the club.”
A spokesman for the Forbes China Rich List also said the threshold for being among the 400 richest people on the Chinese mainland had risen from 1.22 billion yuan in 2008 to 2.05 billion yuan last year.
The growth in Chinese millionaires alone has attracted interest for multinational companies, including Deutsche Bank AG, which is planning to target more services to China’s rich class, reported the German press.
According to other experts, the rich class is a group with only one thing on their mind: property.
A recent poll of wealthy people in Beijing and Shanghai by the Beijing Youth Daily found most owned at least three properties, while many subscribe to the traditional belief that, if you have money, you should invest in property. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Hong Kong clothing retailers threaten to quit Taiwan over tax issue: Taipei – Four Hong Kong clothing retailers are threatening to quit Taiwan over a tax dispute with Taiwan authorities, a press report said Monday. The four Hong Kong retailers – Hang Ten, Giordano, Bossini and BaLeNo – made the threat in a petition to President Ma Ying-jeou, demanding that their names be cleared, or they might withdraw from Taiwan, the United Daily News quoted Lai Shih-pao as saying. (Via China News.)
Hainan to curb ‘whopping housing price’: As of the phenomena that the ‘whopping prices’ for living in hotels in Hainan Province ‘bluff off’ the tourists during the Spring Festival, the government would takes efforts to regulate the market, Wu Kunxiong, deputy director general of the tourism department of Hainan Province said Saturday. The government will strictly crack down on the house speculators and formulate tourism standards to cope with the high prices, according to Wu. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Revenue From Beijing’s Five-star Hotels Beijing Down 16.9% In 2009: According to data provided by Bureau of Statistics of Beijing, the revenue of star-grade hotels in the city decreased by 9.7% year-on-year in 2009. During the entire year of 2009, star hotels in Beijing made total revenues of CNY21.94 billion, including CNY9.98 billion from guest rooms. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
APEC seeking pathways to Asia-Pacific free trade area: Senior officials from Pacific Rim economies accelerated their efforts Monday to seek ”possible pathways” to a region-wide free trade zone, but fell short of reaching any consensus except to continue necessary work. After a meeting in Hiroshima, where Japan formally took up its chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for 2010, a Japanese official said, ”We already have very sensible analytical studies but also have lots of issues that require further discussions.” (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Asia leads global march away from easy credit: (HONG KONG) The US Federal Reserve has just kick- started its cautious exit from unprecedented emergency lending measures – but the process has been going on for months in the Asia-Pacific region, underscoring the two-speed path of the global recovery. (Via Business Times Online – All The Headlines.)
50% of sneak preview tickets for Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa casino & theme park snapped up: SINGAPORE: Fifty per cent of the sneak preview tickets to check out Singapore’s first casino and theme park were snapped up when they went on sale on Friday, despite the fact that none of the 20 rides and shows at Universal Studios will be ready. (Via Channel NewsAsia Singapore News.)
McDonald’s To Open Hamburger University In Shanghai: As a celebration of the 20th anniversary of McDonald’s entry into the Chinese market, the international fast food giant has announced plans to launch a new hamburger university in Shanghai, the company’s seventh worldwide, making the city a new human resources training base for McDonald’s in Asia Pacific.(Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
Shanghai Watch Looks To Join Ranks Of Elite Brands: Although most of the world’s top watchmakers remain cozily ensconced within the borders of Switzerland, as with most luxury industries ‘the Chinese are coming’…in this case, to reinvent a brand better known for gracing the wrists of Mao Zedong and Zhou En’lai than Donald Trump or Warren Buffett. (Though the latter might be more open to it than we might assume.) This brand, Shanghai Watch (上海手表厂), started producing watches in the mid-1950s, amid a flurry of activity in the Shanghai wristwatch industry, and quickly established itself as the country’s top watchmaker. (Via Jing Daily :.)
Toyota president to testify before U.S. congressional panels: Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda would testify before U.S. congressional committees on massive recalls of Toyota vehicles if he is formally asked to do so, Toyota officials said Friday. The automaker is hoping that if Toyoda appears in person at congressional hearings, it would help to revive trust in Toyota’s vehicles amid growing criticism of the automaker in the United States, they said. (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Chinese snapping up real estate in Japan: Japan’s real estate market may be in a slump, but that is not deterring the Chinese from scooping up properties. Chinese money – that is, from ethnic Chinese living in Japan – is making its presence felt in a big way. A growing number of Chinese residents are turning to real estate investments in major cities as well as rural areas. (AsiaOne) (Via News On Japan.)
China’s Goojje ‘will not change’: Goojje, the Chinese knockoff of Google Inc, ‘will not change’ its design despite a threat from the US Internet company to sue it over copyright infringement, Huang Jiongxuan, the website’s founder, said yesterday. Goojje’s logo resembles the logo of Google Inc and also bears a paw print sign like that of Baidu Inc, the biggest Internet search engine in China and Google Inc’s archrival in the country. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Saudi Arabia, Angola, Iran remain top 3 oil suppliers to China: Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran remained the three largest oil sources for China in 2009, with the three supplying 47.7 percent of China’s total imports, according data released Wednesday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). GAC figures showed that China’s oil imports from the three nations last year stood at 41.86 million tonnes, 32.17 million tonnes and 23.15 million tonnes, respectively. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Shangri-La Announces New Multipurpose Complex In Chongqing: Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has signed an agreement with Chongqing Guest House Company to manage a hotel in Chongqing that is scheduled to open in late 2011. The 469-room Shangri-La hotel will occupy the first 28 floors of a new 58-story landmark building, a multi-purpose complex incorporating office space and retail outlets. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
McDonald’s to close hundreds of outlets in Japan: McDonald’s Corp. is closing 430 restaurants in Japan, the latest sign of the faltering economy in the Asian country. A 50% owned affiliate will shutter the locations over the next 12 to 18 months in conjunction with the strategic review of the company’s real estate portfolio. The world’s largest restaurant chain plans to take charges of $40 million to $50 million in the first half of the year. McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) has 3,700 stores. McDonald’s also is opening 90 new restaurants and refurbishing 200 in Japan. (Daily Finance) (Via News On Japan.)
Singapore's state investor Temasek sets up new investment company: Singapore – Singapore’s state investment company Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd said Wednesday that it has set up a separate investment company, Seatown Holdings. “Temasek has recently set up Seatown Holdings as a wholly owned global investment company,” Temasek said in a statement without providing details of the new company’s precise mission. (Via Singapore News.)
New user registrations would be halted for a week from Monday in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, the company said in a statement posted on its WoW China website, www.warcraftchina.com on Sunday.
“We recently submitted our application to operate World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade) to the General Administration of Press and Publication for review,” the company said.
Since last November, NetEase has been caught in the crossfire of an inter-government feud over regulation of the online game space.
The tussle resulted in China’s General Administration of Press and Publication returning NetEase’s application to operate the WoW expansion pack, ordering the company to stop charging users to play the game and disallowing new account registrations citing “gross violations” of regulations. But NetEase continued to operate the game as usual saying it was in compliance with local laws. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
