Is there hope for Gap in China? - Janet Carmosky

Janet Carmosky via Flickr

Janet Carmosky kicks off another debate on US companies entering the China market: is US mall stalwart Gap having a chance in fashionable China, she wonders in the China Business Network.

Despite having lived in the USA for 8 years now, on any given day I am likely to be wearing something purchased on my last trip to Shanghai or Beijing. Quite frankly, the clothes in America are Really Really Boring. If I, as an American, find Gap clothes boring, what will the consumers who have grown up in a place like Shanghai think? Where’s the bling, the prints and colors, the fabrics that move, and patterns that pop?
Gap, here’s hoping your people on the ground see the markets in Shanghai and Beijing as a challenge to Gap’s design, branding, operations, and most of all, HR and organizational mettle. Because “cornerstone” sounds altogether too corporate a term to describe what will need to be an all out war for share in the world’s toughest fashion retail market.

More on Gap's hope and fear in China at the China Business Network.

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Janet Carmosky is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

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Companies better in targeting Chinese consumers - Shaun Rein

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It took them a while, but luxury brands are becoming better in targeting the Chinese consumer, especially the young women, says Shaun Rein in CNN. One of the side effects: more work for Chinese models.

"People are savvy now, they dress to impress," said Shaun Rein, managing director of CMR, a company that closely tracks China's luxury consumption. "Everyone knows someone who was a pig farmer who now drives a Mercedes." 

"Companies are no longer saying, 'whatever works at home will work in China,'" Rein said. "Luxury companies want to create an emotional connection with Chinese consumers, show respect and set themselves apart. So they're trying to feature models who Chinese consumers will aspire to."... 

In China, companies are focusing on targeting a younger demographic that is spending their cash at home.
"To increase their sales, companies are targeting younger women, for example, a secretary making $800 a month but hoping to purchase a $1,000 Gucci bag," said Rein of CMR. "They'll save three or four months of their salary to buy an item."

Despite their limited spending power now, experts predict that winning Chinese customers' attention and trust when they are young will pay off.

Much more about the Chinese models in this article in CNN

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Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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Shanghai's shopgirl wants a break

Amanda Zhou of 8 Days

What I like more then reviews of books or movies is when Shanghainese women take each other on. Shopgirl's Shanghai has taken this drastic way of reviewing her peers to the internet and this is what she has to say about Amanda Zhou:

Now this girl Amanda Zhou working for Shanghai Magazine 8 Days will hate me for bringing this up. She is according to 8 Days an "it-girl". Perfect body, perfect face, best clothing style, successful business woman, etc. Give me a break..........
Orange is indeed a trendy colour this season but wearing an
orange polo just doesn't do it for me. I'm sorry.

There are many more of those reviews on her weblog. I just discovered that it was hit by the official firewall. Guess they have maybe some jealous women at their desk too.

First C&A billboard

Last week the story broke that the European fashion chain C&A would be moving into Shanghai and already China Snippets noted the first billboard in Pudong, although they are only supposed to open in September. Seems they are rather eager to start losing money in an early stage.

Waiting in line at H&M in Shanghai

For a while I thought in Shanghai people were only queuing in front of ATM-machines, unlike more than ten years ago when queuing was a kind of local game, because of the ongoing shortages. But Shanghaiist links to this amazing queue in Huai Hai Lu in front of H&M, who just opened their stores.
Shanghai is a place with so many markets next to each other, my doubts about yet another fashion chain in China might be misplaced.

Is there room for C&A in Shanghai?

Reuters reports that the originally Dutch fashion chain C&A is preparing for a launch in China. C&A plans four stores in Shanghai for 2007 and will conquer Beijing a year later.
They are following a trend, as their European competitors Zara and H&M have done this already. Zara is actually a wild success in Shanghai and the effect of H&M is hard to gauge, since they only recently opened up their store.
I had to laugh a bit, because in my (possibly outdated perception) of C&A that would not be a wise move. I know them as a fashion line that is decent, affordable and extremely boring. They would focus on the same group as Zara, not the top-end, but just under it. Only Zara has a much more trendy image.
Well, the consumers in Shanghai do not suffer under my memories, it could still work out.