WEEKLY WISDOM
“If you blame others for your failures, do you credit them for your successes?”
The Rise of China’s National Brands
For their parents foreign brands meant prestige and high quality. For a growing number of China’s younger generation, domestic brands are seen as not only offering quality, but reflecting their own culture.
Generation Z consumers, defined globally as the cohort of people born between 1996 and 2010, made up about 15 percent of China’s population and contributed an estimated 40 percent of the country’s total consumption in 2019.
Highlighting the trend, over 80 percent of items in Taobao consumers’ online shopping carts were domestic products, according to a report from the Alibaba Group.
Why Gen Z is attracted to domestic brands; New consumer mindset
While demand for consumer products continues to surge in Western markets, COVID cases are still surging in key sourcing nations. This is leading to growing concerns that inflation could be the next angst producing development on the horizon.
RETAIL EXPANSION
Windsor Fashions (USA) plans to open 150 new stores in 2021-22, taking its fleet to 380 outlets.
- What makes this interesting is that the retailer specializes in mass market priced special occasion wear targeted at Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.
- Despite the boom in casual and active wear, Windsor’s sales have been strong both in store and online.
Steen & Strøm (Norway) has reopened after receiving a $36 million makeover. The 220-year old department store is operated by Promenaden Management. The store’s “future-oriented” two-year master plan will see the transformation of some of its six floors, as well as a new e-commerce initiative.
China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp (CDFG) reported first-half revenue of US$2,855 million (RMB19,310 million) in 2020, making it the world’s largest duty free retailer by turnover, according to the Moodie Davitt Business Intelligence Unit.
- CDFG’s revenue was +64.6% higher than previous industry leader Dufry AG, and while Dufry will see sales rebound as travel starts up again, analysts expect that CDFG will continue to be the top duty-free retailer.
PODCAST
Why Embracing Failure Builds Better Leadership
In this episode Colin Hunter, CEO of Potential Squared talks about why leaders shouldn’t be afraid to fail. And why embracing failure empowers people to take a more creative and innovative approach to problem solving.
MARKETS
USA: Challenged categories like department stores and apparel should see continued growth through 2021, according to Fitch Ratings first quarter report. The ratings agency expects overall sales to remain below 2019 levels.
- Margins in 2021 should benefit from tighter inventory purchases, which will limit unplanned promotional activity.
- Sales recovery could be constrained by potential supply shortages.
CHINA: Retail sales expanded 17.7% year-on-year in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), but far less than the 34.4% year-on-year increase seen in March.
– Analysts expect May retail sales to rebound, on the back of Labor Day holiday spending.
– In Jan-March, department stores sales grew 26.8% year-on-year, while specialty store sales rose 62.7%.
- Retail sales are expected to take over the lead in driving China’s economic growth from the second and third quarters on.
UK: A brighter outlook for the second half of 2021 is expected, with sales growth expected between flat and +3% for the year, according to KPMG/Ipsos Retail Think Tank data. The biggest threat is a surge in spending in hospitality and travel.
GERMANY: The government lifted its growth forecast to 3.5% from 3% as it expects household spending to rebound as COVID restrictions are lifted. The economy to reach its pre-pandemic level in 2022 at the latest.
YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THESE ARTICLES
- Success Strategies for Digitizing Your Organization
- Gymshark’s Formula for Success
- Why Most Digital Transformations Fail
- Rethinking the Way We Define Retail Success
- Creating Brands that Stand Out in Hyper Competitive Markets
- Prints That are Sophisticated and Sustainable
- Is Too Much Data Leading to Worse Decisions?
- The Curious Case of Shopify’s Shop App
- A Faster, More Sustainable Asian Supply Chain
- Fashion’s Flight to Quality
- A Supplier That’s Raising the Bar on Human Achievement
- Denim That’s Making a Difference
