Hi everyone,
This issue of consumer news digest looks a little differentâfor GOOD reason! After having worked on a collaboration issue with GOOD THINKING, I feel inspired by how they deliver well-rounded news from across industries to the audience that truly care about trends. And Iâd love to try something familiar for those following China business and consumer landscape.
The roundup includes noteworthy updates from the last two weeks that encompasses national statistics, culture, food & beverage, fashion & beauty, retail, tech, sports, travel & tourism, pet. The brands we touch upon include Layâs, Tsingtao, Mixue, Samyang Foods, Pandora, LVMH, Skechers, Li Auto, SOAR, Topsports, Sweaty Betty, Qunar Travel and Xiaomi.
Iâm also adding some upcoming trade/consumer shows in China in case youâre planning your next trip there! Whether this format is yay, nay or meh to you, Iâd be thrilled to hear your feedback.
đ BIG STAT
In June 2025, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.23 trillion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%.
Retail sales of goods increased 5.3% to 3.76 trillion RMB, whereas restaurant revenue only went up by 0.9% to 470.8 billion RMB (it saw 5.9% of growth in May). The sector has taken a large toll from alcohol ban on civil servants, so much so that certain restaurant establishments previous relied on this clientele, are selling take-away dishes on the street.
The top five high growth categories are: home appliances & AV equipment (+30.7%), communication devices (+24.1%), cultural/office supplies, including computers (+25.4%), furniture (+22.9%), sports & entertainment products (22.2%). Of these, the first four are benefiting from varying levels of state subsidies, making consumers want to purchase now instead of later. Supportive policies aside, that seems to mean that sports & entertainment products are the only category with truly organic growth.
đ CULTURE
On July 12, Kanye Westâs âYE LIVE IN SHANGHAIâ concert at the 78,000-seat Shanghai Stadium started over 40 minutes late. The delay and poor experience with stage and lighting sparked chanting of ârefund, refundâ from the crowd, according to social media posts. This market reception is drastically different from how Yeâs first China concert in Hainan went, making me wonder how the rest of his China career would go.
đ˝ď¸ FOOD & BEVERAGE
Layâs teams up with Tsingtao Beer (SSE: 600600; HK: 168) Museum to release beer-flavored potato chips, combining malt aroma with a slightly bitter bubbly texture. Iâve been hugely impressed with their regional and seasonal snack flavors from braised duck tougue to lamb hotpot, and I have to say this is not the most enticing flavor Layâs did in China. But it gives a reason for people to buy, which is the whole point of them launching novel flavors non-stop.
Mixue (HKG: 2097)âs coffee chain Lucky Cup surpasses 6,000 stores across 300+ Chinese cities, with record store numbers in central China, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang. This is approaching Starbucksâ 6,500+ stores in areas the Seattle chain has far less coverage.
Viral Korean spicy noodle Buldakâs parent company Samyang Foods (KRX: 003230) begins construction of its first overseas factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. It is a ~1 billion investment. Jiaxing also has Lego and Hormelâs factories.
đ FASHION & BEAUTY
Rumor: Pandora (CPH: PNDORA) may exit China, transferring operations to a local licensee for five years, following what GAP has done with e-commerce service provider Baozun.
LVMH (EPA: MC)âs new make-up line La BeautĂŠ Louis Vuitton, launched this March, opens its first mainland China store at in Nanjingâs long-standing luxury mall Deji Plaza.
đď¸ RETAIL
On July 13, Skechers (NYSE: SKX) launched its first-ever âSkechers Youthâ concept store in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, which blends LA-style street art, dance, and hip-hop. Dozens more youth-focused stores by Skechers are set to open in Q3.
đ§ TECH
An academic paper EV company Li Auto (HKG: 2015) contributed to, which contains the worldâs first large-scale, high-quality Asian face video dataset, has recently been accepted by the 2025 International Conference on Computer Vision. âDH-FaceVid-1Kâ includes 1,200 hours of video and over 270,000 clips â 83% of which feature Asian faces. As natural language processing and LLMs are only a reflection of human societies with deep-rooted bias, I donât need to have a science background to tell you this is urgently needed! Paper | Project site | GitHub
đââď¸ SPORTS
UK running brand SOAR launching a Tmall flagship, signifying its China entry. The brand is known to blend high-performance with luxury fashion aesthetics. In the same month, Topsports (HK: 6110), a Chinese retail operator, introduces Canadian running label Ciele Athletics to China. They happen to fill a gap for domestic runners â there are some popular Chinese brands including ZucZugâs An Ko Rau and Nedao â but first one is too general and the second one doesnât match the aesthetics of the above brands.
Another UK brand Sweaty Bettyâs China operation has been acquired by Baozun (LON: 0HLU). This is the e-commerce giantâs third international brand after GAP and Hunter.
đ TRAVEL & TOURISM
On July 15, Chinese online travel agency Qunar Travel (NASDAQ: QUNR) launched an English-language interface for hotel, flight, train, and vacation bookings. This looks like an embrace to central governmentâs ambition to win more global travelers.
đž PET
Xiaomi (HKG: 1810) founder Lei Jun posted a video endorsing a cat backpack co-designed with cat-owning employees. The 199-yuan bag with side vents, skylight window, multiple pockets, sold out immediately. Xiaomi is one of the first tech companies that entered pet tech sector and has incorporated startup products into its existing EV and smart home products.
đď¸ UPCOMING â PICK & CHOOSE YOUR CHINA ITINERARY IN AUG 2025
Aug 8â10: Whisky L!, Shanghai
Aug 15â16 Product Management Summit, Beijing
Aug 20-24 Petfair Asia, Shanghai
Aug 26-28 Asia Adult Expo, Hong Kong
Aug 27-29 All Food Expo, Shanghai
With editorial help from ChatGPT.
Love this format yaling! Thanks for putting this together