Week In Review: April 9-13, 2012

Jing Daily’s Top Posts for the Week In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of April 9-13: Welcome To The All-New Jing Daily Since our launch in November 2009, we’ve worked to collect the most important news and offer insight into China’s fast-changing luxury and cultural markets, and now, with our fully redesigned site, Jing Daily will continue to do what we do best while welcoming new and influential voices. Over the past several months, the Jing Daily team has worked closely with our designers to develop a smoother and more engaging user experience with less clutter, greater navigability and a cleaner layout, making it easier than ever to browse our archive of nearly 2,000 posts. Along with our new “facelift,” Jing Daily is incorporating several new features and sections designed to bring our readers an even greater amount of on-the-ground information from the front lines of China’s luxury, fashion, art and culture, wine and auto markets. In addition to a revamped event bulletin on the right-hand column of our home page, Jing Daily is proud to introduce our new columnist section, adding trusted and influential voices from a range of industries to the Jing Daily team. Why Chinese Consumer Goods Enterprises Must Transform The last several years have seen massive growth across most consumer sectors in China. While the spotlight is often on Western companies’ expansion and success stories, many Chinese consumer goods businesses now have hundreds or even thousands of points-of-sale (POS), large organizations and multiple brands. For example, Longliqi, a leading beauty and personal care player, has over 3,000 distributors reaching to the county level, plus a direct-sales license. Lao Feng Xiang, one of the oldest jewelry brands in China, has over 600 independent stores and 1,000 POS through distributors, and Joeone, a leading men’s apparel player, has a portfolio of different brands targeting different segments of consumers. A key question regularly discussed is how quickly these companies will be able to create their own premium or luxury brands. However, while many have this aspiration and some are actively working on it, this is not their most critical challenge. Chinese-Language Magazine, Weibo Efforts, Shanghai Event: Dior's Busy Week In China Continuing its expansion into the China market in 2012, the French fashion house Christian Dior has been busy this week reaching out to the country’s luxury-hungry consumers while preparing to hobnob with the Chinese media and business elite. On April 8, Dior announced the third edition of its online DiorMag, this time offered in simplified Chinese, and over the course of the week the company has updated the magazine daily with content and photographs centering on the haute couture collection it will present for the first time in China tomorrow at an event at Shanghai’s House of Roosevelt. In the run-up to the event, Dior has given additional clues to what it’ll be showing on April 14, announcing that its update during the event will offer backstage photos and portraits of celebrities in attendance. Though Dior made its first official announcement of its Chinese-language DiorMag on Facebook — a misguided move if it wanted to reach Chinese readers, as Facebook is blocked in mainland China — it’s apparently hoping to make up for clumsily making the announcement on Sina Weibo. Wealthy Chinese Shell Out For $88,000 Korean "Anti-Aging" Tour Angling to capture a bigger slice of the Chinese outbound tourist market from Japan, over the last year South Korean luxury retailers, cosmetics brands, department stores and tour operators have invested heavily in marketing, looking to leverage their country’s regional reputation for everything from cuisine to pop culture. As the Korean newspaper JoongAng advised companies last year, to attract more free-spending Chinese visitors, “how about launching package tours that combine Korean cuisine and shopping? Or how about publicizing the works of Korean artists? Moreover, Korea boasts many skilled aesthetic surgery clinics, including the world’s best hair transplant surgeons. Medical tours need to be developed strategically.” Apparently, one high-priced clinic in Seoul listened to JoongAng‘s advice. As the Dong-a Ilbo writes today, Possom Prestige, an anti-aging clinic at the Ritz-Carlton Korea, is set to welcome a group of 180 high-net-worth Chinese for a beauty tour worth up to 100 million won (US$87,680). Event Recap: Hong Kong Luxury Retailer JOYCE's "Art-Spirations" Now entering its 42nd year in business, the Hong Kong high-end retailer JOYCE recently wrapped its latest art-infused event, “Art-Spirations,” a collaboration with five emerging artists and illustrators from around the world. Continuing its tradition of bringing together art, culture and design at the start of each season through collaborative promotions, for “Art-Spirations” JOYCE commissioned artists Devin McGrath, Carne Griffiths, Simon Prades, Violeta Hernández and Vasilj Godzh to create an exclusive work of art, which was then used to decorate a series of hollow metal “Easter eggs.” From March 17-April 9, customers who spent HK$10,000 (US$1,289) or more on any item at Joyce or its monobrand stores could draw one artist egg from a specially designed vending machine. Inside each egg were a range of giveaways, including gift certificates, bonus offers, cash vouchers, or a grand prize JOYCE gift card worth HK$10,000.

Week In Review: April 9-13, 2012

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Published April 13, 2012

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Week In Review: April 9-13, 2012