More and more countries open “National stores” on Tmall. After the Dutch, Russian, Belgium and several other countries already openend stores on Tmall Global it is now Thailands turn. The Thai government hurriedly opened an online “national store” to participate in the June 18 festival. Like other country stores this flagship store promotes Thai food products. So far TMall has opened flagship stores for 9 foreign countries in total. And this number is growing fast.

Anta, the leading Chinese sportswear brand, is determined to make itself as well-known and trendy around the world as Adidas and Nike. With it being named an official sponsor of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and with Chinese President Xi Jinping having been seen wearing the brand, it might be a race it stands a chance of eventually winning. At AgencyChina, we personally prefer Li Ning, but we can see why Anta is attracting more interest.

Will Hainan replace Hong Kong as a travel destination for luxury goods? China has set out plans to hike, very substantially, the annual tax-free spending allowance for its citizens who visit the off-shore duty free island of Hainan. The move would ensure that the Chinese—the most important buyers of luxury goods globally—will increasingly shop for coveted prestige brands within China’s own borders. The government, yesterday, proposed a new annual limit of RMB100,000 ($14,000) per person for tax-free shopping in Hainan, China’s southernmost province. The popular tourist destination attracts more than 75 million, primarily domestic, tourists every year.

Competition to win at the 618 Shopping Festival has already been in full swing for almost 2 weeks now. The mid-year sales promotion was created by JD.com back in 2004 to mark its June 18 anniversary, but has since been picked up by rival retailers and expanded into several weeks of splashy campaigns. And livestreaming is at the centre of it all. #Tmall is promising at least ten celebrity broadcasts per day through June 20, in total more than 300 performers will promote brands on Tmall. In addition, Taobao Live will feature broadcasts with more than 600 top brand executives to promote 618 sales. To compete JD.com announced a partnership with short video platform Kuaishou to pool resources to create a “short video e-commerce livestreaming ecosystem.” Could your brand leverage this new ecosystem?

Economic analysts at Blackrock put China returning to trend growth by year’s end. Analyst sentiments are buoyed by China’s response to containing secondary and tertiary coronavirus outbreaks, as well as the economic measures taken to stimulate the economy. China promised in late May to throw 3.6 trillion yuan ($500 billion) at its economy this year in extra stimulus measures as part of a bid to create 9 millions jobs and blunt the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. A though Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China would not be able to set a target for growth in the world’s second biggest economy for 2020.

Snack food brands pay attention: In a move to encourage activity outdoors, stimulate spending and create employment, China is removing restrictions on street vendors. We’re less interested in the employment implications, and more about what it means for snack food brands in China. Will more street vendors put the brakes on snack food growth, which has been helped by longer periods indoors? Or will the return of street food remind consumers about its health hazards, and drive them towards healthier snacks?

We’ve long argued that healthy skin and toned bodies are critical status markers to understand in China’s consumer society. This year’s events have pushed this theme further along. This article explains different ways this trend is manifesting along skin, weight management and mental health. We believe these areas – skin, weight management, and mental health – will continue to be key opportunities for imported brands in China.

Michael Norris, Research & Strategy Manager at AgencyChina, was interviewed on quality and safety in China’s infant nutrition industry. Michael urged local Chinese and foreign infant nutrition brands urged to “push hard on safety cues and messages” in light of a recent infant nutrition scandal and concerns over COVID-19 in Europe. Michael also stressed that China’s IMF brands can compete toe-to-toe with imported brands in value and premium segments. What do consumers think about safety and quality in your product category? Get in touch with our Research & Strategy team to find out.