(Peoples Daily Online)09:11, July 08, 2020
Numerous foreign-funded enterprises in industries from catering and home appliances, to retail and beauty have ramped up efforts to launch new products and open new stores in China.
A Pizza Hut restaurant on Barkhor Street, Lhasa, capital of southwest China鈥檚 Tibet autonomous region. (Photo/Courtesy of Yum China)
Starbucks has planned to invest $129 million in building a coffee roasting facility in Kunshan, east China鈥檚 Jiangsu province.
Lawson, a Japanese convenience store franchise chain, announced that it will add another 200 million yuan ($28.5 million) to its investment in the Chinese market.
U.S. retail giant Costco confirmed last February a plan to open its second store on the Chinese mainland.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a short-term impact on their business, but it won鈥檛 influence their confidence in seeking long-term development in China, foreign enterprises said.
Facing the impact the pandemic is having on catering businesses, Pizza Hut restaurants run by China鈥檚 largest restaurant company, Yum China Holdings, Inc., have witnessed a new momentum of development since their efforts to innovate products and services.
These restaurants launched set meals for one, started to sell take-out raw steak for people to cook at home, added popular crayfish dishes to the menu, all while making constant efforts to innovate flavors of their food.
鈥淎s of the end of April, 99 percent of our restaurants in China had resumed part or all of their business,鈥?said Qu Cuirong, CEO of Yum China.
Pizza Hut restaurants have seen rapid growth of the sales volume of takeout food and food sold via delivery services since the outbreak of the COVID-19, Qu said, adding that the increase in online orders has effectively curbed the overall decline of sales.
鈥淎lthough our business has been affected by the COVID-19, Yum China is still optimistic about China鈥檚 long-term development and won鈥檛 change our goal of opening 800 to 850 new outlets in China this year,鈥?Qu said.
During this year鈥檚 Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Sephora, a French multinational cosmetics chain, opened three new stores at the same time in Nanchang, capital of east China鈥檚 Jiangxi province, Changsha, capital of central China鈥檚 Hunan province, and Linyi, in east China鈥檚 Shandong province.
As the pandemic situation improves and consumption is returning to normal, the overall performance of the high-end beauty products market is showing a positive trend, an executive of Sephora pointed out.
It can be seen that the consumer needs are always there, and Sephora is planning to keep investing in China, the executive shared.
Che Wenhuan, deputy manager of Beijing Lawson Co., Ltd., disclosed, 鈥淏y June 29, we had opened 11 new stores in Tianjin municipality. Our first store in Hebei province will also open in early July.
Although Lawson鈥檚 business in certain outlets located near office buildings and schools has been obviously affected by the COVID-19, the company isn鈥檛 suspending its plan to continue to open new stores in China.
鈥淯rban residents have strong consumption ability against the background of consumption upgrading, so we will not change our idea of continuing to open new stores and will not stop expanding our business in China,鈥?Che said.
Lawson has announced earlier that it will increase its number of chain stores in China to 3,000 this year, and is projected to exceed 10,000 by 2025.
鈥淲e have confidence in achieving this year鈥檚 goal,鈥?Che said.
German manufacturer of household appliances, Vorwerk Group, has not seen a decline in its sales since the outbreak of COVID-19. Instead, the company has recorded a slight increase in sales volume.
鈥淭he pandemic has very little influence on home appliance enterprises, which have long before started to use smart new retail platforms or adopted omni-channel operation,鈥?said Zha Sheng, Vorwerk鈥檚 general manager for China.
Many of Vorwerk鈥檚 small home appliances even became a hot sale since the pandemic, for they meet consumers鈥?needs while they stay at home to avoid cross-infection, Zha disclosed.
鈥淲e have seen that the Chinese government has shown powerful capacity to curb the spread of the pandemic during the fight against the COVID-19. This is the fundamental reason why we have confidence in the Chinese market,鈥?Zha noted.
From January to March, over 200,000 new products have been released on Alibaba鈥檚 shopping platform Tmall Global, while the growth rate of newly opened stores of foreign brands rose to 327 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from Tmall Global.
鈥淭he pandemic has blocked foreign brands鈥?offline channels and made online platforms a popular choice for expanding sales. Many new foreign brands have sped up efforts to expand its market and seek new growth in China,鈥?said Liu Peng, general manager of Tmall鈥檚 import and export business unit.
