Panic: China’s exporters turn to home market – Paul French

Image by Fantake via Flickr

As China’s exports continues to drop, its exports industry turn to their home markets, as desperate move that might spell trouble, says retail analyst Paul French to Reuters. From producers of famous Western brands, they now try to sell their own brands and lines of products. But Paul French of Access Asia is not convinced:

Firms such as Berkam can expect plenty of company, said Paul French, chief China analyst with retail consultancy Access Asia in Shanghai.

“It’s classic China. Everyone will do it, and all of a sudden there will be more shirt shops than you can shake a stick at. But you won’t have heard of any of them and the only people who sell shirts will still be people who’ve got the brand,” French said.

The main routes for clothing companies to break out of the pack will be to go through the laborious and expensive process of building their own brands or buying existing ones, he said.

Many are likely to drop out of the race, as they are not ready or able to put up the investment needed to do so.

“I think at the moment it’s a kind of panic strategy,” French said. “I’m not quite sure, from the ones I’ve talked to, that they quite understand what that will involve.”

Commercial Paul French is also a speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. If you need him at your meeting or conference, do let us know.