Image via Wikipedia What foreign companies, trying to tap into the China market, regularly forget is that there is no need for their services, tells retail analyst Paul French at Marketplace Public Radio. Home Depot is an example. Paul French responds to Raymond Chou, president of Home Depot China: CHOU: The HomeRead More →

Image via CrunchBase The China Speakers Bureau newsletter for April 2011 is available here. Just like last month, our focus is on how foreign companies win (IKEA, Apple) and lose on the booming Chinese luxury market. Related articles IKEA’s China problem: too popular – Shaun Rein (chinaherald.net) Getting your brandRead More →

The Temple of Apple via Wikipedia The Apple outlet in Pudong, Shanghai is getting mythical proportions and babtized by retail analyst Paul French the ‘Temple of Apple’. In Mercury News he explains why Apple changed from a laggard into a winner in the booming China market, unlike other US brands.Read More →

Image by Getty Images via @daylife The Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has become a public attraction comparable to Disneyland in the small number of stores they have in China, writes Shaun Rein on the CNBC website. When you are too popular as a foreign brand, it is not only goodRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Google was wrong when it behaved in China as if it was calling the shots, says Shaun Rein to Marketplace, as yet another Google service, Google Maps, is about to be banned. SHAUN REIN: Google really said to the government: do what we sayRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr The luxury goods market in China is growing fast, says Shaun Rein in CNBC, but retailers often focus on the wrong kind of customers. The rich grab a visa and shop in Milan and Hong Kong. Aspiring young buyers still want their Gucci bags,Read More →

Toyota SUV in trouble via Wikipedia The effects on trade between Japan and China cause by the Fukushima nuclear disaster is bigger than expected, warns Shaun Rein at CNBC, as Chinese consumers not only stop buying Japanese food, but Japanese products like Toyota‘s SUV cannot reach the Chinese market. Rein is bullishRead More →

Not popular in China via Wikipedia Foreign DIY-stores like B&Q, Home Depot and Saint-Gobain are retreating from China despite the booming economy, and nobody should be surprised, tells Shaun Rein in The Age. DIY does not fit the image people want to have. The Age: “Do-it-yourself is not popular inRead More →

Image by Fantake via Flickr The March Newsletter of the China Speakers Bureau is now online, with the latest news about our speakers and an overview of the corporate failings in China over the past month, while their markets keep on growing. We look over Groupon, BestBuy, Mattel‘s Barby, HomeRead More →

Entrance Apple store Shanghai by randomwire via Flickr A visit to Apple’s store in Pudong, Shanghai leave no room for doubt: the company is doing very well. Shaun Rein analyzes in CNBC how the laggard from 2009 turned into a winner in 2011, where other retailers like BestBuy, Home DepotRead More →

Image by Zingaro. I am a gipsy too. via Flickr The sudden closure of Mattel‘s Barbie store in Shanghai seems to have nobody apart from Mattel, says retail analyst Paul French in the LA Times, today. He is sceptical about the firm’s announcement they are merely changing plans. The closureRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Foreign firms in China currently make fat margins, showing the strenght of the economy, Shaun Rein tells Bloomberg, despite high profile failures like Barbie, Home Depot and BestBuy. Inflation might still be a huge problem, but there is no bubble in the making, he argues.Read More →