Domestic brands lead Global Products Debut Season

More than 30 domestic vanguard brands, including 19 from Shanghai,  introduced some 500 new products during a June 5 special vanguard brands session, which is part of the 2020 Shanghai Global Products Debut Season.

The 2020 Shanghai Global Products Debut Season, which began on May 5, is an innovation of this year’s Double Five Shopping Festival, implemented by the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

“The Debut Season aims to accelerate Shanghai becoming a venue for global products to debut,” said Liu Min, vice director with the Commission of Commerce.

So far, more than 110 new products debuts have been held, covering over 80 well-known brands from 40 enterprise at home and abroad, such as LEGO, LVMH, Nike, Huawei and Yu Yuan Inc.

Of note, 170 time-honored brands in the city also introduced more than 2,000 new products during the debut season.

To assess the “debut economy” of the city, the Commission of Commerce, together with Shanghai Institute of Quality and Standardization, formulated a debut economy activity index system.

The index system will optimize the business climate for the debut economy, according to the Commission of Commerce.

According to their assessment, for the first half of this year, Shanghai’s debut economy activity index was 86.8. The scores for the four demonstration districts in the city,  Jing’an District, Huangpu District, the Pudong New Area and Xuhui District were 89.4, 89.3, 84.3 and 84.3.

Jing’an has the most high-end brands, Huangpu a concentrated settlement of first flagship stores, Pudong has diverse businesses, while Xuhui has intensive debuts.

Meanwhile, Shanghai is encouraging more brands to set up their first flagship stores in the city. This will create a “debut economy effect” — an interaction of debuts, first flagship store, and headquarters.

According to DataQuest China, a total of 33 new stores entered the Shanghai market in May. Up to now, representative stores include YSL’s first global perfume-themed store, Sephora’s first cross-border beauty shop, American fried chicken Popeyes’ first store on the Chinese mainland and the chocolate brand M&M’s first Asian store.

Staff of M&M’s first Asian store said: “The  flagship store in Shanghai not only sells  chocolate, but has various patented products or side-line products, such as a tailor-made candy machine.”