Tag Archives: Suning

Latest “Suning” Business news & Financial news from a Chinese Market Expert

E-COMMERCE: China E-Commerce Answers Beijing’s Import Call

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Bottom line: China’s drive to boost imports will benefit the nation’s big e-commerce companies with cross-border trade capabilities, though such purchasing will still be a small fraction of their overall volume.

China steps on import accelerator

It may be election day in the US, but here in China the focus is decidedly on imports with the staging this week of a massive import-focused expo in Shanghai. This particular event, officially called the China International Import Expo, has big political overtones, which I’ve looked at in a bit more depth in my weekly column on doing business in China, for anyone who is interested. (English article)

I’ll recap that element briefly in a moment, but the focus of this post will fall squarely on some relatively big numbers coming out of three of China’s leading e-commerce companies, in terms of the kinds of imports they think they can facilitate over the next few years. One report has added up commitments from Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), and determined the four have collectively said they could facilitate 1.5 trillion yuan in imports, equal to about $216 billion. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…

TELECOMS: VNO Movement Finally Gains Traction

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Bottom line: China’s VNO program appears to be gaining momentum heading into its third year, and could reach the 200 million subscriber mark by the end of 2017.

Virtual network operators gain momentum

It’s been more than a year since I last wrote about China’s fledgling attempt to breathe new life into its telecoms services sector by creating virtual network operators (VNO), mostly because the program seemed to be sputtering in its first couple of years. But new data from the telecoms regulator seems to suggest the industry may finally be finding its legs, and could be starting to take some meaningful market share from the nation’s monopoly of 3 big state-run telcos.

The headline figure underpinning my assertion is 43 million, which appears to be the number of VNO subscribers in China at the end of last year. (Chinese article) I need to give a quick disclaimer here, as nowhere in the article is the term VNO or variant MVNO used to describe this sector, which is called the “mobile resale business”. But that term, combined with a description of the program, does seem to indicate that these are VNO subscribers. Read Full Post…

ECOMMERCE: Wanda’s E-commerce Foray Running on Empty?

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Bottom line: Wanda will continue to operate its ffan e-commerce site for another year, following the departure of its CEO, but could quietly end the initiative afterwards due to lack of synergies with its brick-and-mortar shopping malls.

Success evades Wanda in e-commerce

The headlines have been buzzing this week about the departure of the chief executive of the e-commerce unit Wanda Group, the real estate-turned-entertainment giant with a voracious appetite for global acquisitions. The big theme from the chatter is that the departure of Li Jinling, the unit’s third CEO in 3 years, marks a setback and possibly even presages a death knell for the Wanda initiative into the online shopping realm.

Wanda is speaking out on the subject, saying it never intended to launch a website that would compete directly with the likes of sector leaders Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Perhaps that’s true, though that didn’t stop Wanda and its ultra-confident chief Wang Jianlin from boasting of lofty ambitions when it signed up Internet titans Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) as partners to its ffan e-commerce site in 2014. Read Full Post…

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba, Suning in JV; Wal-Mart Ties Grow with JD.com

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Bottom line: Wal-Mart’s deepening alliance with JD.com looks like a smart pairing of leaders in traditional and online retailing, while a new e-commerce joint venture between Alibaba and Suning doesn’t appear to offer anything new.

Wal-Mart opens Sam’s Club on JD.com

Leading Chinese e-commerce operators Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) are in a series of similar headlines, as each looks for growth opportunities by pairing with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Industry leader Alibaba has just announced a rather vague joint venture with leading electronics retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), a year after the pair formed a major equity tie-up. Meantime, JD.com has announced that global retailing giant Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) will open 2 major stores on its e-commerce platform, as part of a growing alliance between the pair that also kicked off with a major equity tie-up 3 months ago.   Read Full Post…

China News Digest: October 20, 2016

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on October 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • LeEco Launches in US With Phones, TVs and Paid Video Streaming Service (English article)
  • Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) Targets 5,000 Stores in Mainland China by 2021 (Businesswire)
  • Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Suning in 1 Bln Yuan E-Commerce JV (Chinese article)
  • B2B Wine E-commerce Platform E Jiupi Wins $100 Mln Series C Funding (English article)
  • Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) Enters Into Definitive Agreement for Going Private (GlobeNewswire)
  • Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

E-COMMERCE: Walmart Quits China E-Commerce, Amazon Next?

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Bottom line: JD.com will quietly close Yihaodian after acquiring the online store from Walmart, and Amazon is the most likely next large player to withdraw from China’s e-commerce market in the next few years.

JD.com takes over Walmart’s Yihaodian

In what can only be described as a major surrender, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is selling its struggling online flagship Yihaodian in exchange for about $1.5 billion worth of shares in JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), China’s second largest e-commerce player. The development isn’t a complete surprise, since Yihaodian has struggled to compete with JD and industry titan Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) since Walmart purchased the company 4 years ago. The withdrawal also shines a spotlight on the very real fact that foreign companies often can’t compete on China’s Internet, and raises the question of whether Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) might be the next to abandon the complex market. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: June 7, 2016

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on June 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Bitauto (NYSE: BITA) Announces $300 Mln Investment from Tencent, Baidu, JD.com (PRNewswire)
  • Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Pays 270 Mln Euros for 70 Pct of Soccer Club Inter Milan (Chinese article)
  • TCL (Shenzhen: 000100)  to Take Handset Maker TCL Communication (HKEx: 2618) Private (English article)
  • Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Announces Preliminary Financial Results for Q1 (PRNewswire)
  • Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) Board Approves Kuka Investment, Acknowledges Difficulties (Chinese article)

SPORTS: China Soccer Binge Rolls on in Milan, Backlash Coming?

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Bottom line: European alarmism could soon start to grow over a sudden Chinese buying spree of local soccer clubs, including the latest purchase of Inter Milan by Suning and a looming purchase of AC Milan by a Chinese buyer.

Suning bounces into Milan

The new week is kicking off with a couple of China soccer deals in Europe, led by the purchase of a majority of Italy’s Inter Milan by consumer giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), and buzz that another deal is near that would see crosstown rival AC Milan sold to a Chinese buyer. This kind of news is becoming quite common these days, following other recent deals that have seen Chinese companies buy or purchase stakes in soccer clubs and other sporting assets in Spain, Britain, Switzerland and even New York. All of which raises the question of if and when Europeans might start to feel uneasy about this sudden buying binge of so many assets from their favorite past-time. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: June 3, 2016

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on June 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Didi Chuxing, Uber Compete for Most Funds in Latest Drives (Chinese article)
  • Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Announces Terms of Share Purchase from SoftBank (Businesswire)
  • China Says Midea’s (Shenzhen: 000333) German Robot Deal Shouldn’t be Politicized (English article)
  • Taobao Invests 28.2 Bln Yuan in Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), Becomes 2nd Largest Shareholder (Chinese article)
  • US Requests Documents From Huawei on Previous Trade Sanctions (Chinese article)

VIDEO: PPTV’s Cryptic Farewell, Xunlei Swings to Loss

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UPDATE: Since issuing its original microblog post, PPTV has issued new posts on its account that appear to indicate it won’t be closing. To view the latest posts, please click here.

Bottom line: PPTV looks set to become the first major victim of China’s online video wars after its microblog publication of a farewell message, while the money-losing Xunlei could become the second casualty.

PPTV bidding farewell?

Two of China’s major online video companies with mid-sized backers are in the headlines today, with ominous signals coming from PPTV and Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) that reflect the intense competition they face. The most intriguing headline has PPTV, which is owned by electronics retailing giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), announcing on its official microblog that it is closing, even as its actual website remains active.

The other headline has Xunlei, which is backed by smartphone maker Xiaomi, announcing its latest quarterly results that showed it swung to a loss as it battles with much larger rivals for an audience. We can probably also assume that PPTV was losing big money, and in fact just about everyone in China’s online video space is now in the red. Typical of the group is Youku Tudou, the industry leader whose net loss doubled to $70 million in last year’s third quarter before it was bought by e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Read Full Post…

IPOs: China Wealth Fund Backs Yum, ZTE Eyes Nubia Spin-Off

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Bottom line: Yum may sell control of its China unit to Chinese partners in a bid to become more local, while ZTE’s plans for a Nubia IPO reflect a growing emphasis on its younger, trendier smartphone brand.

China set to take control of local KFC?

A couple of big IPO stories are rippling through the headlines, led by word that an investor group headed by China’s sovereign wealth fund could buy control of the China unit of Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM), owner of the KFC fast-food chain, as it gets set for a spin-off and separate listing. This particular news marks a shift from previous reports that implied Yum would retain control of its China unit, even as it sold a major stake to big institutional investors.

While the Yum listing is likely to come later this year, another smaller but interesting deal has telecoms giant ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 00063) saying it plans to spin off and separately list its smartphone division that manufactures under the Nubia brand in the next 3 years. That hints that ZTE may be re-thinking its smartphone business, and perhaps preparing to slowly de-emphasize its older ZTE-branded phones in favor of its younger, higher-end Nubia line. Read Full Post…