China Consumer & Retail Wrap for the Week of 6/1/2012

June 1 – Marks & Spencer said it will open eight stores in China in the next 12 months, most of them in Shanghai and cities in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The British retailer currently operates eight stores in the country, five in Shanghai, and one in Ningbo, Changzhou and Wuhan each.
http://www.eeo.com.cn/2012/0601/227475.shtml

June 1 – French retailer Carrefour SA opened its 207th China store in Shanghai. The 6,773m2 location has 34 checkouts and 400 parking bays.
http://www.linkshop.com.cn/web/archives/2012/211493.shtml

June 1 – Lawson Inc, Japan's second largest convenience store chain, opened its 50th store in Chongqing, a provincial level city with 32 million residents.
http://www.linkshop.com.cn/web/archives/2012/211418.shtml

June 1 – After long catering to China's richest shoppers, Giorgio Armani SpA is looking to the country's middle class and plans to open 80 to 100 stores in the next three years, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Italian company currently operates 289 stores in China and is pushing further into its smaller cities, said Fabio Mancone, director of licensing and communications.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303552104577438093283342340.html

June 1 – China's first non-airport duty-free shops in Haikou and Sanya, Hainan province, have sold 3.25 million items valued at over ¥2 billion since opening 13 months ago, Hainan Customs said.
http://www.yicai.com/news/2012/06/1777193.html

May 29 – China's retail sales are expected to exceed $5 trillion by the end of 2015, becoming the world's largest market, according to commerce minister Chen Deming.
http://finance.qq.com/a/20120529/001290.htm

May 27 – Graff Diamonds Corp, a London-based jeweler, plans to open 11 new stores in Asia, including eight in China, in the next two years, Bloomberg reported. Demand for high-end diamonds will grow in China and other Asian countries as the "super rich" increase, CEO Francois Graff said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-27/graff-diamonds-plans-asian-expansion-after-1-billion-h-k-offer.html

$1 = ¥6.34