Southwest China's Sichuan Province is offering creative scenarios such as indoor cycling tour at shopping malls to boost foot traffic and promote consumption in commercial circles across the province.
The commercial model, which attracts customers mainly by providing novel consumption experience and characteristic goods, has helped the province boost consumption, with its total retail sales of consumer goods increasing by 4.4 percent year over year in the first three quarters to about two trillion yuan (about 280 billion U.S. dollars).
Riding bicycles in a shopping mall has been a selling point of a newly opened commercial block in Chengdu. With a nine-kilometer cycle track, the commercial cycle highlights the enhanced consumption experience to distinguish itself from traditional shopping malls.
The novel experience helps the block attract tens of thousands of customers daily, who can conveniently visit various stores in the shopping mall and stop by bookstores or cafes to have a rest.
"I really like the new business model, which allows us to ride bicycles around the shopping mall. This is a complete new experience to me," said a customer surnamed Zhang.
The commercial authorities of Chengdu have been making specific plans for the city's major commercial circles to help them fully unleash their comparative advantages.
"We set regulations on the length of the commercial block. We also controlled the number of the retail stores there and the percentage of the area that retail stores can cover in the whole shopping mall," said Lyu Yuan, director of the market construction division of the Commerce Bureau of Chengdu.
Currently, Chengdu is working on further differentiating its commercial centers with a new guideline which has been released recently.
"There are still some problems. Some consumption scenarios are too similar. We need to take advantage of the diversity of the consumption fields and the consumption trends so as to highlight the specialties of the commercial circles and to make our policies more targeted," said Lyu.
Cities across the province are also promoting their specialties with Ya'an building a "giant panda economy" and Leshan featuring characteristic foods.
"Throughout the whole fourth quarter, Sichuan will have over 1,500 promotional activities to boost consumption. As a major economically developed province, Sichuan will shoulder its responsibility by striving to accomplish the annual development goal," said Zheng Ge, director of the consumption promotion division of Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce.
Sichuan Province unveils creative scenarios to stimulate consumption
As the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) approaches, major exhibitors in the healthcare and skincare sectors have expressed excitement about showcasing their innovative products, fostering collaborations and expanding their reach in the Chinese market.
Themed "New Era, Shared Future," the 7th CIIE is scheduled for November 5-10 in Shanghai, featuring participation from 152 countries, regions and international organizations, including 77 countries and international organizations for national exhibitions and nearly 3,500 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions for business exhibitions.
Many multinationals view the expo as a prime opportunity to display their latest products and seek new collaborations.
Guan Hong, a representative for the Chinese branch of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, reflected on the company's successful participation in previous CIIEs and expressed optimism about introducing innovative products to the Chinese market for the benefit of patients.
"Novartis has attended all the CIIE in the past 7 years. We've really witnessed the medicines [going] from the exhibition finally to the public. In the 2021 CIIE, we got a cooperation agreement with Hainan Bo'ao, and then we piloted the study before we got approval. Last year, we got a fast approval by NMPA (National Medical Products Administration), and now it's already benefited more than 10,000 patients in China. We really want to bring the fast-approach products and innovative products to China as soon as possible to benefit as many patients as possible," said Guan, referring to the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held in the resort town of Boao, southern China's Hainan Province and the China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), the country's top drug regulator.
Jean-Christophe Pointeau, global senior vice president of Pfizer, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, expressed optimism about signing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) at this year's edition, citing a favorable regulatory environment for foreign investment in China's biopharmaceutical sector.
"A lot of trade will happen within the ecosystem of healthcare, but also memorandums of understanding. You know that Pfizer, we have a series of MoUs we are going to sign. And recently, from the Third Plenum, we saw that the policies on high-quality development for innovation of the biopharmaceutical sector is one of them, but also policies to ease the foreign investment. So, this environment is extremely positive and extremely encouraging for the multinationals. And that's why Pfizer and other multinationals are extremely confident," Pointeau said, referring to the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held this July, which put great emphasis on high-quality development, technological innovation and industrial upgrading.
Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido has a history of embracing trends in technology, from using humanoid robots in their manufacturing process to developing an augmented reality app to help give users skincare tips. Toshinobu Umetsu, president and CEO of Shiseido China, said the company plans to emphasize its innovations incorporating its products with autonomous driving at this year's CIIE.
"For this year's CIIE, we looked at the 'mobility space' with autonomous driving, which is often seen as an iconic advanced innovation around the world. We invite visitors to discover more about the cornerstone on which Shiseido's innovations are built. So, [we have] globally-leading standards in product safety and quality management," he said.
As the world's first national-level import-themed expo, the CIIE is held annually at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.
Since its first edition in 2018, this expo has become an important stage spotlighting China's new development paradigm, a platform for high-level opening-up and a public good for the whole world.
Global firms gear up for 7th CIIE with innovative exhibits
