On a Sunday in September, Hong Kong Plaza played host to Shanghai’s first Fashion’s Night Out. The event, sponsored and organized by Vogue, began in New York City three years ago as a remembrance of 9/11 and to promote the retail industry. This annual event keeps shops (generally luxury brands) open late. In Shanghai, participating shops included Longchamp, MCM, Coach, Tiffany’s, Ugg, and more.

In New York City, Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) takes over the Soho district in Manhattan. Stores, from Kate Spade to Gap to Nine West, host their own events and promotions throughout the evening. Celebrity appearances, cosmetic make-overs, live music, and free food draw queues of eager shoppers.

Shanghai’s first attempt did not have the pizzazz (crowds or events) that we have witnessed in NYC but we are keen to see more at the next event. Jia you Shanghai!

When Toni, a member of The Bergstrom Group, found a wallet outside our office, she was determined to help track down the owner. She asked around the neighborhood without any luck so the next step was to notify the police. But instead of looking up the phone number, Toni did what for her was the easiest course of action: she posted the find to her Sina Weibo account. Toni directed her message to police with Weibo accounts in the area confident that she would get quick response.

A few hours after the news had been posted and shared, policeman Wang (a post-80s who was specifically called out with an “@” in the post) noticed the appeal and sent a message to Toni via Weibo. The next day, accompanied by another enthusiastic senior policeman, officer Wang showed up at our offices to retrieve the wallet. As you can see from the image (that we took but officer Wang expertly doctored), the journey from online plea to offline encounter was pretty exciting.

Until the officers left and we realized that they had forgotten to take the wallet with them. Doh!

The story came to a happy ending however as officer Wang managed to find the rightful owner. A local newspaper and TV station were anxious to report the news and joined Toni and officer Wang at the police station when the owner picked up the wallet.

picture from Huawei

Hai Di Lao, a national Sichuan-style hotpot chain restaurant will cooperate with Huawei to develop a system that allows diners to share a virtual meal with friends and family off-site. Huawei, one of the world’s leading technology companies, will apply its Telepresence Solution to enable Hai Di Lao diners to eat while enjoying face-to-face communication with friends and family across regions and countries. (more information on TechWeb)

The slogan spread online: “there is no expectation that cannot be fulfilled by Hai Di Lao” (translated by Shanghai Daily). The restaurant chain is doing its best to live up to the claim offering excellent in-store dining and even hotpot delivery service. Hai Di Lao already has a stellar reputation for customer service, earned by catering to customers’ every need (i.e. baby cribs, shoe shines, and top-selling books). Now, it is looking to build on its service standards and become known as a technology innovator. Diners are able to submit their orders via WIFI on iPads that are available on each table.
Read the rest of this entry »

Having succeeded to renew its license in China, Google is looking to further increase its offering by launching Shihui, a group purchase deal aggregator. This would allow Chinese to compare prices, brands, discounts, location, and more from leading Chinese group purchase websites (including Gaopeng, Nuomi, Lashou, and Meituan).

The idea of aggregating deals from multiple sites is not new. Competitors for Google’s Shihui (shi hui literally means inexpensive but useful) include tuan800.com and etao.com. Adapting to Chinese shoppers’ requirements, competition will be inevitably intensify in the space, as detailed on Penn Olson.

From the article:

A Google representative told us over the phone that Google Shihui is built entirely in China and has nothing to do with The Dealmap, for now. Acknowledging that China’s group buying space is pretty crazy right now with over 5000 sites across the country, he explained that aggregators have become a part of the landscape as a consequence. And Shihui is Google’s experimental effort to help consumers sort through what’s out there.

Xiaomi, a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, just released its first Android-based smartphone for delivery in October. With 300,000 pre-orders placed in just 34 hours, the company has had to halt additional orders for the time being. What makes the brand’s first product so enticing is its price – and functionality. Unlike Apple’s extremely popular iPhone offering, Xiaomi’s M1 has a 1.5-gigahertz (GHz) dual core processor and can run two operating systems at the same time (Android and MIUI). Our trendspotter Genie was so excited to get into the queue that she uploaded a screenshot to her Renren account, sharing her upcoming purchase with her friends (picture above).

Xiaomi’s CEO explains how the phone is specifically tailored for the market on TechRice, a China-focused technology site.

From the article:

“Lei Jun (the CEO) has a clear challenge for the rest of local Chinese mobile manufacturers makers: ‘My phone is quality and yours are Shan Zhai.’

The next bombshell Lei Jun dropped was pricing, at an incredible RMB 1999 Chinese consumers can expect to buy a Dual-Core 1.5G smart phone with more tailor-made features than any other phones available in the local market. This was certainly mostly unexpected prior Lei Jun’s announcement. Especially when other local smart phone makers are targeting their initial offering price around RMB 2500. The Chinese smart phone market will be facing a shake up when Xiaomi Phone launches for sales in October.

Apart from the local competitors, the higher end foreign smart phones will also face considerable pressure from this competitive pricing that can only be regarded as the initiation of a possible price war.