Weekly News Wrap: Chinese consumers flock to homegrown brands; Malls closed down in India’s Maharashtra

And challenges lie ahead for Singapore’s aim to be Asia’s e-commerce hub.

From Reuters:

He Shuang, a student at a US university stranded in her home city of Chongqing, China during the pandemic, has added more than 300 domestic brands to her list of favourites on Alibaba's Taobao online mall.

Like with He, Chinese brands are hot with most shoppers and have spurred billions of dollars in investment, as consumers increasingly make patriotic choices amid a growing backlash against foreign brands.

A surge in online shopping after people were forced indoors due to COVID-19 last year, a recovery in the market since then, and infrastructure that allows vendors to scale up swiftly have also propelled the demand for local brands.

"Once you try, you find the quality of local products is as good as foreign products," said the 19-year old He, who favours home-grown labels from Carslan eye shadows and Feiyue sneakers to Bestore Co snacks and Miniso homeware.

Maia Active, a Sequoia Capital-backed athleisure wear maker, said its products were designed based on body measurements of Asian women and, therefore, offered local customers a better fit and more comfort than western counterparts.

Read more here.

From Reuters:

India's richest state ordered malls and cinema halls to close as it scrambles to control a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has scuppered plans to ease lockdown measures.

At least 20 cases in Maharashtra state have been found linked to the new Delta Plus variant that India designated a variant of concern, according to the health ministry.

Whilst it is not known where the variant originated, Public Health England first reported on Delta Plus in an 11 June bulletin, calling it a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India last year.

The Delta variant was partly responsible for a ferocious second wave in India that triggered a flood of cases and overwhelmed the health system. Scientists fear Delta Plus could trigger another wave of infections as India recovers from the second wave.

Read more here.

From CNBC:

Singapore wants to become a leading e-commerce hub in Asia, but there may be challenges ahead.

As the pandemic reshapes consumer behavior worldwide, more and more people in the region are shopping online and Southeast Asia’s digital economy saw significant growth.

“E-commerce in Southeast Asia — it’s surging. But what sets Singapore apart [are] its policies and its initiatives that help cultivate an environment for the digital industry and the digital economy to thrive,” said Ben King, country director at Google Singapore.

Still, the city-state faces a skills shortage for digital talent — and that’s critical for its ambition to become a global e-commerce player, he told CNBC’s Christine Tan.

Read more here.