Weekly News Wrap: Luxury brands navigate Shanghai lockdown; Amazon slams Reliance takeover of Future stores
And fast-fashion retailer Shein is seeing a slowdown in growth.
From Reuters:
What Ms. Zhang didn't expect when she hunkered down for Shanghai's citywide lockdown was complimentary ready meals and desserts from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Cartier to start arriving the very next day.
Since the COVID-19 containment began on April 1, closing stores and paralysing online shopping, brands have overcome attendant delivery difficulties to gift provisions to "very important clients" (VICs) like 24-year-old entrepreneur Zhang.
Though not high-value gifts, the effort to keep in touch has "impressed and surprised us," said Zhang, who wanted to be identified by surname only citing privacy.
Shanghai saw some of the strictest containment measures worldwide, with residents forbidden from leaving apartments in blocks where COVID-19 cases have been found, whilst some buildings and even entire streets have been fenced off. With supermarkets shuttered and logistics chains upended, residents have struggled to buy food.
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From CNBC:
Amazon.com has gone on the attack in its bitter dispute with two Indian retailers, accusing them of fraud in Indian newspaper ads on Tuesday after Reliance Industries suddenly took over many of Future Retail stores.
Amazon has been contesting the planned $3.4b sale of Future Group’s retail assets to Reliance, first announced in 2020, and the case is currently before the Indian Supreme Court.
Reliance, India’s biggest conglomerate and retailer run by the country’s richest man, began taking over the prized real estate with utmost stealth on 25 February when its staff showed up in many of Future biggest stores to assume control, sources told Reuters.
In ads headlined “PUBLIC NOTICE” in leading Indian newspapers on Tuesday, Amazon said: “These actions have been done in a clandestine manner by playing a fraud on the constitutional courts in India.”
Future and Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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From Bloomberg:
Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant that has become the third-most valuable startup in the world, is seeing a reality check with sales growth slowing from the lofty heights of the pandemic, just as it faces mounting pressure to live up to a $100b valuation.
The online-only retailer of inexpensive clothes, beauty and lifestyle products has become a global phenomenon, with a following of mostly tweens and teenagers in the West making its app one of the most downloaded in the world.
Shein, however, saw annual sales growth slow to around 60% in 2021, according to people familiar with the business. That’s a steep plunge from an eye-popping 250% growth in 2020 when the arrival of Covid-19 turbocharged e-commerce demand from consumers stuck at home.
Overall, annual revenue reached at least $16 billion in 2021, up from $10 billion in 2020, said the people, who declined to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
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