MINISO: Developing in Canada with Strong Momentum, 500 Stores to Open Within Three Years

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent years, physical retail's "struggling to survive" status has become a global problem. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Canadian retailer giant Sears went bankrupt and closed down in 2017, and Hudson's Bay, the competitor of Sears was also undergoing downsizing and reorganization. Impacted by e-commerce such as Amazon, the Canadian physical retail market is not optimistic. MINISO believes, since MINISO entered into the Canadian market as a foreign competitor, it has broken the inherent retailing format with its high quality and low-price products, making it a standout in a competitive market.

Opening 500 stores in 3 years; from major cities to nationwide

MINISO was co-founded by Chinese young entrepreneur Mr. Ye Guofu and Japanese designer Mr. Miyake Junya in Tokyo (Japan) in 2013. It devotes itself to providing high quality but low-price products to global consumers, aiming to improve people's happiness.

On April 15, MINISO opened its first Canada store. At the beginning of 2018, MINISO continued to expand the Canadian market. It is expected to open 100 stores in Canada by the end of 2018, and the total number of stores will increase to 500 in the next three years.

Canada is a highly developed country where people have high quality of life. Most of the Canadian are used to dine out, go shopping and enjoy beauty services out, thus the retail market is relatively mature, which becomes one of the most important markets in America. MINISO takes full account of Canada's geographical features and adopts the expansion strategy of "from part to whole" -- establishing regional logistics centers in Vancouver and Toronto, and opening stores centering on them.

By the end of 2017, MINISO has opened 12 stores in Vancouver, all of which are located in shopping squares, commercial centers and busy districts. The number of stores is expected to reach 30 in 2018. In addition, MINISO has branches in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, etc. Its number of stores continues to increase, and brand recognition gradually improves.

The MINISO stores in Canada mainly sell clothing, cosmetics, household goods and electronics, pricing at between CAD 2.99 and CAD 34.99 (about RMB 15 and RMB 184). According to the director of MINISO Canada, the most popular products in local shops are household products and beauty products.

Not only are its products affordable but they are of high quality and good looking.

MINISO's largest store in Canada has an area of 4,300 square feet (approx. 400 square meters) with about 2,500 SKU. The charm of MINISO's business model is that its expansion rate is astonishing, with about 80-100 stores opening every month. In terms of products, MINISO's advantage lies not only in its cheap price, but also in the high quality and good-looking appearance -- the fashionable and simple design. With the continuous improvement of consumers' demands for quality and aesthetics, MINISO believes its advantages in product innovation and design will be more prominent, which will benefit its further development in the Canadian market.

MINISO's orderly rows of shelves, neat displays of goods and tidy store style is in sharp contrast to the styles of other dollar stores or street groceries, which attracts consumers to shop in the store.

Craig Patterson, the editor-in-chief of Retail Insider is very optimistic about MINISO's development in Canada. Unlike the packaging of other ordinary dollar stores, MINISO's product packaging is also exquisite.

MINISO adopted the strategy of paying high attention to product selection, design and marketing, not just competing on prices. In the field of cost-effective department store, MINISO aims to seizing the minds of consumers -- to buy things that look cheap, but show high quality and fashionable design to a certain extent.

SOURCE MINISO Japan