Suning's 8.18 Shopping Spree Hits Online Sales Growth of 263% Showing Demand for High-quality Products of Global Brands among Chinese Consumers

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Known as the "8.18 Shopping Festival", the online-to-offline sale event is created by Suning in 2014 and then became a fixture on its retail calendar every year. The half-month shopping spree lasts from August 1^st to 18^th features discounts and promotion campaigns in the Group's domestic and international retail channels, including nearly 4,000 self-operated bricks-and-mortar stores and its ecommerce platform Suning.com, which ranks as the top three Chinese B2C platforms with 500 million users.

Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning Holdings Group, noted that through the shopping spree, Suning makes high-quality products the most accessible to consumers with best services. It demonstrated that the Group aims to introduce more fine products around the globe to the Chinese market.

For global retailers who want to enter the Chinese market or reach more Chinese consumers, there are three new noteworthy consumption trends from analyzing data gathered through Suning's ecommerce platforms during the shopping spree event, especially its international site that sells a wide range of products directly purchased from retailers or suppliers around the world.

The first one is a focus on healthcare and childcare products from Australia, New Zealand and European countries, such as original food produce and baby formula milk. It shows that now Chinese consumers pay more attention on healthy eating habits than before and are willing to plunk down large money for authentic high-quality products. Among all the spree shoppers this year, female shoppers showed the largest interest for cosmetics from the United States, Japan, South Korea and European countries.

The two findings together demonstrate that there is an upgrade in Chinese consumers' consumption level and capability. They start to adopt the middle-class lifestyle by focusing on things that can improve their life quality.

Big names in upscale personal care electronics have made a lot of orders, including Dyson, Phillips, Braun and Panasonic. Fine wines from Treasury Wine Estates, with which Suning has entered a strategic partnership, were also snapped up by shoppers. For the first time this year, Suning offers speedy delivery with its strategic partner Yiguo.com for fresh products, such as cherries from the US, beef from Australia and Seafood from South America, in 180 cities in China, a staggering rise from last year's 17.

Suning's "8.18" shopping spree is not only the reflection of China's booming ecommerce sector, but also a showcase of the retailer's ability to serve international merchants and domestic consumers. According to Zhang, service is always the core business. Capitalizing on its sophisticated direct purchase, warehousing and delivery systems, a "Smart Retail" model that integrates online and offline services, as well as the Group's resources in six industries including Retail, Real Estate, Financial Services, Media and Entertainment, Sports and Investment, Suning aims to better serve the upgrading needs of Chinese consumers.

About Suning Holdings Group

Founded in 1990, Suning is one of the leading commercial enterprises in China with 180,000 employees and two listed companies in China and Japan. In 2016, with the annual revenue of 51.27 billion USD (350.288 billion RMB), Suning Holdings Group ranks the second place of non-state owned enterprises in China. With the mission of "Leading the Industrial Advancement in Creating a Higher Quality of Life for All", Suning strives to continue its rapid growth across six vertical industries including Retail, Real Estate, Financial Services, Media and Entertainment, Sports and Investment.

SOURCE Suning holdings group