The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
On the same day it was announced that Pinduoduo had overtaken Alibaba to become China’s largest e-commerce company according to the metric of annual active buyers, its founder and chairman, Colin Huang, stepped down.
Huang, who at 41 is one of the youngest members of the upper echelons of China’s rich lists, at number 7 in 2020 according to Forbes with a net worth in excess of $52 billion, is resigning as China’s powerful internet sector comes under growing government scrutiny.
In a letter to shareholders, Huang said he was stepping down to pursue personal interests in life sciences. He is in talks with Chinese universities to set up research labs on biotechnology, an unnamed source told The Wall Street Journal.
Chief executive, Chen Lei, who took over that role from Huang in July last year, will now take on the additional role of chairman of the Nasdaq-listed company.
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In 2020, Pinduoduo had 788.4 million annual active buyers, up 35 percent from a year earlier. It marked the first time Shanghai-based Pinduoduo exceeded Alibaba’s 779 million annual active buyers.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
While travel to Europe remains muted, Chinese shoppers are flocking to Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian destinations where fashion retailers are hoping Lunar New Year marketing investments will pay off.
Local fashion designers experimenting with puffers and other down clothing have scored collaborations with outerwear companies like Moncler and attracted the attention of prominent international retailers like H.Lorenzo.