Sportswear shops rank as China’s preferred retail destinations

Sportswear shops rank as China’s preferred retail destinations

The Retail Proposition Index Study has found that China's shoppers would most often like to experience a little retail therapy with Nike, Adidas and local sportswear giants Li Ning.

Filling out the top five-ranked retailers in the report were Taobao -- mainland China's go-to outlet for online shopping -- and the Taiwanese-run supermarket chain RT-Mart, which has 190 outlets across the country.

Bigger means better to Chinese consumers

Nike's place at the top of the pile should come as little surprise considering the company says its products are sold in around 7,500 outlets across China, a figure which includes franchised stores.

The report was put together by the international consultancy OC&C Strategy Consultants and it quizzed more than 2,500 consumers across mainland China.

"Scale is the key to success in China and all these retail champions are considered large national players," was how OC&C Strategy Consultants partner (Great China) Chan Wai-chan described the results to the South China Morning Post.

E-commerce continues to make its mark

Highlighting the continued growth of China's online market was that fact that there were three more e-commerce retailers in the top 10, with Taobao behing joined by Amazon China at sixth, electronics specialists 360buy (nine) and the apparel merchant Vancl.com (ten).

Retail spending across China continues to thrive -- despite an apparent slowdown in the Chinese economy -- and a recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicted that retail sales in China were set to reach US$4.6 trillion by 2014.

The Retail Proposition Index Study follows on from last month's Campaign Asia-Pacific 2012 Asia's Top 1000 Brands report, which found the top three brands in China were Apple, Nestlé and -- making its debut on the list -- Chanel.

How they ranked:

Retail Proposition Index Study:

1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Li Ning
4. Taobao
5. RT-Mart
6. Amazon China
7. Watsons
8. Wal-Mart Stores
9. 360buy
10. Vancl.com.

Campaign Asia-Pacific 2012 Asia's Top 1000 Brands (China, top 10):
1. Apple
2. Nestlé
3. Chanel
4. Sony
5. Samsung
6. Uni-president
7. Panasonic
8. Nike
9. Canon
10. Starbucks.

MS