China budget retailer opens Times Square store in bold US plan

THE opening of Chinese retailer Miniso Group’s new US flagship store in Times Square heralds more than the arrival of yet another shopping outlet in midtown Manhattan: It broadcasts founder Ye Guofu’s ambitions of becoming a “global super brand”. 

The budget-friendly company – whose stores are a one-stop shop selling everything from stereos to toys and keychains – is in the middle of an aggressive overseas expansion, Ye, also Miniso’s chief executive officer, told Bloomberg in an interview. 

The US is already Miniso’s largest foreign market, with North American sales doubling in the March quarter from the same period a year ago. The 10-year-old company, headquartered in Guangzhou, expects the US will eventually surpass China to become its biggest global market. 

Miniso wants 70 per cent of its business to come from overseas by 2028, Ye said, up from around 30 per cent in the latest quarter – an unusual ambition for Chinese consumer brands that generally stay close to their vast domestic market. 

“Now Covid is over, we’ll spare no efforts to expand outside of China,” he said.  

But while it’s betting on big business from the US, tensions over issues from trade to cybersecurity and Covid’s origins remain high between the two countries, with mainland firms that have successful businesses in Western markets caught in the crosshairs. 

Online fast-fashion retailer Shein was questioned by a US House panel this month for sourcing cotton tied to forced labour in Xinjiang, along with allegations of environmental damage, worker exploitation and copyright theft. American officials have accused ByteDance’s video-streaming app TikTok of presenting the potential threat of sharing user data with China, and Montana this week became the first US state to ban it.

Nationalistic pressure is also high at home: Miniso weathered a public relations crisis last year after its Spanish Instagram account mistakenly described a doll’s Chinese cheongsam dress as a Japanese geisha costume, triggering a domestic outcry. It’s also been accused by Chinese shoppers as attempting to seem Japanese, forcing a logo change last year. 

Succeeding in the US would put Miniso on a very short list of Chinese consumer companies. Many have tried and failed, with similarly splashy physical store locations: Sportswear giant Li Ning opened a flagship store in Portland, Oregon, in 2010, only to close it down two years later. Down-jacket maker Bosideng International rented an emporium in London’s wealthy Mayfair in 2012, but retreated to focus on domestic shoppers within five years.

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Miniso currently has more than 70 outlets in America, with plans for total store count to grow to more than 100 by the end of this year and hundreds in the next five years, Ye said. 

Miniso’s products feature a simple aesthetic influenced by modern Japanese design, with Ye inspired to start the brand after a family trip to Japan in 2013. 

Unlike Shein, e-commerce platform Temu and others that have played down their Chinese origins when marketing in Western countries, Miniso promotes the fact, Ye says. 

“We always promote in a big way that we are from China, as our business isn’t in any sensitive sector so it’s less affected by politics,” Ye said.  

Unlike online-only Shein, Miniso’s network of physical stores creates jobs for Americans, scoring it political points, he said. 

“We’ll continue to bring made-in-China products with good value for money, and we bring jobs for local markets,” Ye said. “I don’t think anyone would say no to us.” BLOOMBERG