Happi Staff11.23.20
Shenzhen may be the world's largest electronics market, but when the computer buyers head home at 10pm every night, the beauty industry takes over 1,400 stalls in the vast Mingtong mall.
Here, workers will be up until 2am at least to meet wholesale demand for lipsticks, face creams and more. According to official data from the China government, cosmetics sales rose 5.9% to more than $39 billion for the 10 months ended in October. That's a quite a contrast with overall retail sales, which fell 5.9% during the same period.
Why the switch from computers to cosmetics? Observers say that rising rents are putting a crimp on retailers who once sold knock-ff Apple and Samsung products and are now getting competition from local players like Xiaomi Corp. and Vivo Communications.
“We used to just sell phone parts, but by 2016 some of the markets were 50 percent vacant, so we needed to try something else to survive,” Mingtong Digital City market general manager Lin Xu told the Taipei Times. “We saw there’s great demand for beauty products, whether it’s teenagers, women, men in their 60s and 70s.”
Why the switch from computers to cosmetics? Observers say that rising rents are putting a crimp on retailers who once sold knock-ff Apple and Samsung products and are now getting competition from local players like Xiaomi Corp. and Vivo Communications.
“We used to just sell phone parts, but by 2016 some of the markets were 50 percent vacant, so we needed to try something else to survive,” Mingtong Digital City market general manager Lin Xu told the Taipei Times. “We saw there’s great demand for beauty products, whether it’s teenagers, women, men in their 60s and 70s.”
