Severe brand homogenization makes Nongfu Spring a real-life Dou E. After the news that three products from "Nongfu Spring" and "Tongyi" enterprises passed the re-inspection, reporters of the Financial Proposal Daily interviewed both parties in Hainan and Zhejiang on the 2nd day. On the noon of the 2nd day, Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd., exclusively told the Economic Reference News reporter that Nongfu Spring would not recognize the entire re-inspection process regarding the previously announced “total arsenic content exceeding standards” for the three beverages, which are now deemed "all qualified". Meanwhile, the Health Department of Hainan Province believed that there was a "procedural error" in the handling by Haikou's Industry and Commerce Bureau. Han Xingguang, director of the Market Supervision Department of Haikou's Industry and Commerce Bureau, said: "We have different interpretations of the legal provisions with the enterprise side, so it can only be explained by the department that issued the law."
In the New World Linying Department Store, the first floor is the most crowded area of the entire mall, while the higher the floor, the fewer the customers. Although the brand composition is basically the same as the Chongwenmen New World, there is a significant difference in foot traffic. At Jia Mao Shopping Center, the reporter found that the most popular area was the brand-specific discount zone right in front of the main entrance of the mall, while other floors were mostly deserted. Subsequently, the reporter visited the Hattori Department Store, where the foot traffic was slightly lower compared to the previous two malls.
Regarding the homogenization issue of shopping malls in Wangjing, Guo Zengli, Director of China’s Shopping Center Industry Information Center, believed that taking Xidan business district as an example, the brand overlap between Zhongyou Department Store and Jun Tai Department Store is also very high. Moreover, KFC and McDonald's restaurants in this business district are increasingly opening together. However, the situation in Xidan business district is different from that in Wangjing business district. Although both belong to homogenized competition, due to the extremely high "accessibility", the malls in Xidan business district have formed effective interaction, further increasing the foot traffic.
Even the New World, which is usually located in core business districts, entered this area last year to open the Linying Department Store, hoping to expand its market in the community department store sector. Not only the New World Linying Department Store, but large shopping malls in Wangjing area also include Hattori Department Store, Jia Mao Shopping Center, Fangheng Shopping Center, and Walmart. Currently, the scale of commercial facilities in Wangjing area has caught up with those in Xidan, Wangfujing, and other business districts. But at the same time, the reporter found that despite the similar number of malls, the popularity of each mall in this area cannot be compared with other core business districts, showing a clear gap.
However, from the distribution of acquired resource projects, Chinese enterprises seem to prefer distant projects in Australia, Peru, Africa, etc., while projects in neighboring countries except Russia are few. "For a company to grow rapidly, acquisition is still a better choice," Li Zhilin said. Since Zijin Mining Group is seeking rapid progress to "become an internationalized enterprise," it mainly chooses to acquire mines rather than engage in risky exploration, "the time from exploration to production is too long, which is not suitable for Zijin Mining Group, a company pursuing rapid growth."
The political and economic conditions of neighboring countries also make Chinese investors hesitate. Song Xin, vice president of China Gold Group, believes that safe investment conditions are essential, "the safety of employees must be guaranteed, for example, incidents like the hostage crisis in the Philippines should not happen, investing in such countries is too dangerous."
"Resolving community issues requires great patience and a long time," Li Zhilin further stated. Although from a cost perspective, even if the Peruvian project takes a long time, there is no problem because the acquisition cost is indeed very low, but it undoubtedly does not conform to Zijin Mining Group's plan for rapid progress.
Moreover, after the initial inspection results were out, Haikou's Industry and Commerce Bureau directly disclosed the information about arsenic content exceeding standards in inspected products to several influential media in the form of consumer warnings. According to the Food Safety Law, "the state establishes a unified food safety disclosure system," the overall situation of food safety, food safety risk assessment information, and food safety risk warning information shall be uniformly announced by the health administrative department of the State Council. If the influence of these two aspects of information is limited to specific regions, it can also be announced by relevant provincial, autonomous region, or municipal health administrative departments.
A few years ago, Wangjing area was jokingly referred to as "Sleep City" within the industry, which fully illustrates the "poverty" level of commerce in this area. Now, with the unified planning and layout by the municipal government, commercial facilities in Wangjing area have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. According to relevant statistics, the current commercial development area in Wangjing has reached approximately 700,000 square meters, and in the next few years, the newly added commercial area in Wangjing will be around 300,000 to 500,000 square meters.
From the quantity of commercial facilities in this area, it is comparable to Xidan, Wangfujing, and even Xujiahui business district in Shanghai. But last week, the reporter's visit to several malls in Wangjing found that the foot traffic in each outlet was not high. In Fangheng Shopping Center, some well-known brands have withdrawn their counters due to sparse foot traffic. For this, commercial experts analyzed that although Wangjing area has a high density of commercial facilities, due to severe brand homogenization among these malls, they have not yet formed a synergy to enhance the attractiveness of the entire business district, but instead compete for foot traffic.
Jia Mao Shopping Center, New World Linying Department Store, Hattori Department Store, Fangheng Shopping Center, and Walmart are components of commercial facilities in Wangjing area. According to a survey, the commercial volume in Wangjing area has exceeded 700,000 square meters, completely breaking away from the original "Sleep City." Regarding this, some experts suggest that in the future, various malls in Wangjing area should reasonably improve their business formats and achieve complementarity to enhance the competitiveness of the entire business district in Beijing.
Looking back at several malls in Wangjing area, except for Hattori Department Store and Fangheng Shopping Center being across the street from each other, the distance between the remaining malls is not close, making it inconvenient for customers (consumers) to easily move from one to another. The reporter found that the two roads in front of Hattori Department Store are used as parking lots for the mall, roughly having dozens of parking spaces, allowing most consumers to conveniently find empty spots to park.
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