On November 17 as per London time, Huang Lixin, member of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of Nanjing Municipal Party Committee, headed up the Nanjing Economic and Trade Delegation to visit the British quintessential department store House of Fraser (Oxford Street branch) and the world’s largest toy store Hamleys (Regent Street Flagship Store) in London. Yue Lei, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group, and Frank Slevin and Nigel Oddy, respectively Chairman and CEO of House of Fraser UK, accompanied Huang through the visit. These two brands are scheduled to enter Sanpower Plaza at Xinjiekou, Nanjing next year. After the visit, Huang Lixin and the delegation expressed their warm welcome to the two stores’ arrival in Nanjing and conveyed the municipal government’s full support for their opening.

HoF’s diversified competition mode wins high praise

2015 is a “golden year” for the establishment of the global comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the UK. Though situated at the two ends of the Eurasia continent, Nanjing and the UK have kept increasingly close exchanges in economy and trade and the UK has attracted more and more Nanjing enterprises to “go global”. As a representative of Nanjing’s “going global” enterprises, Sanpower Group also regards the UK as the strategic highland of its multinational development. Following Nanjing Cenbest’s acquisition of the British quintessential department store House of Fraser last year, Sanpower Group’s strategic partner C.banner announced its acquisition of the 255-year-old British toy store Hamleys. In the second half of 2016, Sanpower Group will introduce House of Fraser and Hamleys to Sanpower Plaza at Xinjiekou, Nanjing to build department stores with the pure British style.

Nanjing Economic and Trade Delegation’s visit to the UK was aimed at further deepening the economic and trade cooperation between Nanjing and London. Besides holding the promotion event for Nanjing Emerging Industries Development in London, they also visited a lot of renowned British enterprises including the two leading retail brands House of Fraser and Hamleys which are going to enter Nanjing.

On the morning of November 17, Huang Lixin and the delegation visited House of Fraser Department Store on Oxford Street in London, accompanied by Frank Slevin, Nigel Oddy and Peter Gross, respectively Chairman, CEO and COO of House of Fraser UK. Frank introduced to Huang the house brands, fashion exhibition platforms, online sales terminals, online shopping lines, offline delivery areas and other characteristic business items of House of Fraser. After hearing his introduction, Huang Lixin was very interested in the types, operation modes and the online and offline integrated development of their house brands.

Huang particularly enquired about the sales performance of House of Fraser. Frank Slevin replied that House of Frazer’s sales in 2015 increased by about 6% compared with last year, which was one to two percent higher than the sales of other peer companies. He expressed his gratitude to the leaders of Nanjing municipal government for their visit and support and indicated that, next year, House of Fraser would settle down at Xinjiekou, Nanjing to open its first flagship store in China.

As noted by Huang Lixin, there are averagely 500,000 visitors to the shopping district of Xinjiekou, Nanjing every day, and the figure will reach about 1 million during holiday peak days. Undoubtedly, Xinjiekou boasts enormous market space and consumption potential. It is believed that House of Fraser’s advantages in brand resources, operation principles and business modes will help itself enter the Chinese market more smoothly. Meanwhile, its strategic cooperation with Sanpower Group will definitely bring great success to its first flagship store in China.

Hamleys’ entry into Nanjing is warmly welcome and highly promising

Afterwards, Huang Lixin and the delegation arrived at the Regent Street Flagship Store of Hamleys, the world’s largest toy store. At the end of October, Sanpower Group’s strategic partner C.banner just announced its successful acquisition of 100% stock shares of Hamleys. Next year, Hamleys will be introduced to China and Sanpower Plaza in Nanjing will become its first stop.

The moment when Huang Lixin and the delegation stepped into the store, they heard all the employees of Hamleys cheer in Chinese: “Hello, Secretary Huang! Welcome to our store!” It was really a big surprise to Nanjing Economic and Trade Delegation. Gudjon Reynisson, Ralph Cunningham and Mark Drummond, respectively CEO, Retail Brand Director and Marketing Director of Hamleys, accompanied the delegation during the entire visit.

As a famous scenic spot in London, this 255-year-old British-style toy store has its matchless attraction, that is, its hands-on shopping scenes and amusement-park-like shopping environment specially created for children and parents. Many Hollywood stars are also the frequent visitors to this toy store. During the visit, the store’s magician gave a wonderful performance to the delegation and evoked bursts of laughter. After visiting the toy areas for children in different age groups and trying various novel toys in the store, some members of the delegation couldn’t help buying some toys for their children. In the visit, Huang Lixin highly praised the interesting shopping experience and the scene marketing of Hamleys, saying, “This toy store is a paradise for children. They will be unwilling to leave after they come here.” Gudjon Reynisson added, “According to statistics, each child will stay here for two hours on average.”

After the visit, Huang Lixin noted, “Nanjing has become one of the most vigorous and modern cities in the Yangtze River Delta with its advantages in various aspects including transportation, geography and culture. Hamleys and House of Fraser are warmly welcome to Nanjing. We will provide you with a full range of services and support.”