On January 1, 2016, the first store of the Brookstone, the American retailer of novelty products, was opened in Nanjing Aqua City. Its sales hit 9 million yuan in the first 24 hours! As an acquired overseas enterprise of Sanpower Group, Brookstone officially landed its first store in China. Meanwhile, the perfect debut of Brookstone China also unveiled the first chapter of the strategic layout of Sanpower Group’s overseas mergers and acquisitions.

 

That day, the lowest temperature of Nanjing was close to 0℃. However, the freezing cold weather just gave way to the great enthusiasm of the novelty product lovers. In the early morning, citizens and tech fans had been waiting in a long queue before the door of the Brookstone store in Aqua City.

At 10.00 a.m., Tan Jiamin, Vice President of Sanpower Group, Ding Hongwei, Vice President of Pengxin Group, and Xin Kexia, President of Hisap and Chairman of Brookstone China, jointly added the eyes to the dancing lion and declared the grand opening of the first flagship store of Brookstone China. With the joyful sound of gongs and drums, the excellent lion dance, UAV air show and cat girls’ dance performance attracted a large crowd of audience.

Having been waiting for a long time, those tech fans spilt in as soon as the store was opened. Though covering an area of over 800 square meters, the Brookstone store was filled with people in an instant. The fashionable Cat Ear Headphone was the most popular product among young girls who asked about its price one after another. Within only two minutes after the store was open, the first Cat Ear Headphone had been bought by a pretty girl. The magical Bedside Speaker won the favour of white-collar customers. And of course, the sand pasting experience area was occupied immediately by children who liked playing with sand.

 

It can be seen that though Brookstone is a novelty brand, its products are quite practical. Many of them are articles for daily use, such as memory pillow, loafers, massage device and anti-theft suitcase. As introduced by Xin Kexia, the slogan of Brookstone China is Easy·Surprise, which expresses the hope that people can get “easy surprises” from these articles for daily use with surprising novel functions. That’s why the store of Brookstone China mainly offers innovative daily commodities. For example, different from ordinary shoes, Brookstone loafer has a detachable sole, so that wearers can put it on when they go out and take it off when they return home. Besides, with stronger foot-form memory function and odour-resistant function, the sole makes the shoes more comfortable to wear.

Different from the traditional 3C product sales stores, the Brookstone store not only offers American novelty products, but also allows consumers to experience and interact with the products in a relaxing atmosphere. The Sand Pasting World and Robot Battle Zone attracted many children and young people. In the Massage Experience Zone and Home Life Zone, customers experienced the comfortable household articles and massage products. Besides, a group of small robots also caught people’s eyes, among which there was a talking robot named YoYo, who was so popular that many people took photos with it.

The large number of visitors certainly brought high sales. According to the statistic, some products had been sold out in the morning and had to be supplemented by urgent allocation from America. On January 1, the store’s sales amounted to 9 million yuan.

 

On the same day, Funtalk, a professional telecommunications chain enterprise under Sanpower Group, also opened Brookstone stores in its three stores in Beijing and Shanghai. They enjoyed great popularity as well. Many customers planned to give Brookstone products to their family as New Year presents.

Brookstone has been so popular right after its debut in China. What on earth is its charm? In America, Brookstone is synonymous with novelty products. Sanpower Group together with Sailing Capital and GE Capital acquired Brookstone in 2014, after which this American novelty brand and channel brand was brought into China.

In recent years, Sanpower Group and its subsidiaries have launched a series of overseas mergers and acquisitions. As noted by Sanpower Group Chairman Yuan Yafei, all the overseas mergers and acquisitions of Sanpower Group are centred on its “Broad Commerce” and “Broad Health” industry layout. Together with the main industries in China, they can generate synergies of capital, market, management and supply chain, thus achieving the result that “1+1＞2”. Today, Brookstone China has opened its first store with great success and unveiled the first chapter of the grand strategy of Sanpower Group to bring its acquired overseas enterprises into China.

In terms of department stores, Sanpower Group and its strategic partners are also working with other international brands such as House of Fraser and Hamleys to accelerate the integration of overseas and domestic supply chains and strengthen consumers’ loyalty by creating scene-based and experience-oriented shopping environment.

Sanpower Plaza is exactly the first product of the synergy effect of Sanpower Group’s mergers and acquisitions. It’s revealed that House of Fraser, Hamleys, Brookstone and the best aquarium in South Korea will together appear at Sanpower Plaza, Xinjiekou, Nanjing, in September, 2016. They will also form the first template of Sanpower Plaza.