Manufacturing is changing fast in China, says business analyst Ben Cavender to the Fast Company. Factories phase out labor for automation, and stick to more ethical standards. Although some of the less ethical producers move to countries outside China.Read More →
China’s internet companies have turned around payment systems dom estically. Now they are turning to global market, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Cryptocoinnews. Alibaba’s Ant Financial now is setting up a war chest to conquer those global markets.Read More →
Gaining soft power is not an exclusive issue for China’s government. Jacky Chan and Wanda might be equally important for how the world sees China, says branding expert Ben Cavender to the South China Morning Post.Read More →
China might have invented the paper money, it is most likely also the first one to go fully cashless, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Motherboard. “People basically run their lives through smartphones in China.”Read More →
Pleasing the China consumer has always been a challenge, but – as Tsingtao and Wanda discovered – consumers have become harder to get. Retail expert Ben Cavender nevertheless sees a lot of room for growth, he tells Reuters.Read More →
Department stores in China are losing their shine, but convenience stores keep on doing well. Convenience stores offer consumers better what they need compared to department stores, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to the China Daily.Read More →
Rising wages have already put China in the same cost-league as Portugal and South-Africa, forcing manufacturers to low-wage countries. But that is only one challenge for a major shift in the labor market, says business analyst Ben Cavender to CNBC.Read More →
Alibaba’s Ant Financial investment of US$200 million into the Korean mobile payment service Kakao Pay illustrates how the leading Chinese payment platform want to gain global dominance, says business analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters. Buying into strong local players is smarter than competing with them.Read More →
Alibaba teamed up with brick-and-mortar retailer Bailian, in the latest effort to combine the best of two worlds. But while the idea seems to make sense, the results up to now have been meager, tells retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters.Read More →
Chairman Jack Ma of Alibaba promised US president-elect Donald Trump a million US jobs, but what he might get, says retail analyst Ben Cavender at CNN, are very, very few real jobs. “I don’t see a lot of job creation happening.”Read More →
The decision to sell a controlling stake of McDonald´s to private investors in the Carlyle Group, Citic Capital and Citic Group triggered off mixed reactions among analysts. Retail analyst Ben Cavender says the new investors can help to refurbish and expand the chain. Peking University business professor Jeffrey Towson sees a different management style, that makes competitor KFC run for its money. But business analyst Shaun Rein sees to end to the inevitable decline of McDonald´s.Read More →
Internet giant Alibaba paid US$2.6 billion for the retailer Intimate group, another sign Alibaba wants to leverage its online presence to brick-and-mortar retail operations, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters. Earlier it bought also leading retailer Suning.Read More →