Chinanews, Shanghai, Feb. 7 – Information from the Shanghai Commercial Information Center shows that since China joined the WTO five years ago, more and more foreign brands have entered into the commercial market in Shanghai. At the same time, old foreign brands that came to China earlier have further expanded their market shares, making domestic brands and foreign brands both taking half of the commercial market shares in the city.

 

Information shows that market shares of domestic brands have been declining slightly in Shanghai over the past five years, from 6-7 percentage points higher than foreign brands five years ago to the present breaking even. Such decline has aroused the concern of industrial analysts.

 

Although domestic brands have roughly the same number of “popular brands” as their foreign counterparts, their competitive edge, which is gauged by criteria such as market shares and product improvement, already lags behind their foreign rivals now. Foreign brands have taken a substantially larger share in the sales of women underwears, leather goods, black household electric appliances (such as TV and audio equipment), white household electric appliances (such as fridges and vacuum cleaners), and clothes.

 

As the China's largest commercial city, Shanghai has adopted a series of strategic changes in recent years in order to develop its commerce. Attracting more people from other regions, more foreigners, and more young people to come to Shanghai has become the guiding principle for the city’s development. A recent report on the situation of popular brands in the commercial market in Shanghai shows that last year, foreign brands contributed greatly to the sales growth of the famous-brand goods in Shanghai.