This week on China Digital Retail Report, a translation of the live commerce chapter of the Report on the Development of New E-commerce in China (2026). This government report offers interesting insights into the latest e-commerce trends. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

TikTok Shop Watch #6: Southeast Asia 2026 Update I am publishing a series of updates on TikTok Shop: the first two focus on Southeast Asia, and another, to be published next month, covers TikTok Shop in the rest of the world. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

Alibaba’s Hema Fresh Outlet: Stripped to the Bone This week's China Digital Retail Report was a fun one to make. Chinese media often claim that after the founder of Alibaba's Hema Supermarket (Freshippo) retired, all but two of his 12 formats were scrapped, helping Hema become profitable and the number 2 supermarket chain in China. But there are still 4 active formats, one of which Alibaba would probably rather not talk about. Last month I visited four different Hema Fresh Outlets to see what was left of this iteration of Hema's path to becoming a hard discounter. In the report ... ▶️ ... I explain how Hema Fresh Outlets came about and changed over the years. ▶️ ... I examine how some 'Hema Outlets' were further downgraded while some of them were upgraded. ▶️ ... share pictures of what they looked like then and now. ▶️ ... examine the interesting process of shopping at a Hema Fresh Outlet and how significant the price differences are. Overall, I show you the more gritty aspects of New Retail that others won't show you. 😉 chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

WILL EU IMPORT TAXES KILL CHINESE WEBSHOPS? After the US de minimis was cancelled in May 2025, Temu survived. After a few months of adjustment, it even kept growing, albeit at a slower pace than before. For 2026, it targets a 50%+ growth rate. That leaves us with the question of what the impact of the new EU policy changes will be. As in the US, Temu and others have not been sitting idly waiting for this to happen but have prepared coping strategies. If the 54% tax rate on small packages in the US did not kill off Temu, will the new EU policies? The new CDRR report explains how Chinese webshops have been preparing for the regulatory changes. It shares learnings from last year’s abolishment of de minimis in the US and the outlook for Europe. open.substack.com/pub/chinad…

This week, I’m examining the arrival of ‘the next Chinese webshop’ as some media and opinion leaders announced it in April. It should have launched last month, after Xiaohongshu had been working on the project for more than a year. Since it’s already July, I went looking for it. And I found things aren’t quite what people expected ... chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

Temu Watch #15: Forward Warehouse Strategy Tomorrow, the EU will implement a €3 tax per product line on direct-to-consumer imports from non-EU countries. This policy targets Chinese webshops like Temu and is a temporary measure until it fully repeals its de minimis tax exemption. Our research has shown that, while this will, to a certain extent, result in a more level playing field that local retailers have been asking for, it will not make Temu and the like disappear. On the contrary, in the US, where Temu faced tariffs as high as 54% when the de minimis was cancelled, Temu is still growing its business by a targeted 50%+ in 2026. There are two reasons for this. Temu anticipated these regulatory changes and, as early as March 2024, started implementing a semi-managed model in which merchants store goods in local warehouses. Second, it added ‘forward warehouses’ to its full managed model in which it handles all logistics itself. Taking Europe as an example, Temu aimed to have 80% of goods shipped from local warehouses by the end of 2025. In these cases, Temu was already paying regular bulk import tax on wholesale prices. In other words, those who expect tomorrow's new tax rules to eliminate Temu will be very disappointed. This latest edition of Temu Watch examines the current status of Temu’s forward warehouse strategy. The report explains the goals of the forward warehouse strategy, the status in key regions, how inventory risk is handled, cooperation with merchants, the customs clearance process, and the impact on pricing and profitability. The report also shares the latest developments in various operational models, growth and the outlook for Temu. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT QUICK COMMERCE IN CHINA Last April, ChinaTechTrip and K5 - Future Retail took a group of senior managers back to China for a second study tour about retail and e-commerce in China. We kicked off the journey with a thorough update on the latest developments in retail and e-commerce in China. This update included a 25-minute briefing on the latest in instant retail (quick commerce). A slidecast of this briefing will be available to paid subscribers on China Digital Retail Report tomorrow. On China Digital Retail Report, I post weekly articles, reports and videos on the online and offline retail initiatives of China's internet companies. This includes frequent content on e-commerce, live commerce, quick commerce, cross-border e-commerce (Temu, TikTok Shop, Shein, Joybuy, etc) and more. Some posts are free to read, and the most exclusive reports and videos are available to paid subscribers at a very reasonable price, given the wealth of information. To receive the weekly free and paid updates in your mailbox, please subscribe through the link in the comments. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM MY XINPINMU REPORTA few weeks ago, I published Temu Watch #14 about Temu/Pinduoduo's Xinpinmu project. The insights in the report came from three expert interviews with people close to Pinduoduo in the Six Degrees Intelligence network. Here are a few key takeaways from the report: ▶️ New Private Label Division: PDD Holdings launched Xinpinmu in March 2026 as a dedicated division to manage its own self-operated brands for both domestic (Pinduoduo) and global (Temu) markets. ▶️ Competitive Benchmarking: The project draws operational inspiration from Costco’s private-label logic and Shein’s global model but prioritises building a massive user base over immediate profit realisation. ▶️ RMB 100 Billion Investment: PDD plans to invest 100 billion yuan over three years to deepen its integration into China’s supply chain and “recreate” its growth curve. ▶️ Shift to Platform-Owned Risk: In a departure from the “fully managed” model, PDD assumes full responsibility for procurement, unsold inventory, quality issues, and after-sales liabilities for Xinpinmu products. ▶️ Targeting Higher-Tier Cities: In China, the strategy focuses on capturing first- and second-tier city consumers who prioritise product quality over the ultra-low prices typically associated with white-label goods. ▶️ Full-Category Ambition: While starting with apparel and bags, Xinpinmu aims to create a full-category matrix that eventually includes electronics, home appliances, and industrial goods. ▶️ Preferential Traffic Allocation: Platform-owned brands receive significant advantages in search rankings and organic traffic, potentially increasing the operating burden on third-party “semi-managed” merchants. ▶️ Strict Supplier Selection: Suppliers must meet rigorous standards, including high DSR scores and low return rates, and are often required to sign exclusivity agreements to prevent sales on competing platforms. ▶️ Major Compliance Risks: The report identifies intellectual property disputes and the complexity of international regulatory compliance as the most significant threats to the project’s long-term success. ▶️ Ambitious GMV Objectives: PDD’s long-term goal is for Xinpinmu to contribute 10% of total GMV, forming a “trillion-yuan” synergy alongside its “10 Billion Yuan Supermarket” and “Instant Retail” lines. To read the full report, head for China Digital Retail Report: chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

For years, there have been discussions about whether pure-player front-end warehouse companies (often called ‘dark stores’ in the West) can be truly profitable. In China, there are three cases that seem to prove profitability: ▶️ Dingdong Maicai ▶️ Pupu Supermarket ▶️ Yonghui’s front-end warehouses in Chongqing Still, a recent analysis by Liansheng claims that none of these cases has sufficiently demonstrated the model's profitability. What’s more, recent iterations of the model and developments among traditional supermarkets seem to prove Liansheng is right. In this article, I’m summarising Liansheng’s article while combining it with my own on-the-ground research. Besides shedding light on the situation in China, there are many valuable lessons for quick commerce platforms and traditional supermarkets seeking to offer 1-hour delivery. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

TEMU WATCH #14: XINPINMU, TEMU'S PRIVATE BRAND STRATEGY This is a post I’ve been wanting to publish for a long time. In March, Pinduoduo announced the launch of ‘Xinpinmu’, a new division to support the company's private-label projects. Pinduoduo’s characteristic vagueness led some media to misinterpret the move, but it wasn’t something that materialised out of thin air. Over the past two months, I have seen many misinterpretations about what Xinpinmu is, what scope it aims for and how it will operate. I have been keeping an eye on new insights into Xinpinmu emerging from interviews with experts close to the platform. The report is compiled from three expert interviews and digs deep into everything you need to know about the new project. The report describes: ▶️ What Xinpinmu is, what inspired it and how it differs from private brands of other platforms. ▶️ How Xinpinmu will operate with regard to target markets, supplier and SKU selection, logistics and traffic allocation. ▶️ What the main challenges and risks are for the program. ▶️ How Xinpinmu fits into PDD’s broader long-term strategy and what the outlook is. The report also includes a 10-minute summary video. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…

After webshops like Temu, AliExpress, and Joybuy have penetrated Western markets, often using low-price strategies with white-label products, they are entering a new phase in which Chinese webshops are becoming distribution channels for Chinese brands. chinadigitalretailreport.sub…