#chinese-consumer-brands

#chinese-consumer-brands

The convenience of sourcing online is fraught with more pitfalls than most of us want to admit. Try finding adequate photos of a vintage piece's condition-close-ups of the fabric, video of damaged areas, any images of a piece's rear or underside!

In recent weeks, China approved the world's first commercial brain-computer interface medical device and unveiled a five-ton class electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that has already completed a public flight.

The competitive landscape among AI apps in China is fierce. Companies have been dumping money into the market to try to win customers and show them how AI is useful in everyday life, in particular, for buying stuff.

At Shoptalk 2023, companies unveiled innovative tools that place AI at the forefront of commerce, reflecting a significant shift in retail dynamics.

Pop Mart's reliance on 'The Monsters' IP has raised concerns, as it accounted for 40% of revenue in 2025 but dropped to 23% in 2024, indicating potential volatility.

Richard Yu promises that Huawei will expand satellite connectivity to lower-priced devices, ensuring that it won't be confined to high-end models only. This initiative marks a new chapter in the company's journey, addressing the connectivity struggles that persist due to insufficient mobile network coverage.

Chinese users rushed to install OpenClaw on their devices, even forming long lines outside Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen and Baidu's headquarters in Beijing to get engineers to help install the AI agent. Others paid strangers online to set it up for them.

Smartphone sales in China took a slight hit in the first two months of 2026 as shipments fell by 4% compared to the same period last year, indicating a decline in demand despite government incentives.

In an unprecedented Chinese New Year marketing blitz, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings spent an estimated 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) to turn their artificial intelligence assistants into household names, according to Morgan Stanley.

In China, consumerism appears to outweigh nationalism regardless of how testy relations have become in recent diplomatic spats with countries like Japan and the United States. It has been common practice for the ruling Communist Party to whip up nationalist sentiment and deploy propaganda condemning countries deemed to be violating China's stance on territorial issues as Taiwan and Tibet. At times, Beijing targets companies that make ideological missteps in their maps or advertising.

At Meituan, China's platform for local services, especially known for food delivery, I worked on two AI projects. One was a consumer-facing AI assistant that helps users complete various tasks, including ordering food. The other was a merchant-facing AI agent designed to help businesses manage their daily operations, including handling reservations, managing orders, and supporting routine operational tasks. The main difference between how products are built in China and in the US comes down to the market.

The US has increasingly shut out Chinese smartphone makers in recent years with outright bans and punitive tariffs, not to mention Apple's dominance. But the truth is, some of the best smartphones you can't officially buy in the US are simply some of the best smartphones. If you want cutting-edge photography, interesting innovations, and top-tier hardware that won't break the bank, you can find them in China.

About 1.4 billion people began marking the Lunar New Year on Tuesday amid fireworks as China enters the Year of the Fire Horse, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. Known as the Spring Festival in China, the new year, based on the lunar calendar, also brings about the world's largest annual human migration, called Chunyun, as millions travel across the country for family reunions.

Xu credited the "world-class business environment" that local officials have built and the region's "complete industrial ecosystem" as a reason that companies like his have thrived. For Shein, local support has helped the firm grow to support more than 600,000 jobs in the area, Xu said.

In case you didn't get the memo, everyone is feeling very Chinese these days. Across social media, people are proclaiming that "You met me at a very Chinese time of my life," while performing stereotypically Chinese-coded activities like eating dim sum or wearing the viral Adidas Chinese jacket. The trend blew up so much in recent weeks that celebrities like comedian Jimmy O Yang and influencer Hasan Piker even got in on it. It has now evolved into variations like " Chinamaxxing" (acting increasingly more Chinese) and " u will turn Chinese tomorrow " (a kind of affirmation or blessing).

While the internet is wide with chic items that may catch your eye, there's no better sign of what's truly on trend and worth a buy than seeing something consistently fly off the virtual shelves. Whether that's a viral collagen mask or a wine accessory that will keep your drinks colder, longer, some of the best and bougiest items are the ones shoppers just can't get enough of. But if you're not yet convinced, continue ahead for a curated edit of the best of the best.

EPS: $0.89 vs. $0.86 estimate (3.5% beat) Revenue: $4.23 billion vs. $4.34 billion estimate (in line), up 6% year-over-year Adjusted Operating Margin: 14.4%, up 290 basis points from prior year Guidance Raised: FY2026 adjusted EPS now $2.05-$2.25 (36-49% growth) Stock Reaction: Shares dropped 18.7% over the past week despite raised guidance Estée Lauder delivered a mixed quarter, beating earnings expectations while revenue met estimates.

A decade ago, China's political leaders laid out an ambitious industrial plan: By 2025, they pledged, their country would be a world capital, with the goal of moving from "Chinese speed to Chinese quality, the transformation of Chinese products to Chinese brands." This is the difference, they wrote, between "Made in China" and "Created in China." At WIRED, we never take what the government (ours or anybody else's) says at face value.