You surely have seen a McDonald’s located next to a Burger King, or a Nike store near Adidas. Believe me, it’s not a coincidence.
Now, if you hop on the plane to Shanghai for the weekend, you’ll see Huawei’s new flagship store – it’s just across the street from Apple’s flagship shop. A Reuters report tells the story – Huawei, updating its retail strategy, is aggressively opening flagship stores in China.
Many are “just a stone’s throw away from Apple shops”. How convenient.
Huawei’s recently renovated Shanghai flagship store takes an enormous place – three floors of a famous heritage architecture building in the financial hub’s busy shopping district. It includes a coffee shop and a gym!
Huawei opened four such flagship stores in major Chinese cities between December and February, shifting from licensed distributors after rebounding from 2019 U.S. sanctions. “The Huawei flagship store is very nice. It looks much brighter inside compared to the Apple Store across the street,” said Amy Chen, a 27-year-old physiotherapist.
Huawei now has 11 flagship stores and plans to surpass 20, aiming to catch up to Apple’s 47 in China. Huawei’s new stores and premium products challenge Apple, which saw a 6.6% drop in iPhone sales in China in Q1 2023, while Huawei’s shipments increased by 110%.
The Far East behemoth has developed its own chips and popular 5G products, aggressively recruiting dealers.
“As Huawei now manages to ship in large quantities, given the good profit margin they could provide, (distributors) have become willing to purchase Huawei devices again,” said Ethan Qi, associate director at Counterpoint.
Over 5,200 licensed stores opened in early 2023, mostly in smaller cities. This marketing push has significantly impacted Apple and other Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.
Huawei’s flagship stores showcase premium products, competing directly with Apple. “Huawei now has a long product line,” Qi noted. Between 70-80% of Huawei’s sales come from physical stores, while Apple sees about 40% online.
This comeback is felt beyond mainland China, with Hong Kong shops like Trinity Electronics stocking more Huawei devices. “People are willing to pay a lot of money for high-end Huawei,” said owner Simon Lam.
