On March 22, the 15th Forbes · Jing’an West Nanjing Road Forum was held at Shanghai Exhibition Center.
Jing’an District announced: As the core bearing area for the construction of Shanghai as an international consumption center city, Jing’an District continues to promote the construction of West Nanjing Road as a world-class landmark business district, and proposes to strive to achieve a total retail sales of more than RMB 100 billion in West Nanjing Road business district by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and takes the lead in building an “RMB 100 Billion Business District” in the city and even in China.
With the theme of “Linking · Evolving · Fusion”, the forum witnessed the launch of the “RMB 100 Billion Business District” plan for West Nanjing Road in Jing’an District and jointly explored the development of high-end business districts in the future urban center.
Hua Yuan, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Zheng Huiqiang, President of Shanghai Services Federation, Gu Honghui, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, Yu Yong, Secretary of the CPC Jing’an District Committee, Wang Hua, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jing’an District Committee and District Mayor of Jing’an District, Gu Yunhao, Director of the Standing Committee of Jing’an District People’s Congress, Sun Jianping, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Services Federation, Jian Danian, Vice President of Shanghai Services Federation, He Shaojun, Deputy Commissioner of Shanghai Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Commerce, Liu Min, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Zhang Jun, Deputy District Mayor of Jing’an District, Song Dajie, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Jing’an District Committee, and Ye Jianhua, Vice President of Shanghai Services Federation attended the forum.
In his opening speech, Wang Hua said that this year, Jing’an District will benchmark the highest international standards and the best level in the construction of the “RMB 100 Billion Business District” of West Nanjing Road, creating a leading place for international consumption experience, a gathering place for international consumption resources, an innovation place for international consumption fashion and a benchmark place for international commercial civilization, and further building West Nanjing Road into a world-class international landmark business district with uniqueness, high positioning and high grade.
West Nanjing Road Business District is located in the West Nanjing Road High-end Service Cluster Area in Jing’an District, with an area of 1.8 square kilometers. It is an important part of the international consumption agglomeration area planned by Shanghai and also the most beautiful business card of the city.
According to incomplete statistics, in 2022, the total retail sales of the West Nanjing Road business district exceeded RMB 78 billion, with the number of first stores ranking first in the city’s business district list for consecutive years. The number of high-level first stores introduced in the world and Asia accounted for 1/3 of the city’s total. With the new appearance of landmark carriers such as the century-old Zhang Yuan and JC PLAZA, the influence and attractiveness of West Nanjing Road Business District as a “world showcase” are further enhanced.
First Implementation Plan for Optimizing Consumption Environment Released in Shanghai
Focusing on the construction of the “Demonstration District of International Consumption Center City”, Jing’an District strives to create a first-class consumption environment that attracts global consumers to come near and far, improve and optimize online and offline consumption experience and satisfaction, and strive to become a benchmark and demonstration for Shanghai building into an international consumption center city.
At the forum, the Implementation Plan of Jing’an District on Further Optimizing the Consumption Environment was released, which is also the first implementation plan of Shanghai to optimize its consumption environment.
The plan focuses on 20 items and 46 tasks in 5 categories, including optimizing the access and operation services of consumer enterprises, improving the in-process and ex-post supervision of consumer enterprises, promoting the diversification of consumer market supply, building a global consumer economy display window, and improving the safe, friendly and comfortable consumption experience, aiming to effectively promote the comprehensive recovery, steady growth and energy level improvement of consumption, and creating a world-class consumption environment.
The awarding ceremony of “Jing’an District Consumption Environment Experience Specialists” was also held on the site. Twelve “Jing’an District Consumption Environment Experience Specialists” from different industries and fields will become keen “tentacles” to optimize the experience consumption environment and enterprise perception. They will feed back problems and provide suggestions timely, jointly participate in promoting consumer satisfaction, establishing a friendly customer-business relationship and optimizing the regional consumption environment.
First “Digital Demonstration Area of International Consumption Center City” in Shanghai
In the process of actively building the “Digital Demonstration Area of International Consumption Center City”, Jing’an District has vigorously promoted the digital transformation of commerce. The digital economy has flourished in Jing’an District and is on the ascendant. At present, the digital construction of business in Jing’an District is entering the “fast lane” of rapid development, becoming the first “Digital Demonstration Area of International Consumption Center City” in Shanghai.
Liu Min and Zhang Jun unveiled the “Digital Demonstration Area of International Consumption Center City” in Jing’an District.
Following the development trend, Jing’an District adheres to innovation empowerment, creates a good digital ecology, focuses on five major fields including digital commerce and trade, digital business districts, digital platforms, digital services and digital ecology, promotes the accelerated integration of digital economy and the real economy, comprehensively expands digital consumption scenarios, and continuously stimulates the new vitality of the digital economy.
In the next three years, West Nanjing Road Business District will focus on brand economy and digital consumption.
The reporter noticed that the implementation plan encourages the high-quality development of the “unveiling economy”, introduces more global debuts and stores, encourages more enterprises to continue to launch special activities relying on rich terrace resources, and encourages local brands to go global. Jing’an will actively introduce and cultivate global high-level market entities with strong brand operation capabilities and global vision, continue to develop the brand economy and build West Nanjing Road Business District into a hub for global brands of all categories.
At the same time, Jing’an encourages and supports more brand enterprises to set up functional headquarters, R&D centers and open innovation platforms for the digital economy in Jing’an District, supports enterprises to create a “headquarters + platform” model, and builds West Nanjing Road Business District into a digital innovation block with a comprehensive expansion of digital consumption and bursting vitality of factor flows.
Exploring the Innovative Development of High-end Business Districts in the Future Urban Center
So far, “Forbes · Jing’an West Nanjing Road Forum” has been held for 15 consecutive sessions. Each forum has provided instructive insights for the construction of international business districts and has become a senior forum brand with great international influence.
This year’s forum invited 200 guests from all over the world, including business industry leaders, authoritative experts, representatives of the world’s five major business streets, representatives of internationally renowned brands, and cultural scholars, to explore the development of high-end business districts in the future urban center.
Bruno Lannes, Senior Global Partner of Bain & Company, delivered a speech themed on “Looking into the Development Trend of Top International Business Districts in the Future”.
Many business leaders and industry leaders also held round-table discussions on core topics such as “The Road to Progress in A Century-Old Shopping Street” and “Business Development Outlook for the Century-Old Zhang Yuan”, advising on the innovative development of business districts.
The Panel I was presided over by Lawrence Wan, CEO of UM China. On the topic of “The Road to Progress in A Century-Old Shopping Street”, Wu Yue, President of LVMH Greater China, Gu Jialin, CEO of Richemont China, Cao Weiming, President of Hermes Greater China, Alex Shutter, Managing Partner of OliverWyman, and Xu Xing, Director of the Investment Service Center of West Nanjing Road Functional Zone, were invited to talk about and provide suggestions to the advancement of the century-old shopping street focusing on the construction of an international consumption center city.
The topic of Panel II centered on “Business Development Outlook for the Century-Old Zhang Yuan” and focused on new changes in domestic and foreign business districts and new retail trends. It was hosted by Qian Houlin, General Manager of Business Operations of Forbes China. She had a dialogue with Qiao Zhengyue, author of The Bubbling Well Road, Yan Wei, General Manager of Swire Properties on Chinese Mainland, Situ Wencong, General Planner of Bailian TX Huaihai, Zhu Xinger, Managing Director of CBRE East China, and Shi Yunlun, Chairman of Jing’an Real Estate (Group) Co., Ltd. Based on the practice and observation in their respective fields, they explored new opportunities in business districts.
Jing’an District’s blueprint plan to build a new “RMB 100 Billion Business District” on West Nanjing Road also depicts the future vision of sustainable business development between Shanghai and global business districts. In the future, West Nanjing Road, as the world’s top commercial district, will create a new benchmark and a new dynamic to lead China’s commercial development, continuously strengthen the online and offline linkage, and continuously sublimate the influence and leading function of the preferred place for global new products, the first choice of high-end brands and the gathering place of Chinese brands. The century-old shopping street is ready for new development. West Nanjing Road in Jing’an District will, aiming at being the first “RMB 100 Billion Business District” in China, accelerate its pace to become a world core landmark for Shanghai building into an international consumption center city.