Not only are Hong Kongers doing their grocery shopping at Sam’s Club, but Aikangjian Dental, K Party karaoke, HeyTea, Master Bun Pastry, and others are also among the favourites of shoppers in Shenzhen. In a similar vein, the daigous charge a small fee to get your shopping or takeaway to Hong Kong, and as the brands suggest, food is one of the most popular items.

• #香港人开始反向代购 Hong Kongers start to “reverse daigou”: 11.44 million views on Weibo, ranking number 43 on the Hot Search list

The reason, of course, is either that the brand has not yet expanded to Hong Kong or that it’s much cheaper in Shenzhen. The daigou, then, is like DoorDash, but cross-border to Hong Kong. Due to exchange rates and price wars in the Mainland, as well as the high costs for food and beverage brands to maintain a presence in Hong Kong, cross-border delivery has become a cheaper alternative for shoppers who do not wish to spend a day in Shenzhen but still want to taste local delicacies.

This is a far cry from the days when Hong Kong had all the international brands, whether in skincare or luxury, that were either unavailable or too expensive in Mainland China, and daigous were essentially smuggling cheaper goods from Hong Kong to the Mainland.

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In the promotional video, the singer-songwriter plays an arrangement of his 2003 hit “Sunny Day” (晴天) on a grand piano while narrating the need for freshness in life and music. In the next three segments, Jay Chou goes hiking, to the beach, and to a pool party, where he plays a different tune on an upright piano, working his musical magic while drinking Yue Fresh milk. The video ends with him back at the grand piano, toasting a glass of milk with a young girl.

For the collaboration, the dairy brand launched a collection of merch on 8 August, including stickers, collectable cards and a tote bag.

Jay Chou, who recently joined the short-form video platform Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, also released shorter videos with the brand, making milk tea with the lighter Yue Fresh milk. The topic “Jay Chou says I want Yue Fresh” (#周杰伦说我要悦鲜活#) gained 45.66 million views on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent.

Yue Fresh is one of the best-selling, high-end milk brands in China. It has been expanding its presence outside mainland China with its first step in Hong Kong. Chou’s appeal across generations in Chinese-speaking regions from the post-70s to post-00s is a great advantage for Junlebao, the company behind Yue Fresh. Meanwhile, Chou is becoming increasingly active commercially, from joining Douyin to launching a yet-to-be-revealed Unitree robot partnership.

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In early July, Sam’s Club removed several popular snacks from its shelves and replaced them with regular snack brands that can be found at any high street supermarket, such as Weilong (卫龙, famous latiao maker) and Orion Choco Pie. Ironically, the Choco Pie is a special low-sugar version that some outlets have verified as exclusive to Sam’s Club. The Weilong product also has minimal branding on the packaging, which some interpreted as Sam’s Club having something to hide.

• #山姆下架多款口碑商品上新好丽友 Sam’s Club removes several popular items from shelves and replaces them with Orion: 150 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
• #山姆线上已下架好丽友 Sam’s Club removes Orion from online shop: 110 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list

It has taken years for supermarket chains such as Sam’s Club, DL (胖东来, Pangdonglai), and Aldi to build trust with Chinese consumers. Sam’s Club stands out from the others because of its membership fee on top of product prices. For middle-class consumers, the fee is seen as a price for a quality guarantee, but if you can get generic items that are available elsewhere, what’s the point of the fees and prices? As the chain expands and localises, it’s almost inevitable that its supply chain will consist of more local suppliers. How Sam’s Club will regain consumers’ trust while expanding and localising, without being called “Walmartised”, is the key question.

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Häagen-Dazs entered the Chinese market in 1996, where it has faced increasingly fierce competition from its American rival, Dairy Queen, as well as from local high-end brands. Since last year, even more premium-priced gelato brands, such as Ye Gelato (野人先生), known for its long daily queues in Beijing, have become a significant threat. Affordable local brands such as Pobeice (波比艾斯) are also putting pressure on the lower end of the market, making Häagen-Dazs’s position difficult to defend. These local competitors also have the edge over Häagen-Dazs, as their products are freshly scooped. By June 2025, there will only be around 250 shops remaining in China.

Häagen-Dazs’s parent company, General Mills, later responded to the claim about the sell-off of stores, saying that it wouldn’t comment on rumours. However, the CEO of General Mills, Jeff Harmening, did mention that foot traffic to Häagen-Dazs offline stores in China has been declining by double-digit percentages. Stores are indeed closing.

Häagen-Dazs is instead expanding its presence in supermarkets and convenience stores, as well as on platforms such as Meituan and Taobao. With group buys and sales from retailers and platforms, Häagen-Dazs is now competing in the FMCG price war. Hermening’s announcement on increasing investment in ice cream sticks seems to confirm this.

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While Meituan started bringing its Xiaoxiang Supermarket (小象超市) offline with new openings, JD.com has also announced its plan to significantly expand its Seven Fresh (七鲜) supermarket brand. Sources close to JD.com reported that Seven Fresh is in the process of opening 18 branches (including shops and warehouses) in Beijing and nearby Tianjin.

In fact, in its Q1 2025 financial report, JD.com already laid out its intention to expedite its “1+N” model in Northern China, meaning one large supermarket combined with many warehouses for “instant deliveries”. It plans to cover the entirety of the Beijing and Tianjin regions. Similar to Xiaoxiang and Freshippo from Alibaba, the delivery warehouses/depots will help cover entire regions in a 30-minute delivery range.

With JD.com doubling down on “local life” services and omnichannel retail, many see the retailer starting to look increasingly like Meituan. While retaining its edge in consumer electronics within e-commerce, its food delivery has seen huge growth since its launch, with daily orders surpassing 25 million and more than 1.5 million participating merchants. With local life services from ticketing to hotel bookings, even chemists and repair services, JD.com is reshaping itself as a “local life” service platform. But with competition from Xiaoxiang, Freshippo and to an extent, Sam’s Club from Walmart, JD.com is entering a more or less saturated market as a disruptor.

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The reason is, of course, competition. Back in the late 20th century, Coca-Cola and Pepsi were fiercely competing against each other, province by province. Hubei was especially sticky for both beverage brands, and Pepsi’s first thought was to add an extra 100ml to its bottles without raising the price. Coca-Cola had to follow to avoid being left behind. Now decades later, neither can drop the extra 100ml.

• #湖北的可乐多100ml, colas in Hubei has an extra 100ml: 1.13 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Lifestyle list
• #湖北的可乐, colas in Hubei: 937,000 views on Weibo, ranking number 29 on the Hot Search list

There are also other factors, such as Coca-Cola having two factories in the province, which lowers the cost. Another reason is that hot ginger cola has already become a regional delicacy in colder weather, so demand remains high even during winter. Giving customers more for the same price is what many netizens call “healthy” competition, because in the end, it’s the consumers who win.

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Let me explain. Because Chinese names are basically freeform, without the standardised biblical names as in most of the West, Coca-Cola has always adapted for the market. Past versions of the “Share a Coke” campaign in China included relationship ones (similar to the “Mate” “, Sis” and “Nan” ones in the UK), like “Roommate” (室友), “Bro” (老兄) and “Crush” (女神/男神). Coca-Cola also launched a summer campaign edition in 2022 with activities on the bottles like “pin chat” and “on the beach”. This time, Coca-Cola used popular online terms that younger generations like to label themselves with.

From Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) letters like “E person” (E人, meaning extrovert) and “I person” (I人, introvert), to the likes of “fashionista” (时髦精), “foodie” (干饭人) and “comedian” (喜剧人). These social labels are sometimes used as tribal identifiers, icebreakers in social situations or even as self-deprecating jokes.

This revival of the classic Coca-Cola campaign with Chinese characteristics is deeply in tune with the Chinese youth culture, especially on social media. In fast-paced social spaces, a Coke with a label can be a nice conversation piece. Maybe, just maybe, these “labels” are even better identifiers than just first names in the Western world. However, for those who wish to shed their labels and break the mould, perhaps it’s not yet your turn to share a Coke.

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The ad starts with IShowSpeed recounting his recent internet-breaking trip to China and one specific Chinese phrase that he heard a lot during the tour: “Lai dou lai le” (来都来了, lit. since you’re here). The saying originally has the same meaning as “you’ve come all this way”, an expression to encourage people to go through with something so as not to let their previous effort go to waste. However, in recent internet lingo and the Yili commercial, the reluctant resignation and submission is subverted to a more positive and daring tone to try new things that you’d otherwise “wouldn’t, couldn’t, or even shouldn’t”, much like YOLO from the early 2010s.

The IShowSpeed Chinese commercial itself is tailored for the May Day holiday and people’s plans to travel. Several situations, like accidentally ordering a huge serving of hot and spicy noodle soup, facing rain while climbing a mountain and finding a great spot to dip into the water while hiking, the phrase, shouted by Speed from afar, encourages the character to finish their gargantuan bowl, climb to the top in a storm and jump into a lake, since they’re already there. IShowSpeed then performs a song he’d written for the commercial, predictably called “Lai Dou Lai Le”, encouraging people to “enjoy milk, enjoy holiday”, try the things you hesitate, just “don’t forget your Yili”, advises Speed.

With Speed’s China tour still fresh in people’s minds and Chinese netizens likely to be travelling to one of the cities IShowSpeed covered on his trip, it is a great opportunity for both Yili and Speed to remind people of the streamer and his love for China, and encourage people to make the most of their holiday.

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Like many collaborations, you can expect exclusive merch from the Safeguard x Wang Chuqin team-up. From a photobook that includes prints, a hand-signed autograph, a voice message and a calendar, to tote bags, pin badges, sticker sets and trading cards, the collaboration includes most types of “goods” you’d expect. And as you might have also guessed, all 51,100 sets were sold out in just 13 minutes.

• #舒肤佳 王楚钦 Safeguard Wang Chuqin: 23.39 million views on Weibo, ranking number 4 on the Hot Search list
• #舒肤佳品牌全线代言人王楚钦 Safeguard brand ambassador Wang Chuqin: 47.24 million views on Weibo

Safeguard was launched in 1963 by Procter and Gamble and is known for its antibacterial soaps. It is one of the biggest soap brands in China. Wang Chuqin is also one of the hottest celebrity athletes in China with 12 brand ambassadorships under his belt and is projected to earn over 50 million RMB (6.86 million USD) annually. It’s only natural that this partnership between two household names has caught the eyes of many, both online and offline.

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Meituan is reportedly recruiting for location scouts and construction work for the offline Xiaoxiang supermarkets. The first stores are said to be in Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The new offline locations would be benchmarked against Freshippo’s NB (neighbourhood business) type of stores, which are smaller and a cross between a convenience store and a pickup point for warehouse deliveries. However, it was also reported that Meituan hasn’t ruled out future bigger offline supermarket branches like regular Freshippo stores.

Xiaoxiang Supermarket has a large coverage in China, delivering in 30 tier-1 and tier-2 cities with 800 warehouses/distribution centres by the end of last year. Data shows that by 18 March 2025, Xiaoxiang was the number 1 distribution centre-based online supermarket in China in terms of order numbers. It was recently reported to be “going overseas” (出海) with its first stop set in Saudi Arabia, where Meituan’s Keeta also has a presence.

Xiaoxiang, however, faces fierce competition in the supermarket business, from not just Freshippo, but also Dingdong and conventional players such as Aldi. With JD.com also doubling down in the “local life” services with JD takeaway, which is taking on Meituan’s core food delivery business, the sector is set to become even more crowded in 2025.

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