A Winning Debut

Xiaonian, or the Chinese Little New Year, is the day when preparations for the Spring Festival start a week before the actual Chinese New Year. The following day on January 24, 2025, Chaoyang District in Beijing saw the capital’s first MINISO LAND open, a two-storied store full of items loved by young people – plush toys, trinkets, cosmetics, badges, and internationally popular merchandise like Hello Kitty, Little Pony, and Harry Potter branded goods.

Outside the store, a giant electronic screen played an advertisement for Black Myth: Wukong, the blockbuster action role-playing video game based on the Chinese legendary character Sun Wukong or the Monkey King, while a three-dimensional representation of the Jin Gu Bang, the magical golden cudgel wielded by the Monkey King, was displayed at the entrance, creating an arresting effect.

On January 15, when on trial operation stage, the Beijing MINISO LAND sold the official mascots of Black Myth, triggering a frenzy. Game fans lined up and waited patiently to purchase their favorite mascots, which sold out immediately, the store said.

This story actually started in 2023, when the Guangzhou-based Chinese retail lifestyle brand announced it would make a hundred Chinese intellectual property (IP) products go global over the next 10 years. Today it is the exclusive distribution channel of Black Myth’s IP products, which is also the driving force of the company’s initiative. After the debut in Beijing, the Black Myth mascots will be sold in MINISO LAND’s stores overseas to extend the game’s IP to daily consumption and maximize its value.

Strong momentum

“Last year, 960 new first stores opened in Beijing, which contributed to the prosperity of the capital consumer market,” Lu Huiling, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said at a press briefing in January. These first stores, covering retail, catering, culture, and other fields, have brought more diversified choices to Beijing consumers and enhanced Beijing’s status and influence as an international consumption center, she added.

As a major indicator of a city’s business vitality, “first stores” are highly valued by the Beijing government, which has taken several measures to promote high-quality development of the genre, such as providing one-stop services for site selection, registration, and trademark exclusive rights protection. More preferential policies are in the pipeline to attract more first stores in the fashion and digital sectors providing high value-added consumption experience.

Shanghai, another major consumption heartland, also saw a surge of 1,173 first stores from January to November 2024, including both homegrown and international brands.

The China International Import Expo (CIIE), which started in Shanghai in 2018, is a major driver of the debut economy. Since its launch, it has been the occasion for a series of world premieres, and the first store launches in China and even the Asian region, showcasing new products, technologies, and services in the fields of advanced medical equipment, intelligent industrial equipment, new energy vehicles, high-tech beauty products, and high-quality food.

Since the 1st CIIE, Shanghai has introduced 5,840 first stores. At the 6th CIIE last year, 442 representative new products, technologies, and services were displayed. They showed the growing appeal of the Chinese market, and also global companies’ confidence in doing business in China.

Other major cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the south, Chengdu in the southwest, and Tianjin neighboring Beijing have also introduced policies to stimulate regional consumption vitality. They generally provide subsidies and other financial support for first stores and developing the debut economy.

New types of consumption

According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), in 2024, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China was RMB 48.8 trillion, an increase of 3.5 percent over the previous year. Consumption accounted for 44.5 percent of economic growth, continuing to play a leading role in it.

New trends can be seen among young consumers, who want to purchase more personalized, diversified, and experiential goods. National brands, original and cutting-edge brands, as well as some internationally renowned brands are attracting more buyers.

The third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee held in July 2024 discussed further deepening reform and promoting Chinese modernization. “Promoting the debut economy” was one of the measures it proposed.

“The debut economy” encompasses a range of economic activities related to the initial introduction of a product, service, or technology. It includes activities such as product launches, opening of first stores, and inaugural exhibitions by both domestic and international brands, as well as the establishment of R&D centers and corporate headquarters. The whole process is supported by the innovation and development of enterprises, and finally culminates in promoting consumption upgrading, market expansion, industrial transformation, and urban capacity improvement.

The Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing in December 2024 emphasized that the primary task in 2025 would be to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand in all directions. It also stressed the importance of developing the “debut economy, ice and snow economy, and silver economy.”

Subsequently, MOFCOM, together with six other departments, jointly issued a plan for retail innovation and upgrading projects. The plan details arrangements for developing the debut economy and cultivating the young buyer-targeted market in innovative and fashionable businesses, as well as the female-targeted market, or the “she economy.” As a result, the first store economy and the launch of new products are booming, further activating the new kinetic energy of consumption.

New kinetic energy

The consumer market is meeting the new demand with new supplies to stimulate new drivers for economic growth. The debut economy, based on innovations, introduces the latest achievements to attract target consumers and lead the consumption trend.

“Innovation is the key to the debut economy, which focuses on the initial introduction of a product, service, or technology,” Hong Yong, an associate researcher at MOFCOM’s E-commerce Research Institute, said. This new form of economy, featuring fashion, quality, and trendy consumption, meets the requirements of consumption upgrading and high-quality development. It is an important embodiment of a region’s commercial vitality, consumption strength, innovation ability, and international competitiveness, and is an indicator of its openness.

The MP Management Professional Group, a Guangzhou-based think-tank, recently released a report on the three major characteristics of the debut economy: Initial introduction, which includes the first release of products, first fashion show and exhibition, and first store opening, marking the debut of a new product, technology, service, and model; it represents the whole production chain process, aiming to build an ecosystem of new product R&D centers, headquarters, and debut stores; and its role is to lead consumers’ recognition and pursuit of a new brand, culture, and lifestyle.

The debut economy can release consumption potential and foster new growth, according to Shan Zhiguang, director of the Information and Industry Development Department of the State Information Center. It is a booster of consumption upgrading and a facilitator of a long-term mechanism to expand consumption. More importantly, it meets the requirement of high-quality development, which can gather brand resources, enhance commercial vitality, and meet people’s expectations for a better life.