What’s the Significance of Deji Plaza’s Adjustment on the Brand Portfolio over Last Year?

The annual revenue of Deji Plaza in 2021 exceeded 20 billion yuan, a 30% year-on-year growth. Over the past year, Deji Plaza has conducted several rounds of adjustments on stores in the plaza, which amounts to over 400 now.

Located in downtown Nanjing’s Xinjiekou business area, as the only upscale single-building commercial complex with comprehensive businesses forms in Nanjing, Deji Plaza was developed by the local real estate Deji Group Co., Ltd. and put into operations back in 2006. It is said that a few real estate developers including Shui On Land Ltd., Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. and Hongkong Land Ltd. are picking up the pace of setting up new projects in Nanjing.

Luxe.CO concluded four features in this round of portfolio adjustment:

1. High-end Fragrance Salons are Launching Stores at a Fast Pace

Deji Plaza boasts 11 high-end fragrance and perfume salons, which has made it the one with the most comprehensive fragrance brands among upscale commercial complexes in Mainland China. These perfume stores are located in Basement Level 1 of Building One and Two, including the original brand matrix of 6 brands--- Atelier Cologne, AERIN, Acqua di Parma, Byredo, Jo Malone and Diptyque. Since November 2021, another 5 fragrance and perfume salons have unveiled their initial stores in Jiangsu Province at Deji Plaza. They are Penhaligon’s, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Frederic Malle, KILIAN and Maison Margiela.

Penhaligon's opened its boutique store at Deji Plaza on November 30, 2021. L'Artisan Parfumeur followed on the very same day by launching its second domestic store after its first one at Shanghai IFC.

In December last year, the Estee Lauder owned Frederic Malle and KILIAN both opened their adjacent boutique stores at Deji Plaza.

On January 27, the first Maison Margiela Fragrance boutique store opened at Deji Plaza, making it the first in Jiangsu Province.

Furthermore, on the next day, LVMH-owned Loewe opened its first exclusive fragrance boutique store ever at Deji Plaza.

Luxe.CO’s comment: overseas high-end fragrance and perfume salons have picked up their pace of expansion in China and invested more capital in setting up new stores and counters, which suggests that the Chinese fragrance market is going through a post-pandemic explosive growth.

2. Upgrade of Stores by Upscale Cosmetics Brands

From July 2021 until now, 6 international upscale brands of beauty products have launched their first independent stores in Jiangsu at Deji Plaza, including Laura Mercier, Christian Louboutin, Charlotte Tilbury, Valentino Beauty, THE GINZA and ELEMIS. Bobbi Brown also established the global flagship store here.

In January 2022, Shiseido-owned high-end skincare brand THE GINZA opened its boutique store. THE GINZA entered the Chinese market officially in 2021 and has 3 boutiques and 2 counters in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing and Shenzhen.

Also in January, L'Occitane-owned ELEMIS set up an independent store at Deji Plaza. In July 2020, ELEMIS entered China by going on the shelves of Sephora. Currently, it owns three duty-free stores in Hainan and Macau, and two independent stores at Shanghai IFC and Deji Plaza.

After issuing an announcement to enter the Chinese market in August 2021, Laura Mercier set up its first store in Mainland China at the Shanghai New World Daimaru Mall and its first store in Jiangsu at Deji Plaza on September 26.

Christian Louboutin launched, at Deji Plaza, its first store in Jiangsu in October 2021, making it the third in Mainland China following one at Beijing SKP and one at Shanghai IFC.

Furthermore, in December 2021, Valentino Beauty and British cosmetics brand Charlotte Tilbury unveiled their stores at Deji Plaza respectively.

Bobbi Brown’s first global flagship store opened in December 2021 at Deji, which encompassed the first VIP cosmetics experience space around the globe.

Luxe.CO’s comment: since the outbreak of the pandemic, upscale cosmetics brands have exhibited great resilience. According to the latest quarterly report issued by cosmetics giant Coty Inc. in February, the increase in revenue of China’s cosmetics market reached 7 times the market average.

3. Outdoor Sports’ Popularity Continues to Grow

By the end of November 2021, Deji Plaza has completed another round of adjustments of outdoor sports brands located mainly on the sixth floor of Building One. Brands such as Helly Hansen, NAUTICA, On, VOLCOM and X-Bionic were introduced into the plaza.

Norwegian national outdoor sports brand Helly Hansen opened its first boutique store in eastern China at Deji Plaza. Partnering with the Youngor Group, a listed Chinese clothing company, in August 2021, Helly Hansen returned to China and established its first store at the Beijing Oriental Plaza. In October, Helly Hansen set up the second one at Beijing SKP.

A nautical-influenced American brand NAUTICA revealed its multi-brand store at Deji Plaza on November 19, 2021. An exclusive space inside the store was dedicated to brand whitesail. NAUTICA JP, a limited series was also sold here.

Swiss sports brand On launched its first store in Nanjing in December and Cloudaway Kanazawa, a limited sports shoes, were offered to celebrate the occasion on January 7, 2022.

Domestic designer’s sports brand MAIA ACTIVE was founded in 2016. In April 2021, it launched its first store in Nanjing at Deji, which is equipped with a MAIA LAB.

Luxe.CO’s comment: Under the influence of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, outdoor sports’ popularity continues to grow with more foreign brands entering China and expanding the market in partnership with domestic companies. Meanwhile, local brands who started in e-commerce have set up offline outlets to compete with foreign brands at high-end commercial complexes.

4. Designer’s Brands Are Opening More Stores

Alexander McQueen revealed its first store in Jiangsu at Deji Plaza on December 3, 2021. Furthermore, designer’s brands such as AMI, Tom Ford, Philipp Plein, Alexander Wang and Self-portrait also chose Deji to establish their first stores in Jiangsu.

LOOKNOW, a multi-brand store focusing on designer’s brands opened its first store in Nanjing at Deji in last November and exhibited over 50 global designer brands.

Luxe.CO’s comment: After several rounds of adjustment in 2021, the number of foreign and domestic designer brands continue to grow at Deji Plaza, which shows that consumer preferences will become more diverse.

| Photo Credit: Deji Plaza

| Writer: Xiaoli Zuo