Tourists watch a giant panda-shaped robotic dog perform at Unitree Robotics' first robotics experience center in Asia, Shanghai, June 2, 2026. (Photo/Wang Chu)
Over 80 domestic and international brands have made their debut since the launch of the 2026 National Premium Products Debut Season and the "First in Shanghai" event series. Shanghai is accelerating its transformation from a hub of brand aggregation into a trendsetting city, injecting fresh momentum into the consumer market.
To date, the city has welcomed 8,472 first-of-their-kind stores, with global or Asia-first stores accounting for 16.8 percent.
In 2025, Shanghai's Jing'an district introduced 238 first-of-their-kind stores. During this year's debut season, Jing'an rolled out an acceleration plan for domestic fashion brands, aiming to build an integrated pipeline from design and production through to branding, retail and ecosystem development.
Located on Changde Road, Jing'an district, the 800SHOW Creative Park, converted from an old industrial factory, is a permanent venue for Shanghai Fashion Week. Within the park, a 3,600-square-meter fashion space is undergoing rapid renovation.
Jointly operated by Jinggong Group and Labelhood — an incubator and showcase for China's promising fashion designers — the park incubates emerging domestic brands, offering designer workstations, shared facilities and professional livestream studios to support brand launches, exhibitions and product debuts.
The fashion space has already onboarded six designer studios and nine brands. "Our goal is to cultivate a cluster of influential domestic fashion brands within three years," said Yong Rong, general manager of the 800SHOW Creative Park. The park incubates both domestic labels and international brands looking to incorporate Chinese elements.
For four consecutive years, Shanghai has strengthened its support measures for brand debuts, offering exhibition support, customs facilitation and financial incentives to foster a more favorable environment for global product launches.
Traditionally, high-end international brands entering China had two main options: storing goods in bonded warehouses, which often lacked appropriate premium display settings, or paying import duties upfront before selling domestically, facing considerable capital pressure and market risk.
In 2024, Shanghai opened the Zhangyuan Dedicated Bonded Warehouse, its first such facility in a commercial core area. Imported goods entering the warehouse are not subject to immediate customs, value-added tax or consumption tax; taxes are paid only when goods leave the warehouse for the domestic market. Unsold goods can be exempted from taxes entirely, greatly reducing the cost for brands testing the Chinese market.
The first bonded transaction at Zhangyuan involved French textile brand Jules Pansu, entering China for the first time. Through bonded display and transaction, the brand successfully sold products worth several hundred thousand yuan (1 yuan equals about $0.15), reinforcing its confidence in expanding within China.
Last year, Shanghai Customs and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce jointly introduced facilitation measures for the inspection of newly launched imported consumer goods, including clothing, home appliances and toys.
Since implementation, these measures have benefited 34 multinational headquarters, 60 international brands and more than 30,000 new products, totaling 17,300 batches valued at 409 million yuan, with customs clearance times reduced by 80 percent.
From January to February this year, Shanghai added 128 first-of-their-kind stores, with high-level flagship stores accounting for 22.7 percent of the total. In the first quarter of 2026, the city's retail sales of consumer goods reached about 428 billion yuan, up 5.5 percent year on year.
