As I walked into the store, I could almost smell the bargains. I was sure they were waiting for me inside. I was a couple of weeks into a posting as The National's correspondent in China, and there were plenty of things I needed for the flat I had just moved into. And where better, surely, than China to find bargains? This is the country that has shown the world how to make everything from cars to CDs at lower prices than everyone else can manage.
But after a few minutes inside the store my hopes were dashed. While the UAE branches of this major international chain were filled with ultra-low-cost Chinese brands, here in China they were nowhere to be seen. Certainly, the CD players and irons filling up the shelves were made in China, but they nearly all seemed to come from Japanese brands that charged a hefty amount more. Where were the cheapies?
In the end, I did manage to find a few bargains. My ironing board was just 30 yuan (Dh16), and the small desk I bought for my translator and news assistant was a fairly reasonable 129 yuan (Dh69). But I balked when I saw the cost of the clothes racks: 200 yuan (Dh108), which is about three times as much as I paid for the same item in Abu Dhabi. I just dry my clothes on chairs instead. And I haven't replaced the CD player I had to leave behind in the UAE.
This pattern has been repeated time and again when I have been shopping here in Beijing. The overall cost of living could not be described as high - the rent on my flat is 3,500 yuan (Dh1,829) per month, or about a third of my rent in the UAE capital. But when it comes to many other things, the prices are as high or even a little bit higher than they are in the Emirates. Add to that the fact that you have to pay tax here, and it brings home what an unusually profitable place the UAE can be to live in.
Just as the hypermarket did not offer an abundance of low prices, neither did the computer stores I visited. I had waited until arriving in China to buy myself a laptop, thinking they would be almost free in the country that makes pretty much all of them. Nothing of the sort. For some reason - people said the machines were first exported then imported back - prices were, I would guess, maybe a third higher than in the Emirates. And on all of the machines the operating system was in Chinese, which meant I had to go through the considerable hassle of finding a place that would replace the original software with its English equivalent.
For sure, there are pirated DVDs and even books openly on sale for next to nothing in China, but the high street stores themselves are far from the penny pinchers' delight you would expect them to be. I have concluded that this is because the average Chinese consumer can be much more brand conscious than the typical shopper in many other nations. But their brand awareness is not the vanity of the fashion-obsessed who will only be seen wearing Dolce & Gabbana or Yves Saint Laurent. No, I suspect this preoccupation with brand names is born of bitter experience.
Here in China, I think people realise that if a price is too good to be true, then there really must be something amiss. There have been many consumer scare stories in a host of industries, and many tales of fakery and piracy, so what people want most is a name they can trust when they hand over their hard-earned cash. They would rather pay a little more and go with a tried-and-tested household name than take their chances with the music centre, the DVD player or the laptop with the lowest price.
When shopping for a computer, I was all for selecting the cheapest machine on offer. But my translator knew every single brand name, where they were from and what their reputation was like, and he told me to avoid the cheapies. The fact that many of the big stores had decided not to stock the cheapest irons, the cheapest CD players and the cheapest televisions seemed to indicate that countless other discerning Chinese consumers felt the same way.
So, here is a piece of advice to any of you contemplating a move to the Middle Kingdom: buy your cheap Chinese goods before you leave the UAE, because you may struggle to find them when you get here. dbardsley@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
Fixtures
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
On sale: now
Price: from Dh195,000
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
