Beijing // Even on a weekday afternoon, the Beijing branch of IKEA is packed.
There are young couples looking at wardrobes, older ladies putting six-packs of glasses into their yellow plastic shopping bags and families enjoying free coffee refills in the cafe while being entertained by a band singing in Cantonese and English.
Some customers have taken the store's hospitality too far and are asleep on the showroom beds.
Liu Zheliangjun, 20, a student who is visiting the store with his girlfriend, says IKEA is particularly popular with young Chinese moving into their first home.
"They don't have much space so they need simple things," Mr Liu says. "I don't like traditional furniture. I don't think many young people like it. It's too complicated."
Simple furniture is becoming "more and more popular", says Zou Aimei, 45, a civil servant.
"This type of furniture looks quite good in a small space and quite a few of my friends are buying from IKEA."
It would seem the Swedish furniture retailer's plan of low prices and easily assembled products is a hit with China's growing number of middle-class homeowners.
But many of the foreign furniture and home-decorations chains that have landed in China have found the market harder going than expected.
IKEA's first store in China opened in Shanghai in 1998 and since then the chain's expansion has been modest, given the size of the market and the company's growth in other countries. There are now seven IKEAs across the country.
The British home improvement chain B&Q has also faced hurdles. It moved into China a year after IKEA and expanded much more briskly until its store tally reached 63.
But last year after losses of £52 million (Dh299.5m) in China the previous year Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, announced a major downsizing of the operation.
It marked 22 stores for closure and a further 17 to be shrunk in size over two years. Officials partly blamed a contraction in the property market.
Furniture retailers from North America are also yet to reap rewards from the Middle Kingdom. Home Depot, which is based in Atlanta, entered the Chinese market in 2006 when it took over the local chain Home Way. But growth plans appear to have been put on hold.
Frank Blake, the chain's chief executive, has said while the company's "objective is to have a real presence in China", it was "not going to roll out stores in China for the sake of rolling out stores".
"It isn't unrealistic for a country that size with a market that different from the US to take a few years to figure it out. And that's what we're doing," Mr Blake said.
Such caution is in stark contrast to the furious growth overseas supermarkets have enjoyed in the country. Last year alone, the French retail giant Carrefour opened 22 new stores in China. The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, opened 30. Between them, they have more than 300 stores in the country.
While supermarkets, local and foreign, are said to hold an 80 per cent share of the groceries market, other sectors have not been as fruitful.
Li Fengjiang, the head of the local furniture and home improvement chain Orient Home, has estimated the majors enjoy only a 5 per cent share of their home improvement market, which he says is worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
Paul French, a retail analyst with Access Asia, says the comparative lack of success of the home-improvement chains is "one of the weirdest things", given the vast increase in the number of private property owners in China and sharp rise in size of the average property.
The average Shanghai living space is now more than 18.5 square metres a person, compared with half that a decade ago.
"None of these guys have made any significant amount of money," Mr French says.
Foreign chains were initially perceived as being expensive and they have suffered from the competition from "aggregators", or warehouses that sell different brands. There are thought to be as many as 40,000 these across China, plus many smaller, family-run stores where "you can negotiate price", Mr French says.
IKEA has increased its marketing budget and cut prices, but that only means making profits is harder.
"They've really had to slash their margins," Mr French says. "You ask the question how much lower can they go before they become a charity. B&Q did the same and they're closing stores."
He says even Orient Home has not grown as fast as predicted.
Amid these difficulties the major chains are having with their simple furniture aimed at cost-conscious consumers, there appears to have been a modest revival in interest in traditional Chinese furniture, such as carved wooden chairs and beds and painted screens.
In Gaobeidian, south-east Beijing, the trade in antique and reproduction furniture is said to be thriving.
"The chain stores ? are targeted at the young people who are not well off and prefer a simpler lifestyle," says Zhong Mingjun, who runs Lan Ting Fang, which designs and makes traditional-style furniture.
"But traditional Chinese furniture shows your social status and family background. People are becoming richer so they're more concerned about their living standards.
"Chinese people [also] have more confidence in their own culture, so there's been a revival."
While some say the global economic slump affected sales significantly, others, such as Jiang Changfa, 49, who crafts reproduction furniture in a nearby workshop, hails "a revival of neo-classicism in China".
"Confucianism and traditional culture [are becoming more popular], so there's now a market for this traditional furniture. The traditional style is doing much better than the European furniture."
Despite this enthusiasm for the traditional and competition from local rivals selling modern furniture, the foreign chains are not sitting back.
Late last year, IKEA announced plans for a second store in Beijing and an outlet in the city of Wuxi, saying this would lead to "accelerated development" in China.
B&Q, after taking a hit, saw its sales in China increase by 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year from the year earlier.
Continued growth in the number of urban residents - their ranks increase by about 15 million a year, official figures show - is likely to bring opportunities. But despite the stores seeming busy, luring big-spending customers may remain difficult.
"I've already chosen some traditional furniture. I'm just here to pick up some decorations," says Qi Xiaoluo, 28, at IKEA's Beijing store.
business@thenational.ae
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Islamic%20Architecture%3A%20A%20World%20History
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
I Feel Pretty
Dir: Abby Kohn/Mark Silverstein
Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Mental%20health%20support%20in%20the%20UAE
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The%20specs
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Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do
Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.
“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”
Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.
Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.
“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”
For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.
“However, this can only really have any chance of success if you can identify where you add value to the business (preferably you can put a monetary value on it), or you can point to a sustained contribution above the call of duty or to other achievements you think your employer will value.”
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Rankings
ATP: 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 10,955 pts; 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 8,320; 3. Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,475 ( 1); 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 5,060 ( 1); 6. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,845 ( 1); 6. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,600 (-3); 7. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4,110 ( 2); 8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3,960; 9. John Isner (USA) 3,155 ( 1); 10. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3,140 (-3)
WTA: 1. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7,030 pts ( 3); 2. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6,290 ( 4); 3. Simona Halep (ROM) 5,582 (-2); 4. Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,307 ( 1); 5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5,100 ( 3); 6. Angelique Kerber (GER) 4,965 (-4); 7. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4,940; 8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,430 ( 1); 9. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 3,566 (-6); 10. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,485 ( 1)
UAE Falcons
Carly Lewis (captain), Emily Fensome, Kelly Loy, Isabel Affley, Jessica Cronin, Jemma Eley, Jenna Guy, Kate Lewis, Megan Polley, Charlie Preston, Becki Quigley and Sophie Siffre. Deb Jones and Lucia Sdao – coach and assistant coach.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Pickford, Pope.
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Dier, Gomez, Keane, Maguire, Maitland-Niles, Mings, Saka, Trippier, Walker.
Midfielders Henderson, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks.
Forwards Abraham, Barnes, Calvert-Lewin, Grealish, Ings, Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
HWJN
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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.”
SHAITTAN
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All%20The%20Light%20We%20Cannot%20See%20
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
You Were Never Really Here
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov
Four stars
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
