Click image for details Top News 1. Breaking | NetEase Kaola to Merge with Amazon China Overseas Shopping? ▲▲▲ A bombshell: Caijing suddenly reported on the afternoon of February 19 that NetEase Kaola would merge with Amazon China's overseas shopping business, possibly through a share swap. This news is explosive. Although neither side's GMV exceeds 50 billion yuan, and together they might total just over 50 billion, given that both are well-known internet tech companies and Amazon is the e-commerce pioneer, if this becomes true, it will significantly impact China's e-commerce and tech circles. If NetEase's e-commerce merges with Amazon China's overseas shopping, Amazon's two decades of e-commerce infrastructure in China could be leveraged by NetEase, filling its gaps.

2. 2019 Global 250 Retailers Ranking Released, 14 Chinese Companies Listed! ▲▲▲ Deloitte released its 2019 Global Powers of Retailing report based on public data from major retailers for fiscal year 2017 (ending June 2018). Walmart remains first, but Amazon rose to fourth. The highest-ranked Chinese company is JD.com, rising to 20th. The top 250 retailers had total revenue of $4.53 trillion in FY2017, with the top 10 accounting for $1.43 trillion (31.6%). Average revenue was $18.1 billion. Among the 250, there are 79 from the US, 31 from Japan, 19 from Germany, 14 from the UK, and 12 from France. China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) has 14 retailers on the list. France's Carrefour requested not to be included, and Alibaba Group was not listed as a retailer.

3. Heineken and China Resources Beer Deal Pending Review ▲▲▲ Heineken's 2018 annual results showed organic revenue growth of 6.1%, net profit of €2.424 billion (about RMB 18.5 billion), up 12.5% organically. Beer volume grew 4.2%, with growth in all regions. Heineken® brand volume grew 7.7%, the highest in 10 years, and returned to growth in China. The announcement also disclosed that the deal with China Resources Enterprise is pending regulatory review. Last year, Heineken announced merging its China operations with China Resources Snow Breweries.

4. Baorun Shares Announces 2018 Results ▲▲▲ Recently, Baorun Shares, parent of RIO pre-mixed cocktails, released a performance report: 2018 total revenue was RMB 1.229 billion, up 4.9% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 124 million, down 32.2%. Notably, this was nearly RMB 70 million below expectations. Baorun attributed this to terminating its first restricted stock incentive plan in December 2018, which was treated as accelerated exercise, impacting current-period profits.

5. New Matcha Products in Asia-Pacific ▲▲▲ MatchaBar Hustle Matcha Energy Drink MatchaBar Hustle claims to be the first energy drink powered by matcha, using only ceremonial-grade matcha, green tea extract, lemon extract, and lime extract, with 120mg of caffeine from green tea per bottle for natural energy.

Glico: Sakura Matcha Pocky Chocolate Biscuit Sticks Japan's No.1 chocolate stick brand Pocky releases seasonal limited flavors annually. This spring, Pocky combines sakura and matcha, traditional Japanese images, for a spring snack. It uses real matcha and cherry leaf extract powder; the sakura flavor is subtle, quickly replaced by rich matcha as the chocolate melts. This seasonal product goes on limited sale from January 22, 2019, at a suggested retail price of 278 yen.

Fujiya: Candies and Pastries Using Low-Temperature Aged Uji Matcha This year, Fujiya upgraded its seasonal limited products, releasing three new candies and pastries using "low-temperature" aged matcha: "Country Maam" matcha pastry, "Look2" matcha chocolate, and "milky" matcha hard candy. They use high-aroma Kyoto stone-ground aged Uji matcha. Low-temperature storage suppresses bitterness, resulting in a smoother, rounder taste.

6. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Lower 2019 Sales Expectations ▲▲▲ On the 14th, Coca-Cola reported earnings, with shares falling over 8% intraday, the biggest drop since 2008. Although Q4 profit and revenue roughly met Wall Street expectations, due to tax rates, exchange rates, and emerging markets, Coca-Cola's expected top EPS this year is over 6% below analyst estimates. A day after Coca-Cola's sales slowdown warning, rival PepsiCo also lowered its profit outlook. Despite Q4 revenue and profit meeting expectations, PepsiCo cut its 2019 adjusted EPS forecast to $5.50, down from $5.66 in 2018 and below the analyst estimate of $5.86. PepsiCo also announced extending its cost-saving plan to 2023.

7. Luckin Coffee to Enter 18 More Cities, Reaching 40 Cities Nationwide ▲▲▲ Luckin Coffee announced it will enter 18 more large and medium-sized cities before the end of April. It has already entered Changzhou, Foshan, and Yangzhou. Preparations are underway for 15 cities including Nantong, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Shenyang, Shaoxing, and Kunming, with openings by end of April. Combined with the 22 cities opened in 2018, Luckin will be in 40 cities nationwide.

8. Shouquanzhai Enters Beverage Market ▲▲▲ Ningbo Shouquanzhai was founded in the 25th year of Qianlong (1760) and has over 240 years of history. The time-honored brand is keeping pace with the times: while retaining traditional medicines and business models, it actively tries online marketing and is entering the beverage market with a series of ready-to-eat products. Ginger tea and sour plum juice drinks will launch on February 20 in 200ml Ecolean aseptic packaging.

9. Tsingtao Beer + New York Fashion Week = ? ▲▲▲ On February 14, at New York Fashion Week China Day, Tsingtao Beer crossed over with streetwear brand NPC for a cross-border national trend show connecting classics with fashion. Tsingtao invited NPC's design team to create exclusive runway co-branded items, incorporating the latest 2019 autumn/winter menswear trends and cleverly weaving Tsingtao's century-old trendy elements into the fashion details.

10. Hema Fresh's Hou Yi: New Retail Abandons Price Wars, Never Participates in 618 or Double 11 ▲▲▲ According to Sina Tech today, at the 2019 Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum annual meeting, Hema Fresh CEO Hou Yi discussed the difference between new retail and traditional retail, saying new retail promotes healthy consumption, enjoying the best products and services, and the biggest difference from traditional retail is abandoning price wars. New retail never participates in e-commerce events like 618 or Double 11; it focuses on providing quality products rather than cheap goods.

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New Distribution will hold the 2019 (5th) FMCG + Internet Conference during the Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair from March 16-18. This conference will focus on "Breaking the Game" , with in-depth discussions with brand owners, supply chain service providers, distributors, retailers, and others. Compared to previous conferences, this summit will be fully upgraded. In addition to original topics like channel innovation, city distribution logistics, and distributor transformation , it adds parallel forums on new marketing cases, IP + FMCG empowerment, community group buying, and innovative retail . Through three days of ten high-density, high-quality expert sharing sessions, we believe every brand owner and distributor can learn the latest business models, expert insights, and practical methods, finding new tools and methods to break the game in 2019 and return to high-speed growth. Review of Previous Conferences -END-