DFI Retail’s Mannings beauty and wellness chain shutters in mainland China
[SINGAPORE] DFI Retail Group’s beauty and wellness business Mannings on Wednesday (Dec 17) announced the closure of all stores across mainland China, due to “consumer behaviour” changes.
Its physical stores will stay open until Jan 15 next year, said Mannings in a statement on its WeChat account.
Official online stores of Mannings on platforms such as JD.com, Tmall and Pinduoduo, however, will close between Dec 24 and 28 this year.
The statement said that Mannings intends to integrate the business’ operations across Hong Kong and Macau – namely its physical stores and e-commerce channels – with mainland China’s cross-border e-commerce model.
Certain analysts indicated that vendors in the mainland reported an overall slump in business activity in recent times, amid weaker consumer spending, according to a South China Morning Post report.
On Mar 24, DFI Retail Group announced the sale of Cold Storage Singapore and Giant stores, as well as two distribution centres, to Macrovalue (Malaysia) for S$125 million.
The retail operator still owns other consumer brands such as Guardian, which Mannings is known as in Singapore and South-east Asia, and household goods brand Meadows.
The Business Times has reached out to DFI Retail Group for comments.
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