China-Britain Business Council, China Consumer 2023

Attended by over 200 delegates from prominent consumer brands, the China-Britain Business Council’s flagship event, China Consumer, returned on July 4th-5th in London. The highly successful event was a must-attend for ambitious British consumer brands seeking to establish themselves in the Chinese market.

Speakers at the event included those from renowned brands such as Harrods, Diageo, Molton Brown, Vitabiotics, EY Fabernovel, and Sybarite, among others. Noteworthy Chinese participants included Douyin, Ctrip, Harmay, and Bonnie&Clyde.

We are proud to share Sybarite Co-founder, Simon Mitchell, spoke on the panel discussion, ‘Embracing the Chinaverse’. Invited by Antoaneta Becker, Director of Consumer Economy at the CBBC, Simon joined an impressive line-up of guest speakers: Ada Yang, Senior Market Manager China at Molton Brown, Gary Chan, Vice President of CAA Brand Management, and Rachel Daydou 海珊, Partner at China Practice Europe, EY FABERNOVEL.

The panel of experts examined innovation in every aspect of the China retail space, from the Metaverse and brand collaboration to the power and charm of brick-and-mortar retail.

Providing a retail architect’s perspective and citing examples from the recently launched SKP Chengdu and experimental department store SKP-S, Simon emphasised the importance of understanding and connecting to the consumer, immersive and hybrid experiences in real life, and the role retail can play in urban regeneration.

“China presents a unique opportunity for Sybarite to embrace the strength of the luxury retail market in architectural, design and foresight terms and to capture the bravery and strategic future facing vision of our clients coupled with the aspirations of the end users”.

Hosted by Antoaneta Becker from the CBBC, the panel discussion was an insightfully comprehensive exploration into the future of retail, including Molton Brown’s venture into the metaverse, key insights from Fabernovel’s extensive report on the Metaverse “Into the Chinaverse”, and CAA Brand Management’s innovative approach to leveraging intellectual property collaborations to the local China market.