In China today there are many companies that use a variety of the latest technologies for development, which allow them to reach new heights.
While it is not yet clear how the COVID-19 outbreak will affect the financial health of these companies and the Chinese economy as a whole, the fact remains that the ideas they create will have a noticeable impact on the whole world.
Luckin Coffee
The first Luckin Coffee coffee shops appeared in October 2017. Since then, the company has experienced remarkably fast growth. By the end of 2019 lucky outnumbered Starbucks outlets in China - more than 4,500 coffee shops compared to 4,300. A distinctive feature of the company is its digital model, consumers can order coffee through a mobile application and the drink will be ready just in time for the moment they arrive at the establishment. This eliminates the need to stand in line. In addition, this way Luckin can easily keep track of the hottest places and open coffee shops where they will be really in demand. According to the company representatives, they spent about a year debugging the model before starting to open coffee shops.
Meituan-Dianping
This Chinese company (the name is read as "Meituan-Dianping") appeared in 2015 after the merger of Meituan and Dianping companies involved in food delivery and table reservations in restaurants. Thanks to competent marketing, coupled with non-standard solutions, she was able to quickly confound the skeptics who were sure of the collapse of the new undertaking. Today, Meituan-Dianping operates in a variety of industries, including hotel reservations, fresh fruit delivery, air ticket sales, beauty salon services, discount coupons, and more. Tight integration with WeChat allows users to make purchases directly through this popular messenger. But it is much better to use the "native" application, which is considered extremely convenient. This is an opportunity to find everything you need at once in one place.
Alibaba Group
This Chinese e-commerce giant not only provides a variety of services, but also owns one of the largest cloud computing infrastructures in the world. This enables the integration of digital services for branding, channel management, customer service, finance, logistics, marketing, product development, sales, and more. Many well-known companies willingly use Alibaba services, which get the opportunity to quickly and conveniently complete a variety of trading operations, improve customer service, and much more. Alibaba is also constantly experimenting with various services, AI systems, autonomous vehicles and other similar areas.
Kuaishou
Kuaishou, created by Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co., Ltd., allows you to create short videos and share them with other users. It proved to be extremely successful among users of all ages. The Kuaishou app was created in March 2011, and in 2019 it was already used by 200 million people, including those outside of China. It is important to note that the application not only allows you to share entertainment content, but also provides tools for e-commerce. Kuaishou's main competitor is the Douyin app, which is known outside of China as TikTok.
PinDuoDuo
The PinDuoDuo e-commerce platform allows users to participate in group purchases - the more customers you attract, the more discount you get. Initially, the application was created for small towns and rural areas in China, but it is becoming more and more popular in large cities. Today, a variety of goods are sold on PinDuoDuo, the application makes it possible to make a purchase at a minimal (sometimes even frankly ridiculous) cost. It is also possible to purchase food, whether it be coffee, tea, walnuts, mushrooms or peppers. According to official figures, in 2019 alone, PinDuoDuo provided "110 million orders for 20,000 farmers in 500 agricultural areas." And although the company has not yet reached self-sufficiency, everything suggests that it has great prospects. Moreover, PinDuoDuo has become one of the fastest growing startups in China.
Bilibili
A distinctive feature of this video hosting service is its focus on young people - three-quarters of Bilibili users are under 24 years old. This affects not only the content provided (mainly anime and comics), but also some features. For example, options to leave "live" comments directly on the video, which are broadcast immediately to all users. It turns out something like a chat that takes place right on the video being watched. Users have the ability to set the style of the comments that appear. To say that Bilibili is popular is to say nothing - the number of users of the service already exceeds 300 million.
Yum China
Despite the fact that Yum China is just a division of the American Yum! Brands, which operates in the fast food industry and owns brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut и Taco Bell, it actively uses its own technologies and ideas. For example, it actively uses the latest achievements in the field of AI and mobile technologies to personalize the menu for each user. Fundamentally new approaches and loyalty programs are being created for the rather difficult Chinese market. As well as various dishes that you will not find anywhere else in the world by visiting a KFC restaurant or Pizza Hut. So, in 2019 alone, 300 new menu items for fast food restaurants were created.
Suning
One of the largest retail companies in China. Unlike some of the brands described here, Suning prefers to work exclusively offline. It owns more than 1,600 outlets in 700 locations, which sell a variety of goods, from food and household chemicals to books and electronics. The company is actively expanding towards smaller cities and towns, developing on a franchise model. Suning has ambitious plans to open at least 15,000 stores across the country.
Deep Blue Technology
The entire field of activity of this company is connected with AI technologies. From driverless Panda Buses to robots, from smart vending machines to custom chips, DeepBlue Technology is working in a wide variety of areas. In fact, the company owns a considerable number of unique developments that are already very interested in potential consumers in China and other countries. According to DeepBlue Technology itself, its creations will allow creating unique “smart” cities, which should appear in the very near future.
Palace Museum Beijing
In this case, we are not talking about a company, but about the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, which houses many unique artifacts. He made this list thanks to his desire to use the latest technology in order to attract an audience of all ages. Augmented reality is actively used, everything that can be digitized is digitized, educational games and films are created, as well as unique souvenirs. A variety of companies are involved in many tasks, such as Tencent and Huawei. Not surprisingly, the museum has become one of the most popular in the world, with millions of visitors. It is important to note that the ideas created are freely distributed, they can be used by cultural institutions around the world.
