China Square, a new wholesale and retail store located at Kenyatta University’s UniCity Mall along Thika Road has been the talk of town for the past few weeks.
The retailer officially began operations in Kenya on January 29, and barely a month into operation; they have been on the lips of almost all Nairobians.
What started as customer experience – shared by a few TikTokers and content creators turned China Square into an internet sensation.
We caught up with China Square Director Lei Cheng for insights on how he has managed to conquer the Kenyan market within a very short period.
“We officially opened on January 29, 2023, and for the first two weeks the business was very quiet until last week when we got a bit popular online and everybody was coming to our store,” he said.
Cheng was quick to attribute the success and virality of his store to a few TikTokers and content creators who shared their experiences after shopping at the facility.
“The business went very busy suddenly, since last Saturday, after bloggers and TikToker’s videos went viral.
So many people came into the store and at first, we did not even how to handle the traffic at the tie and it caused some queues but we have tried to improve by adding some more tills. People actually tripled and even on weekdays, we had not expected so many people but our store was full.”
The China Square director went on to confess that he is fully aware that the traffic being witnessed at his store is temporary.
“This is a temporary scene, as most of the people here are from the videos that went viral on TikTok. So, maybe a week or two then everything goes back to normal. It is the temporary effect of the posts going viral, just like when people love a song for a certain time then after forget about it,” he added.
What will you say is the main reason for people coming to your store apart from the viral videos?
“The first time we came into the Kenyan market we were looking at the prices and the Kenyan products are very expensive. We are established in several countries but the Kenyan prices are very high compared to others and I was very surprised.
That’s why we said we are going to bring some products here so that the customers can see how products are selling internationally and how the prices are supposed to be and don’t pay for overpriced stuff.”
During our conversation, Mr. Cheng mentioned that the retail shop is still moving things (Products) in margins.
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