Ride on the coattails of KKV's overseas expansion: Over 100 Chinese brands have entered the prime commercial areas in Southeast Asia!
As the global consumer market landscape accelerates its reconstruction, a new retail force from China is quietly rising in the Southeast Asian market.
The "Snow King" has focused on the Southeast Asian market and opened approximately 5,000 overseas stores, becoming the "happy water" that young people can't do without. Pop Mart's Labubu has become popular for its "ugly - cute" style, captivating the world.
Recently, on overseas social media, there has been a new trend among young people to invite friends to go shopping. From the Philippines, Malaysia to Singapore, in the numerous photo albums and Vlogs shared by local young people, they show their novel shopping experiences of wandering and checking in in vividly - colored retail spaces, among the "product walls" and "pyramids" composed of cosmetics, accessories, stationery and other products sorted by category, and selecting high - cost - performance Chinese goods.
Based on the location tags in the latest batch of Vlogs on social media, we located the first flagship store of KKV, a refined lifestyle brand, which opened in May this year at Tiong Bahru Plaza in the core business district of Singapore.
This Chinese refined lifestyle brand's entry into the prime business district of Singapore, where international luxury brands gather, not only attracted a large number of local young people to queue up and check in, but also caught the attention of Market Watch, a professional media focusing on the capital market under The Wall Street Journal. It was evaluated that "this move further strengthens KKV's accelerated expansion strategy in Southeast Asia."
(Reports on KKV by foreign media)
Digging deeper into the "accelerated expansion in Southeast Asia" mentioned in the article, we found that as a refined lifestyle collection brand originating from China, KKV is playing the role of a "pioneer" in going global. Including Singapore, which it newly entered this year, KKV's parent company, KK Group, has opened more than 50 stores in the markets of five countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia in the past year or so.
How did this wave of new Chinese consumer boom rise in Southeast Asia? With doubts and curiosity, the author visited several KKV stores in Singapore and Malaysia, and learned about the situation from local shopping malls, suppliers, consumers and market analysts, trying to outline the expansion trajectory of this Chinese retail enterprise.
01 The Quiet but Steady Growth of Chinese Retail Brands in Southeast Asia
In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, KKV officially entered SM Mall of Asia, the largest shopping mall in the country, in June 2024. This mall covers an area of about 600,000 square meters and is one of the largest single - body shopping malls in Asia. Its "status" in Manila is equivalent to Wangfujing in Beijing, Lujiazui and Nanjing West Road in Shanghai.
Filipino fashion blogger Lenie Aycardo - Alejandr posted a video guide of her visit to KKV on TikTok. The bright colors, highly - designed stores and visually - impactful shelf displays are all deeply loved by young people. A single video easily got more than 100,000 likes, "planting grass" for young people.
In Tiong Bahru Plaza, a prime shopping mall in Singapore, 23 - year - old local college student Lily Wong and her friends had been waiting in front of the KKV flagship store for nearly 40 minutes, but they were still in high spirits.
"I saw a lot of videos about this store on TikTok. I finally had time today, so I came to have a look." Lily said while queuing and sliding her phone screen, showing the multiple KKV - related short videos she had collected. "Many products in it are really great. There are few such collection stores with both good looks and high cost - performance in local malls."
(Actual photos of the store in the Philippines)
According to the report of The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch, when the KKV store in SM Mall of Asia in the Philippines opened, not only were the products in categories such as beauty, snacks and fashion accessories very popular, but it also attracted more than 20 million views on social media.
Local young people are not only willing to queue up and check in offline, but also like to share their fresh and unique consumption experiences on social media.
The popularity both offline and online has driven the soaring revenue of the stores. It is understood that in terms of single - store sales performance, KKV's overseas stores generally perform well.
(The global flagship store in Malaysia. The picture is taken by a Xiaohongshu user)
As a new retail brand that has been popular in China in recent years, what on earth is KKV's intention when quietly entering the Southeast Asian market? What other moves does it have in the future?
Regarding these questions, after reviewing KK Group's recent actions in Southeast Asia, we found that it is accelerating its pace in the overseas market. In 2024, KK Group opened 19 stores in four countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, building a direct - sales network. After entering Singapore in 2025, KK Group's overseas expansion has further accelerated.
Judging from the current store - opening rhythm in Southeast Asian countries, KKV has adopted a "high - profile and aggressive" market entry strategy.
"This choice is not a random one, but a strategic decision based on comprehensive analysis," a market insider who has been deeply involved in the overseas market for many years revealed to Wall Street News. "Southeast Asian countries not only have a large population base and a relatively young population structure, but also have geographical and cultural similarities with China, which enables KKV's products and operation models to adapt to the local market more quickly."
(Illustration: The median age in Vietnam and the Philippines is lower than that in China, and the proportion of young people under 35 is significantly higher)
Judging from the current expansion speed and market response, this Chinese trendy retail enterprise's "high - profile and aggressive" expansion strategy of targeting the prime floors in the local core business districts has caused quite a stir among young people in Southeast Asian countries. At the same time, those young Chinese brands popular among Generation Z and Generation Alpha are also entering thousands of households in Southeast Asia through KKV's retail network.
02 Empowering Chinese Brands: From Going Global Alone to Collective Expansion Overseas
In this wave of the new Chinese consumer culture sweeping Southeast Asia, the brands that entered the market first have tasted the sweetness.
Take the new domestic brand Half Acre of Flower Field as an example. Hitching a ride on KKV, this brand has entered the offline markets of five Southeast Asian countries. Since Southeast Asian consumers have a high acceptance of plant ingredients, products of Half Acre of Flower Field, such as rose pure dew hair lotion, which take flowers as their names, meet the needs of the local hot and humid climate and quickly became popular, entering the top 10 of the category in the KKV channel. According to Zhang Tingting, the person - in - charge of the new retail section of Half Acre of Flower Field, the average monthly sales of a single store exceed those of similar domestic stores by 20%.
Based on the author's actual experience in KKV's overseas stores, in addition to well - known brands such as Shenban, SPES, Shuizhikou, Half Acre of Flower Field, Perfect Diary, Pechoin and Senbao, there are also many newly - rising domestic trendy brands on the shelves, such as MOND'SUB, MARRISI, SOWIN, YASUROSE, MeiDun and Gongpei. And judging from the photos shared by young people on social media, many emerging domestic trendy brands have quietly become popular locally.
More than 100 single products of domestic skincare brands such as MOND'SUB, which are represented by "Murong Cosmetics" in Shenzhen, have currently opened up sales channels overseas through KKV. According to He Xiuli, the general manager of the company, she wanted to bring domestic trendy brands into the overseas market in 2023, but was once hindered by problems such as the cooperation factory's unfamiliarity with export procedures. In June 2023, when KK Group was screening cooperative brands for overseas expansion, it actively helped her solve the problems.
The problems faced by He Xiuli are also common problems encountered by thousands of small and medium - sized enterprises when going global.
NIKITA, the co - founder of the domestic facial mask brand "C咖", said that when the company started to explore "brand going global" in 2023, it immediately encountered the "certification hurdle". Regulatory agencies in different countries, such as the FDA in the United States and the BPOM in Indonesia, have different certification requirements, and the processes are very cumbersome, which will make "beginners" spend a huge amount of time on repeated trial - and - error.
Brands that make toys, such as Senbao Building Blocks, have to deal with different safety standards in different countries (such as CE, ASTM, EN71, etc.) and face many challenges in aspects such as certification, testing and compliance.
These obstacles make the vast majority of small and medium - sized enterprises that intend to go global "lack the ability despite the willingness".
In 2023, a turning point finally appeared. According to informed sources, after KK Group launched its overseas expansion strategy, it specially established an import and export team of about twenty to thirty people to tackle the laws and regulations on import and export and product certification in Southeast Asian countries. In order to achieve the business goal of overseas expansion, KK Group must help its supplier partners solve these problems. Without a stable supply of high - quality goods, what can it sell in overseas stores?
According to He Xiuli's feedback, KK Group provides support for small and medium - sized enterprise partners in processes such as rapid customs clearance and certification application, and can even provide supporting logistics solutions, enabling domestic brands to quickly enter the Southeast Asian market just by delivering goods in China.
According to the feedback from some suppliers, KK Group continues its direct - purchase cooperation model in overseas cooperation. That is, the brands that enter do not need to bear back - end fees such as entry barcode fees, festival fees, promotion fees and management fees, greatly reducing the cost of entering overseas offline channels. Secondly, KK Group can also provide a relatively short payment cycle for partners, reducing the capital occupation cost of the brands.
With the rapid expansion of KKV's store network, more and more brands can reach more consumers through its stores. The recognition of the consumer market has also doubled the confidence of both parties, further expanding more stores and attracting more brands to enter, thus achieving a win - win situation for consumers, brands and stores. After achieving success in the Chinese market, KK Group and its parent company have sufficient motivation to support small and medium - sized enterprises and brands to go global, and a large number of emerging Chinese brands have already seized the opportunity to "hitch a ride" and taken the first step in going global through KK Group's channels.
"KKV's Southeast Asian expansion model is worthy of attention. It may be building a new paradigm for the internationalization of Chinese brands," a market analyst said. "This model is not only about the success of a single enterprise, but may also become an important path for Chinese new consumer brands to go global collectively."
One of the key factors for the success of Half Acre of Flower Field, as determined after evaluating its sales performance, is to effectively improve the product trial experience and sales conversion rate by creating scenarios in the stores in prime locations in prime business districts through KKV. Liu Jing, the sales director of Yiqi Culture, put it more directly: "The stores are very eye - catching and can stimulate the desire to buy."
Another key to success summarized by Zhang Tingting is that Half Acre of Flower Field solves the pain points of 'weak brand recognition and difficult channel penetration' in the overseas market with the full - chain support from KKV in aspects such as local marketing and store display optimization.
On closer inspection, we can easily find that whether it is the feedback from supplier partners or the Vlogs shared on social media, "scenario" is an inescapable keyword. For example, in the short video of Vietnamese fashion blogger Chany, with the KKV store as the "stage", she showed her daily interactions with her boyfriend, which resonated strongly with young people, and a single video got nearly 100,000 likes.
It is understood that in its years of operation in China, KKV has explored a set of "tactics" for layout: targeting the consumption habits of Generation Z young people, it conducts demand insights, product selection and display around specific life scenarios such as 'home life', 'seasonal skin care' and 'travel', so that customers can 'immerse themselves' in experiencing '100 kinds of beautiful life styles'.
(Illustration: Actual photos of KKV's activities in domestic shopping malls)
In China, the "100 kinds of beautiful life styles" conveyed by KKV are deeply loved by young people. Not only do ordinary people like to visit, but also many internet celebrities like to "borrow the venue" to shoot short videos and do live - streaming, and even first - tier stars will go to experience it quietly.
In the Southeast Asian market, the novel shopping experience created by KKV around the "100 kinds of beautiful life styles" can make Chinese brands leave a deeper impression on local young consumers.
03 Chinese Brands Bet on Long - Term Overseas Growth: Recreate a KK Group with a Thousand Stores in Five Years
From well - known domestic brands such as Half Acre of Flower Field and Pechoin to a large number of small and medium - sized enterprises, after tasting the growth dividends of entering Southeast Asia, they have all decided to further increase their investment.
Pechoin has currently specially set up an overseas business team and plans to develop new products specifically for the KKV channel according to the needs of the local Southeast Asian market. In the future, it also plans to cooperate with KK Group in aspects such as celebrity endorsement and online - offline marketing in the overseas market.
(Source: Pechoin's official Xiaohongshu account)
Half Acre of Flower Field has decided to "deeply cultivate the global market with KKV as the fulcrum" - replicate the growth model to markets in the Middle East, Europe and the United States based on KKV's Southeast Asian network.
He Xiuli, the general manager of "Murong Cosmetics", previously led a team to investigate KKV's first flagship store in Malaysia and studied the local consumers' needs. After returning to China, she fed back the information to the manufacturers of the domestic trendy brands she represents, and comprehensively adjusted the product performance, packaging, etc. Murong Cosmetics has also begun to focus on recruiting talents with overseas study backgrounds and familiarity with the local market.
It is reported that in addition to KKV, other brands under KK Group are also expanding their territories. Currently, THE COLORIST and X11 have both opened their first stores, which shows their ambition for overseas expansion.
(The first overseas store of X11)
According to market insiders, KK Group currently has nearly 50 overseas stores, and the number will reach more than 150 in 2025. Looking further ahead, KK Group's overseas expansion goal will be even higher, and KKV's internationalization ambition is far from limited to the Southeast Asian market.
International market insiders revealed that KKV has currently deployed in Southeast Asian countries, and partners in markets such as the Middle East, Europe and the United States have shown interest in this refined lifestyle brand from China. According to the statistical data of national shopping malls, KK Group currently has more than a thousand stores in China, including 550 stores of its main brand KKV, 320 stores of THE COLORIST and more than 170 stores of X11.
According to the prediction of securities analysts, judging from KK Group's development history over the years, from 2019 to 2024, the number of its stores expanded from 100 to 1000. Excluding 2022 and 2023 when store - opening stopped due to the epidemic, it actually took less than five years to reach the level of a thousand stores. By inferring the development trajectory of KK Group's overseas business, it is not difficult to see that between 2027 and 2028, its overseas stores are expected to reach 1000, and the proportion of revenue will also increase and become an important part of the group.
(Illustration: The above growth trend of overseas stores is estimated based on media reports and KK Group's development history. The actual growth shall prevail)
On the way to expanding to a thousand stores, the brands under KK Group are also expected to drive 1000 Chinese brands to go global successfully and jointly create an international business card for "Made in China".
However, high - speed overseas expansion is a double - edged sword, with both risks and opportunities. In recent years, there have been many successful and failed cases of Chinese enterprises going global. Has KK Group made sufficient preparations for subsequent accelerated expansion?
04 Behind the Seemingly Booming Trend of Chinese Enterprises Going Global: The Win - Win Wisdom of "New Money" and "Old Money"
Objectively speaking, through more than a year of exploration, KK Group has basically established a foothold in the Southeast Asian market. The generally higher single - store sales performance than in China is the proof. More importantly, in terms of obtaining store resources in core business districts, optimizing local operations and building a partner ecosystem, it has established a complete set of systematic mechanisms, laying the foundation for the next step of accelerated expansion.
In the field of offline retail, "securing" prime locations in core business districts is crucial. In this field, "outsiders" usually do not have an advantage. However, after carefully exploring KK Group's overseas expansion path, we found that it has established relatively stable cooperative relationships with commercial real estate and retail giants in Southeast Asian countries, attracting some local "old money" with strong strength to get involved.
Digging deeper into the shopping malls where KKV's flagship stores are located in Southeast Asian countries, we found that behind them stand the most influential business leaders in each country.
For example, in the Philippines, SM Mall of Asia, the largest shopping mall in the country where KKV entered, belongs to SM Group. SM Group was founded by Sy Tan Kee, a well - known Filipino Chinese business leader. It has dozens of large - scale shopping malls in the Philippines and China and is one of the most influential commercial real estate giants in the Philippines.
(KKV's flagship store in SM Mall of Asia in Manila)
In Vietnam, KKV has joined hands with giants such as AEON and Vincom. AEON is one of the Fortune Global 500 companies, and behind Vincom is Pham Nhat Vuong, the richest man in Vietnam and the founder of Vingroup.
It is understood that KKV is the pioneer of KK Group's overseas expansion. Fashion new retail brands under KK Group, such as THE COLORIST and X11, will also accelerate their overseas expansion synchronously. After KK Group established strategic cooperation with Southeast Asian business giants, its multiple brands can enter the core commercial real estate and shopping malls in each country more smoothly and efficiently.
In the author's opinion, an efficient local operation iteration mechanism is also an advantageous factor for KK Group to achieve stable and rapid expansion in the future.
For example, in the Philippines, sales data feedback shows that food SKUs are the most popular, while in Vietnam, toy SKUs are the most popular. KKV then immediately adjusted the category proportion. In view of the different religions and cultures in Southeast Asian countries, KKV will make more refined local adjustments and iterations in product selection and operation. The founder of KK Group was engaged in Internet entrepreneurship at the beginning and attaches great importance to data mining and rapid iteration. KK Group is one of the few retail companies that uses a self - developed sales management IT system. In the industry, sales data are generally summarized and analyzed on a daily basis, while KK Group even conducts data mining and analysis on a second - by - second basis.
KK Group's motivation for the current "acceleration" of overseas expansion is obvious. It hopes to seize the time window to lay the foundation for the continuous growth of enterprise value in the next step. When the domestic economic growth slows down, saying goodbye to the "involution" and actively going global to obtain an incremental market may be one of the most cost - effective strategies.
From Pop Mart to Mixue Bingcheng, many pioneers who have actively embraced the overseas market have achieved explosive growth in revenue and profits. These cases are not only the success of single enterprises, but also represent the overall improvement of the internationalization level of Chinese consumer brands. From well - known brands such as Half Acre of Flower Field and Pechoin to many small and medium - sized enterprise brands, more and more Chinese brands are beginning to realize the importance of the international market and actively build their global capabilities.
If KK Group's overseas expansion goals are gradually achieved, it can provide more opportunities for Chinese brands to enter the world stage and leave more room for imagination in the market.
Historically, when the Japanese economic growth slowed down and even experienced the so - called "lost thirty years", the five major Japanese trading companies expanded overseas markets and achieved continuous and stable growth. They also grasped the major opportunity of helping Japanese consumer brands go global, which may be the key reason why the five major trading companies have won the recognition of Warren Buffett and continuous shareholding increases in recent years.
More powerful Chinese brands have begun to go global. In many cases, the quality that people most need to learn from Mr. Buffett may be: look further ahead and be more patient.
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*The above content does not constitute investment advice and does not represent the views of the publishing platform. The market is risky, and investment should be made carefully. Please make independent judgments and decisions.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Wall Street News" and is published with permission.
