Shanghai Plans to Be Shopping Paradise in Five YearsShanghai is planning to turn itself into an international shoppers' paradise as well as a logistical network and digitized modern business mecca, according to the municipal's Tenth Five-Year (2001-2005) Plan for business development.By the end of 2005, the business GDP added value is expected to amount to 75 billion yuan (9 billion U.S. dollars) with an annual increase rate of 10 percent; retail of consumer goods to 250 billion yuan (30 billion U.S. dollars) with an annual rate of eight percent; and the chain business sale to 100 billion yuan (12 billion U.S. dollars). A regulation accompanying the plan rearranges the city's business centers into seven areas such as downtown centers, district centers and community centers. The buying power of Shanghainese with GDP exceeding 4,000 U.S. dollars, booming tourism and increasing visitors have laid the foundation for the plan. An official with the municipal Commercial Committee told Xinhua, "Shanghai is almost able to match the international level in terms of core commercial fields including chain store selling, market share and information added value." However, experts point out Shanghai still needs some time to catch up on the business development trend to establish discount stores. Also more should be done to modernize interior decoration of stores and improve the overall shopping environment. According to the plan, Shanghai will build three to five shopping malls covering at least 150,000 square meters. |
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